{"cached_content_rating":"4.13","cached_delivery_rating":"4.18","cached_rating":"4.15","created_at":"2011-03-06T00:17:22Z","creator_id":10292,"end_date":"2011-04-10T00:00:00Z","event_url":"http://midwestux.com/","hashtag":"","id":795,"large_logo_content_type":"image/png","large_logo_file_name":"midwestux.png","large_logo_file_size":1447,"large_logo_processing":false,"large_logo_updated_at":"2011-04-14T21:29:11Z","location":"Columbus, Ohio","series_id":null,"start_date":"2011-04-09T00:00:00Z","title":"Midwest UX 2011","updated_at":"2011-06-29T13:54:06Z","rating":"4.15","logo_url":"http://uploads.speakerrate.com/logos/795/original/midwestux-thm.png?1302816551","large_logo_url":"http://uploads.speakerrate.com/large_logos/795/original/midwestux.png?1302816551","date_range":"April  9-10, 2011","description_text":"The Midwest UX conference is a unique two-day event that combines inspiring talks with hands-on activities presented by a mix of regional professionals and international experts.","talks":[{"cached_content_rating":"4.25","cached_delivery_rating":"4.48","cached_rating":"4.36","created_at":"2011-04-11T16:59:10Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7139,"info":{"text":"Links are the molecular bonds of our web sites, holding all the pages together. They are the essence of a web site.\r\n\r\nYet, what do we really know about them? If you create great links, your users easily find everything they need on your site. If you do a poor job, your users will find your site impossible or frustrating.\r\n\r\nWe never discuss what truly makes a good link good. Until now. Jared will show you the latest thinking behind the art and science of making great links. Join him for this entertaining and amusing look at the secret lives of our site's links."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/#spool","timezone":null,"title":"The Secret Lives of Links","updated_at":"2011-05-03T21:39:51Z","when":"2011-04-09T09:15:00Z","rating":"4.36"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.92","cached_delivery_rating":"3.89","cached_rating":"3.91","created_at":"2011-04-11T15:59:21Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7135,"info":{"text":"When I went to Rwanda in June 2010, I learned that methodically structured research does not succeed in Rwandan teacher training schools. My team aimed to help teacher trainers improve education through expanding their access to resources and their ability to talk to one another through the web. Before we could answer our research questions, we had a few others to answer.\r\n\r\nWhat do you do when you cannot stick to a schedule? How do you find participants when you cannot recruit ahead of time? What can you do without an equipped lab?\r\n\r\nThe answers to these questions required that we adapt our approaches to fit within a culture new to us. Each school we visited and each person we encountered offered a chance to refine the way we worked.\r\n\r\nIn the end, our revised approach not only allowed us to learn what we hoped to find out, but also encouraged us to explore opportunities that yielded unanticipated discoveries. Even with the trip half a year behind me, I find that its lessons have continued to affect the way I plan and moderate user experience research.\r\n\r\nDuring this lightning talk, I will share the stories from my experience doing UX research in the real world. For the most part, you will get to sit back and enjoy story time. But don’t get too comfy— I will ask for some sharing, and there may even be a language lesson. Wherever you do your research and whatever audience you serve, my stories from Rwanda will provide a fresh perspective on user experience research."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"Track 2","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/veronicaerb/ux-research-in-the-real-world-stories-from-rwanda","slideshare_key":"midwestux-detail-110407230839-phpapp01","talk_url":"http://www.midwestux.com/spotlighted-talks/#c525","timezone":null,"title":"UX Research in the Real World: Stories from Rwanda (MidwestUX 2011)","updated_at":"2011-05-02T19:11:02Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:00:00Z","rating":"3.91"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.65","cached_delivery_rating":"4.64","cached_rating":"4.65","created_at":"2011-04-11T17:05:41Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7141,"info":{"text":"Conducting UX activities with school-age children is fun and interesting, though it can also be frustrating at times. If you are planning a project whose user group includes children, this is the session for you. These aren’t just little people after all, they have a completely different range of emotional, physical and learning abilities than adults. In this brief session you’ll learn the characteristics of these kids and how they can affect your UX study."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/carologic/little-people-big-challenges-ux-with-kids-presented-at-midwest-ux-2011-in-columbus-ohio","slideshare_key":"uxkids-midwestux-2011-final-110409221749-phpapp01","talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/","timezone":null,"title":"Little People, Big Challenges: UX with Kids","updated_at":"2011-04-15T15:30:13Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:00:00Z","rating":"4.65"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.06","cached_delivery_rating":"4.09","cached_rating":"4.07","created_at":"2011-04-11T18:44:32Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7149,"info":{"text":"The effectiveness of universal symbols depends on user recognition, comprehension, and consistent use. This case study presents the design and multicultural user testing of a symbol set for use in healthcare environments. Universal symbols must meet the needs of multicultural audiences, particularly limited English populations. Symbol effectiveness depends on user recognition and comprehension, yet evidence-based testing is relatively new in symbol design. For the design and testing of symbols that effectively convey intended messages across language and culture the involvement of relevant users in health care environments is key. For graphic designers, assessing results of evidence based comprehension testing is relatively new. How the symbols were developed from diverse student resources, tested, data gathered, and subsequent analysis and result is the focus of this presentation.\r\n\r\nAttendees to this presentation, especially those within the health care industry will recognize the need for such usability studies, testing and further research whenever there is need for universal visual communication for diverse users in public, private or corporate environments. This is a growing problem in many parts of the United States not only in health care, but in retail, manufacturing, education, government agencies and the corporate environments. How to assess universal needs and to correctly test designated language groups will be covered. Economic and effective testing methods for universal communication testing will be presented.\r\n\r\nA goal for this presentation is to introduce members of the usability professional community the critical need for usability comprehension testing and further research for developing effective universal visual communication, not only in this case study (hospital signage), but in numerous environments, both physical and virtual."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/#fernandez","timezone":null,"title":"¿Dónde Está? (Where Is It?)","updated_at":"2011-04-14T13:17:57Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:00:00Z","rating":"4.07"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.0","cached_delivery_rating":"2.0","cached_rating":"2.5","created_at":"2011-04-12T01:07:49Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7167,"info":{"text":"The evolution of mobile devices and affordable broadband connectivity give us, as designers, an incredible opportunity to design for real-time and even long-term behavioral change. Leveraging the platform as an advanced inter-connected social ecosystem provides us with the direct contact that's often needed for making a lasting impact.\r\n\r\nThis workshop will include an intense lineup of participatory design exercises that touch on a series of methods for designing compelling user experiences. The focus will be on social responsibility with the intent to affect change at a behavioral level. You will work in teams to execute a design brief that aims at breaking people from a particular set of habits by providing alternatives that result in far-reaching, beneficial effects."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Interaction Design for Social/Mobile Innovation [Workshop]","updated_at":"2011-08-17T20:35:22Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:00:00Z","rating":"2.5"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.09","cached_delivery_rating":"3.99","cached_rating":"4.04","created_at":"2011-04-11T15:14:04Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7131,"info":{"text":"The products and services we deploy are embedded within a \"culture\" and not just a context. Culture is an important concept, but often truncated to just context in lots of design research. \r\nWe need to think beyond user's goals, needs, desires, emotions, context, and psychology; we need to start talking more about culture. The social ecology and culture impact the frame in which your product or service will be interpreted, understood and consumed, or not. How do our design efforts fit within a culture and impact that very same culture.\r\n\r\nWe don't just learn about culture through our official research protocols or formal research activities. It's also about embedding ourselves in a culture and opening up to a critical discourse of cultural deconstruction, which we can and should be doing on a regular basis.\r\n\r\nDesign (even if data and pattern driven) is subjective and we bring our own historical trajectory to our designs. Having a deeper understanding of culture will have a direct impact on what we bring to our design decisions.\r\n\r\nMore broadly, as a design profession we need to be expanding our discourse to include culture and cultural theory into our understanding of interactions, experiences and design.\r\n\r\nThis talk will include my own examples from living and working in the US as well as observations from a recent research trip to Brazil. I will also be exploring cultural theory that designers can quickly start to incorporate into their work. The first step is exposing and making meaning of these cultural insights, and the second step is understanding how they apply to your design work. This talk will demonstrate why we should be paying attention to culture and what we can do with it. I will also propose practical ways we can build our collective cultural knowledge as a design community."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/eadahl/cooking-ux-with-cultural-leftovers-7575556","slideshare_key":"muxdahlpresoexport-110410000946-phpapp01","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Cooking UX with Cultural Leftovers","updated_at":"2011-04-13T03:24:20Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:20:00Z","rating":"4.04"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.53","cached_delivery_rating":"4.62","cached_rating":"4.57","created_at":"2011-04-11T18:46:01Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7150,"info":{"text":"This session will use real examples to show the audience how to design data driven screens in web applications.\r\n\r\nWhy is this important? With the growth in web applications over the past few years, the dashboard (or post-login screen) is always one of the trickiest to get right. What numbers matter, what trends matter, are we interested in precise figures or should we visualise an approximation.\r\n\r\nWhat will it cover? The session covers how to design dashboards, what visualisations work, and what ones don't. It will also cover example dashboards for traditional e-commerce stores, web start-ups and more, complete with practical examples of real insights gained from having the right information to hand.\r\n\r\nWho will benefit? The session will be of use to UX designers, Website owners, Business analysts, and folks working in the start-up space."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/#traynor","timezone":null,"title":"Creating Data Driven Dashboards for Web Applications","updated_at":"2011-04-14T13:29:20Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:20:00Z","rating":"4.57"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.07","cached_delivery_rating":"3.47","cached_rating":"3.77","created_at":"2011-04-08T18:22:13Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7107,"info":{"text":"In-Home Ethnographic interviews are great for learning about the personal details of a group of people and their environment. This type of research provides some challenges though, like when the focus of the study deals with extremely sensitive information.\r\n\r\nOver the course of my career, I've twice had the opportunity to conduct research in environments where sensitive personal information and situations existed on two unique groups of people. The first group was made up of a cancer patients, current and past, and their caregivers. The second group, which is best defined as the \"general public\", with a concentration on their retirement funds and personal investing habits. It's important to note that the research conducted with the second group was right as the financial market was taking a dive in summer of 2008.\r\n\r\n\"From Cancer to Bankruptcy\" is meant to tell the story of the people that were interviewed, and provide insight in how to deal with these sensitive topics, highlight interesting bits of data that not only brought value to the project but helped me grow as a person and designer, and finally offer some insight as to how to deal with situations where it becomes impossible to be the \"impartial\" observer. Attendees will be able to walk away with a basic understanding of how to arm themselves both professionally and emotionally for similar studies."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/bnunnally/from-cancer-to-bankrupcy","slideshare_key":"cancertobankruptcy-mux-110409100718-phpapp02","talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/","timezone":null,"title":"From Cancer To Bankruptcy ","updated_at":"2011-04-13T03:26:34Z","when":"2011-04-09T11:40:00Z","rating":"3.77"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.15","cached_delivery_rating":"3.9","cached_rating":"4.03","created_at":"2011-04-12T13:56:33Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7199,"info":{"text":"Traditionally, User Experience design has been firmly grounded in paper-based documents. Meticulous wireframes, heavyweight specs, granular flow diagrams, and branded presentations have been accepted as the de facto fruits of our labor. But do these deliverables solve business problems? In fact, they don't.\r\n\r\nWhile each artifact provides documentation and a tangible work product to stakeholders, too much focus on their perfection has caused us to be measured and compensated by the quality of our documentation instead of by the success of the experiences we design.\r\n\r\nEnter Lean UX. Inspired by Lean and Agile methodologies, Lean UX is the practice of bringing the true nature of our work to light, faster. In this talk, Jeff will explain the iterative strategy and team communication model that characterizes Lean UX, where documentation is not discounted but instead transformed into a practical and usable tool. Jeff will also explain how to introduce Lean UX to your team, whether you're in a large corporation or an interactive agency.\r\n\r\nThrough articulate visuals and humorous anecdotes the audience will be invited to participate in the discussion with their own questions and challenges. Interaction designers, IA's, UX Designers— anyone responsible for an experience of some kind— will benefit from learning how to get out of the deliverables business and back into the experience design business."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/jgothelf/lean-ux-getting-out-of-the-deliverables-business","slideshare_key":"leaniaupav2-110119135917-phpapp01","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Lean UX: Getting Out of the Deliverables Business","updated_at":"2011-04-13T03:29:36Z","when":"2011-04-09T13:00:00Z","rating":"4.03"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.36","cached_delivery_rating":"3.92","cached_rating":"4.14","created_at":"2011-04-11T17:58:12Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7145,"info":{"text":"When the time and/or money aren't available for a full-scale mental model process, (or when you simply want to sneak it in) you can still create a rich mental model that will provide a solid foundation for features, content strategy and general marketing strategy.\r\n\r\nPresented by Vince Frantz (@vincefrantz) and Eric Wiley (@ericwiley) at Midwest UX 2011."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://slidesha.re/flCI4Q","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Fast Track Mental ","updated_at":"2011-04-12T12:23:11Z","when":"2011-04-09T14:00:00Z","rating":"4.14"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.15","cached_delivery_rating":"4.0","cached_rating":"4.08","created_at":"2011-04-12T03:01:58Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7170,"info":{"text":"Whether putting pen to paper or mouse pointer to blank canvas in your wireframing program of choice, most of us still pick an unconscious 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, landscape-orientation starting point for our designs. And if we need to design for mobile, it's often on a completely separate track that uses a limited subset of the content and functionality we plan for in the \"main web site\".\r\n\r\nBut with smartphones now projected to be in the hands of half of all Americans by the end of this year ([citation][1]) it's vital that user experience architects understand some of the mobile-centric techniques and technologies that developers are already experimenting with.\r\n\r\nIn this presentation, UX professionals will see specific examples of HTML5 and CSS3 that have greatest impact on the user experience, including:\r\n\r\n    * HTML5 form types used to create smart soft keyboard UIs\r\n    * CSS media queries that serve up custom versions of the same page, making them truly responsive to any screen size and resolution\r\n    * Device-orientation and location-awareness technologies that add a context layer to the experience of using a site or application\r\n    * Semantic HTML5 tags that bring our wireframes closer to the code that developers use to create finished web sites\r\n\r\nAny user experience professional, even those not yet working in mobile, can benefit by viewing these new techniques and being aware of how they can be used today and involving designers and developers in that conversation.\r\n\r\n\r\n  [1]: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/smartphones-to-overtake-feature-phones-in-u-s-by-2011"},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/nstop/adaptive-mobile-ux-design","slideshare_key":"midwestux-jenmatson-040911-110410043928-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Adaptive Mobile UX Design","updated_at":"2011-04-13T03:30:23Z","when":"2011-04-09T14:30:00Z","rating":"4.08"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.68","cached_delivery_rating":"4.25","cached_rating":"3.96","created_at":"2011-04-11T21:03:18Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7155,"info":{"text":"Does your analysis seem a bit lightweight at first glance? Do other UXers' charts and graphs kick sand in your deliverable's face?\r\n\r\nDon't be afraid of numbers! You— yes, you!— can quantify anything!\r\n\r\nYou'll learn how to start getting real numbers out of your qualitative research, and get over the fear that you can't \"do the science stuff\". Plenty of rapid-fire real-world examples, including:\r\n\r\n* Content audits! \r\n* Web analytics!\r\n* Bargain wines! \r\n* Gendered social interaction in science fiction\r\n    television shows!\r\n\r\n...no, really!"},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/wendywoowho/the-mystical-power-of-descriptive-statistics","slideshare_key":"mysticalpowerofdescriptivestatistics-110410072657-phpapp01","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"The Mystical Power of Descriptive Statistics","updated_at":"2011-04-12T18:12:32Z","when":"2011-04-09T14:30:00Z","rating":"3.96"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.33","cached_delivery_rating":"4.13","cached_rating":"4.23","created_at":"2011-04-11T19:13:32Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7151,"info":{"text":"Going from a point and click desktop interface to a mobile touch interface dramatically effects how consumers interact with applications and web sites. Much has been written recently about Apple's human interface guidelines but what do Google, HP, BlackBerry and Microsoft have to say about designing for their mobile operating systems?\r\n\r\nIn this presentation you will be introduced to the world of human interface guidelines for mobile devices. What can we learn by comparing and contrasting the guidelines of these three mobile players and how can we incorporate it into our apps and websites? What are the main differences in developing for these platforms and what do user experience designers need to take into account before starting a project? Should you focus on building an app or make your website mobile friendly instead?"},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/bcolbow/colbow-midwest-uxv2nonotes","slideshare_key":"colbowmidwestuxv2nonotes-110413061044-phpapp01","talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/","timezone":null,"title":"Mobile Design, Thinking Beyond Apple","updated_at":"2011-04-13T12:47:19Z","when":"2011-04-09T14:50:00Z","rating":"4.23"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.33","cached_delivery_rating":"3.85","cached_rating":"4.09","created_at":"2011-04-11T18:08:49Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7146,"info":{"text":"How can we engage more people in the user experience process? How can we get team members excited and engaged? How can we push the diversity of ideas created?\r\n\r\nUsing games, with a diverse group of individuals, will help to open people's minds, facilitate fun, and most importantly, encourage creativity. Agreements, discussions, and debates are encouraged and fostered in an open and inviting environment. This type of environment speeds up the idea generation and evaluation process. Focusing on great activities for the idea generation process, digs up opportunities and ideas that exist within the people you work with. This set-up allows for divergent thinking to occur, that eventually builds into convergent thinking which leads to rapid iterative prototyping and testing.\r\n\r\nWe will look at ways to plan, run, and execute brainstorming sessions in a manner that is set up for fun and function. We will review ways to use games to help cultivate an atmosphere that generates ideas and prototypes. Through images, samples, and stories, we will see how games can be put to use to produce tangible results. I have taken my experience in game design, teaching, and user experience, and applied it to the people, which is at the core of creating great ideas and products!\r\n\r\nThe purpose of this talk is to show how cultivating a highly diverse group of people, with fun and games, can create productive meetings and innovative brainstorming. Design, Development, and Management members will benefit from learning new opportunities to add to their creative process. "},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"Track 2","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://slidesha.re/eLi73y","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestux.com","timezone":null,"title":"Creativity through Play","updated_at":"2011-04-11T23:16:05Z","when":"2011-04-09T15:00:00Z","rating":"4.09"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.49","cached_delivery_rating":"4.7","cached_rating":"4.6","created_at":"2011-04-11T23:17:07Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7163,"info":{"text":"If slides don't load properly on SpeakerRate, please see:\r\n\r\n**http://www.slideshare.net/uxcrank/mu-xv2-slideshare**\r\n\r\nUser research? A fad!\r\n\r\nPersonas? Like I don't know enough real people and have to make some up.\r\n\r\nUsability? Hey, if that shopping cart was good enough for Amazon, I'm sure it'll work just fine for us.\r\n\r\nNot everything requires user testing, okay? We learned plenty long before we read any of those fancy books or paid for conferences just to have late-night drunken conversations about taxonomies.In this presentation, we will revisit key lessons we learned back in the halcyon days of our early lives and trace the shocking relevance of what we already know to the 21st century's biggest user experience challenges. "},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/uxcrank/mu-xv2-slideshare","slideshare_key":"muxv2slideshare-110412124858-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Everything You Need to Know About Users, You Learned in High School","updated_at":"2011-04-16T19:57:34Z","when":"2011-04-10T09:15:00Z","rating":"4.6"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.38","cached_delivery_rating":"4.36","cached_rating":"4.37","created_at":"2011-04-12T02:24:51Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7168,"info":{"text":"Large corporations today typically understand that a user experience practice is necessary to obtain insights about users needs, wants and desires. But what is the best way to communicate those insights in order to influence the project direction?\r\n\r\nLearn how Nationwide uses their Wall of Knowledge to illustrate current design problems, the problem's impact to the user, and suggest possible solutions in a way that influences the way business teams think about the project.\r\n\r\nThe process of creating a Wall of Knowledge invites discussion, getting stakeholders to come together and move around a physical space. It organizes large amounts of data in an easily digestible way, and encourages business partners to approach the problem from a different perspective.\r\n\r\nCreating a Wall of Knowledge invites collaboration and debate. The end result is a communally created story, agreed upon by all of the stakeholders, that clearly illustrates the project's next steps."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/heidimunc/wok-munc","slideshare_key":"wokmunc-110411210634-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Influencing Business Using a Wall of Knowledge","updated_at":"2011-04-18T15:49:45Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:00:00Z","rating":"4.37"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.18","cached_delivery_rating":"2.93","cached_rating":"3.06","created_at":"2011-04-11T15:20:33Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7132,"info":{"text":"As User Experience Designers, we carry a heavy burden. We know that ultimately, everything a user sees, interacts with, and experiences is our responsibility. But to get to the seamless, easy-to-use end result that we want, we have to navigate some tricky waters, including the Nine-Headed Stakeholder Monster. It *thinks* it knows just what the user wants. It can be hard to handle and sometimes just downright dangerous. The good news is that we can tame it using a few key techniques. In this talk, I'll share concepts and real-world examples that have helped me effectively collaborate with this unique monster, create better products and, yes, even enjoy the ride.\r\n\r\nThe origin and mythology of the Nine-Headed Stakeholder Monster\r\n\r\nIt's important to know not only who you're designing for but also who you're designing with. Each head represents an archetype you'll encounter during your design process— everyone from development to executives to all of those other people who share their opinions along the way.\r\n\r\nHow to speak monster\r\n\r\nYou'll find out how to ask questions and challenge ideas without getting bit. You'll see what to do when you make the wrong design decision (hey, it happens). And you'll even find out what to do when they say, \"Make it pretty, mortal!\"\r\n\r\nWhy monsters can't resist prototypes\r\n\r\nYou'll find out why prototypes are more effective at communicating your design than requirement documents and wireframes.\r\n\r\nUser Experience Design is hard but rewarding work. In the end, it's really about making someone's life easier so they can go home happy. If you do that right, chances are good you'll go home happy, too (and won't have to worry about that monster under your bed)."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"Track 1","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/geoffalday/taming-the-nineheaded-stakeholder-monster","slideshare_key":"tamingthenine-headedstakeholdermonster-geoffalday-final-110410131512-phpapp02","talk_url":"http://www.midwestux.com/spotlighted-talks/#c538","timezone":null,"title":"Taming the Nine-Headed Stakeholder Monster","updated_at":"2011-04-13T19:23:15Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:00:00Z","rating":"3.06"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.11","cached_delivery_rating":"4.52","cached_rating":"4.31","created_at":"2011-04-11T15:36:55Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7133,"info":{"text":"Have you ever wanted to know the true secret to starting or enhancing an agile design and development shop? How about knowing what makes agile truly successful? After all you've tried all the steps, listened to all the process talks and still something is off.\r\n\r\nWell, look no further because in this talk we unveil the secret step to agile... our good friend the Discovery phase. By going through a discovery phase that helps you unearth the problem you are trying to solve, and then scoping that problem out into basic features of your site, product or service, you can be rest assured that your agile shop is moving in the right direction. We'll no longer have to listen to complaints about the designer slowing things down, and we'll no longer have to argue about the proper state of the end product.\r\n\r\nBy defining all of that upfront, and adjusting it where necessary, we can leave the agile part of things to do what it does best, work quickly and efficiently to decrease risk, time to market, as well as increase customer feedback based design enhancements and overall savings."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/lishubert/agiles-secret-step-discovery","slideshare_key":"uxagilemidwestux04062011-110410133011-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Agile's Secret Step: Discovery","updated_at":"2011-04-13T19:11:14Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:00:00Z","rating":"4.31"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.15","cached_delivery_rating":"4.4","cached_rating":"4.28","created_at":"2011-04-11T15:52:48Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7134,"info":{"text":"You have a new project with a client who is being difficult. You have a tight deadline, limited resources, materials, money and manpower. After your usual processes and methods, you're still not satisfied with the results.\r\n\r\nCurrent concept generation practices are time consuming, resource hungry and costly for companies trying to run \"lean\" in today's economy. Ideas are tested using best case scenarios with predictable outcomes in hope of proving the concept's validity.\r\n\r\nInnovation comes from fresh perspectives and generative methodologies and processes. MacGyver prototyping addresses these issues to help lay the groundwork towards innovation. Suited for practitioners of interaction and experience design, MacGyver prototyping is efficient, cost effective and allows for lightning fast testing, ideating and iteration.\r\n\r\nCombining the best parts of brainstorming, group activities, quick-and-dirty prototyping and bodystorming, participants in this workshop will be lead through the methodology of MacGyver prototyping in small groups. Group discussion and Q & A will follow the activity facilitated by the session leaders.\r\n\r\nWhat you'll learn:\r\n\r\n    Devise scenarios accounting for unpredictability\r\n    Utilize available resources to prototype artifacts and environments\r\n    Examine how assumptions effect outcomes\r\n    Judge plausibility of potential design solutions\r\n    Collaborate to create best-of-breed concept\r\n\r\n* Methodology inspired by the resourcefulness of MacGyver in the 1985 TV series. "},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://johnwaynehill.com/downloads/MacGyver_Prototyping.pdf","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestux.com/spotlighted-talks/#c541","timezone":null,"title":"MacGyver Prototyping","updated_at":"2011-04-12T12:21:43Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:00:00Z","rating":"4.28"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.66","cached_delivery_rating":"3.74","cached_rating":"3.7","created_at":"2011-04-11T16:50:30Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7138,"info":{"text":"Born in Valdosta, Georgia, William Melvin \"Bill\" Hicks was a stand-up comedian, philosopher and a satirist. Widely recognised as one of the world’s greatest stand-up comedians, his premature death aged 32 in 1994 left a legacy that continues to this day.\r\n\r\nIn this entertaining lightning talk, former comedy producer Ian Fenn will demonstrate what UX designers can learn from Bill’s approach, beginning with his much-revered honesty.\r\n\r\nThe talk will unite UX professionals in laughter but also encourage them to look to other creative and skilled disciplines for inspiration. At its heart, the talk will impart key guiding principles that should serve them well throughout their work.\r\n\r\nParental guidance is advised.\r\n\r\n[As attendees will know, I was suffering a throat and chest infection for this presentation and was having trouble speaking. Consequently necessity meant that I spoke less than I normally do, for which I apologise.]"},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/#fenn","timezone":null,"title":"UX with Bill Hicks","updated_at":"2011-05-03T21:39:09Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:00:00Z","rating":"3.7"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.05","cached_delivery_rating":"3.8","cached_rating":"3.93","created_at":"2011-04-12T14:20:13Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7200,"info":{"text":"Making something usable - by eliminating frustration - just isn't enough anymore. Here I present a framework and some language for talking about design beyond frustration. "},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/danachisnell/beyond-frustration-3-levels-of-happy-design-7579636","slideshare_key":"muxbeyondfrustration040411-110410135534-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Beyond Frustration: 3 levels of happy design","updated_at":"2011-04-14T16:27:05Z","when":"2011-04-10T11:20:00Z","rating":"3.93"},{"cached_content_rating":"2.45","cached_delivery_rating":"2.9","cached_rating":"2.68","created_at":"2011-04-13T14:00:44Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7225,"info":{"text":"We as user experience practitioners are faced daily with helping users to not only get to the content they want, but recall and share that content with others.\r\n\r\nIn this talk, I explain the differences and similarities between different recollection and sharing models and how they impact the user experience of content.  Content used to be about the user going and \"getting it\", now we rely more and more on content that we can retrieve over and over and content that is not only sent to us based upon what we tell a system to send to us, but what our friends, family and colleagues recommend to us.\r\n\r\nOverview of the talk:\r\n\r\n* Why we use \"Liking\", \"Favoriting\", \"Starring\" and \"Bookmarking\"\r\n* What the differences are between these different models and the perception they carry\r\n* How these different models impact what a user will do with your content\r\n"},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/periodicdesign/defining-the-user-experience-of-emotion-content","slideshare_key":"definingtheuxofemotioncontentfinal-110410171703-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Defining the User Experience of Emotion & Content","updated_at":"2011-04-14T13:27:59Z","when":"2011-04-10T12:00:00Z","rating":"2.68"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.41","cached_delivery_rating":"3.93","cached_rating":"4.17","created_at":"2011-04-11T18:23:56Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7147,"info":{"text":"Cognitive biases warp our perceptions of organizational culture and the problems we can help the organization solve. Biases also warp our clients’ view of us, their expectations of what we can contribute, and their mental models of the role(s) we can play. \r\n\r\nI encourage you to: \r\n- Recognize that you are member of UX as a culture, which goes beyond your role. \r\n- Be an agent of culture change by merging UX culture with the organizational culture in which you are immersed. \r\n- Help organizational culture adopt the practices and values of UX culture. \r\n- Apply your UX skills to improve problem-solving and decision-making as a way to merge the two cultures. \r\n\r\nPresented on Sun, April 10, 2011; at MidwestUX Conference in Columbus, OH."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/jaytheia/winning-biginux-decisionmakingproblemsolvingincorporateculturemidwestuxjam2011-04-10","slideshare_key":"winningbiginux-decisionmakingproblemsolvingincorporateculturemidwestuxjam20110410-110411125438-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Winning Big in UX: Changing problem-solving culture in organizations","updated_at":"2011-04-13T03:38:51Z","when":"2011-04-10T12:20:00Z","rating":"4.17"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.63","cached_delivery_rating":"3.75","cached_rating":"3.69","created_at":"2011-04-12T12:23:49Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7197,"info":{"text":"Invented by a brick-and-mortar architect in Philadelphia in the 70s and then re-invented by librarians in the Midwest in the 90s, most people who're designing or responsible for the delivery of internet user experience are familiar with \"information architecture\" as a turn of phrase, or as a job title or project phase. But what IS information architecture? For those who call themselves information architects and perhaps more importantly for those who don't, what is the essence of IA? Why not just call it UX?\r\n\r\nIn this talk, Dan Klyn posits that even while we're not going to define the damn thing, we can look at the development of the idea of IA over time and see strong affinities and unbroken continuities in an among the past, present and leading-edge expressions of this thing called IA. Bonus: after identifying the nature of IA, you can know whether or not a particular piece of IA work is good or not."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/danfnord/the-nature-of-information-architecture","slideshare_key":"dk-tnoia-midwestux-110411071917-phpapp01","talk_url":"http://understandinggroup.com/midwestUX","timezone":null,"title":"The Nature of Information Architecture","updated_at":"2011-04-13T19:10:31Z","when":"2011-04-10T14:10:00Z","rating":"3.69"},{"cached_content_rating":null,"cached_delivery_rating":null,"cached_rating":null,"created_at":"2011-04-13T03:12:37Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7207,"info":{"text":"The design and development communities do want to plan and build accessibility features into products, yet most departments don't have a big lab, and rarely have direct familiarity with the major access devices and software used by the disabled. Even with the best intentions, companies' products might be merely accessible, but are not practically usable.\r\n\r\nThis workshop will expand participants' knowledge outside of the \"industry standard\" checklists, and bring real understanding of this large pool of users. For each example, practical tips and exercises will be run through to show problems disabled users face in these situations, with practical usability solutions for them.\r\n\r\nWith a hands-on exercise using a screen reader, the audience will have an experience of using common websites with only a keyboard and no visuals. After the workshop, participants will have a more thorough, hands-on empathy of how the disabled use an operating system and navigate websites, and will be better prepared to re-think their design approach for this large audience and its challenges."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/merkelwerks/practical-accessibility-midwest-ux-conference-2011-7616042","slideshare_key":"practicalaccessibility-midwestuxconference2011-upload-110413110439-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Practical Accessibility: A Workshop","updated_at":"2011-04-13T16:25:25Z","when":"2011-04-10T14:10:00Z","rating":null},{"cached_content_rating":null,"cached_delivery_rating":null,"cached_rating":null,"created_at":"2011-04-14T16:37:46Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7256,"info":{"text":"**Mobile User Experience Is A Business Decision**: A panel discussion on the expanding role of mobile experience design within brands and enterprise.\r\n\r\nJoin a group of business and brand leaders as we discuss the role of experience design and quickening convergence to mobile. We'll discuss the role and background of User Experience as part of business success, understand the challenges that each are hoping to solve through the convergence happening at mobile, and get a sense of vision for the future when it comes to \"portable experience design.\"\r\n\r\nIf you've ever wanted to know how and why some businesses and brands zig when you think they should have zagged, this is the panel for you. Our panelists bring experience ranging from Fortune 500 heft to cherished retail brands with expertise ranging from digital design to business strategy, so bring your questions, too— we'll end the panel with a lively Q&A."},"is_spam":false,"location":"","room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Mobile User Experience Is A Business Decision","updated_at":"2011-04-14T16:39:39Z","when":"2011-04-10T14:10:00Z","rating":null},{"cached_content_rating":"4.16","cached_delivery_rating":"4.68","cached_rating":"4.42","created_at":"2011-04-11T19:14:13Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7152,"info":{"text":"Yes, the title of the talk is a real customer quotation Darren experienced first hand. \r\n\r\nProducts that suck steal money from customers' pockets, waste the time of users' lives, raise users' blood pressure, and inspire customers to doubt the designer's intelligence. Through a mix of embarrassing examples, Darren appeals to the audience to never again design a product that sucks.\r\n\r\nThe principles of why these products went wrong can apply to any product, industry, or technology, not just the Internet products that most of us work on. So, purposefully, none of the examples in the talk are apps or websites. Darren shares the product issue, the root cause, and what could have been done to prevent these products from sucking.\r\n\r\nThe examples will make you cringe, laugh, and shake your head. If you've ever designed a product that sucks, please sit up front so if Darren picks on your product he can point you out to the audience."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/DarrenKall/this-product-sucks-for-midwest-ux-conference","slideshare_key":"darrenkall-thisproductsucks-mux10apr11-110411135721-phpapp02","talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"This Product Sucks! 20-minute version for Midwest UX Conference","updated_at":"2011-05-03T21:37:27Z","when":"2011-04-10T14:10:00Z","rating":"4.42"},{"cached_content_rating":"3.8","cached_delivery_rating":"3.68","cached_rating":"3.74","created_at":"2011-04-12T01:01:17Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7165,"info":{"text":"Your hands are more important than you think. In UX, we tend to view the hands as a way of expressing intentions: press a button; move the cursor; make some gesture. But research on how people use their hands has established a deep and complex relationship between our hands and our minds. In short, our hands help us think.\r\n\r\nWhat does this mean for designing the next-generation of digital objects? Touch surfaces are now common, and the near-future will bring a swarm of new interactive technologies that are deeply dependent on our hands. To design for these technologies, we need an enhanced understanding of how we interact with the world around us.\r\n\r\nIn this presentation, I will explore current research on how people use their hands and what this means for the future of UX design. I will place special emphasis on three topics. First, the notion of the embodied mind, which argues that the boundary of our mind extends beyond the skull. Second, what we know about how people use their hands to interact with digital information, especially multitouch surfaces. Third, emerging concepts and principles for guiding the design of interactive digital objects that depend on the hands."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"","slideshare_key":null,"talk_url":"","timezone":null,"title":"Thinking with your hands","updated_at":"2011-05-03T21:40:23Z","when":"2011-04-10T14:10:00Z","rating":"3.74"},{"cached_content_rating":"4.38","cached_delivery_rating":"4.23","cached_rating":"4.3","created_at":"2011-04-13T14:53:20Z","event_id":795,"featured":false,"id":7226,"info":{"text":"A simple model for reputation is presented: reputation is information used to make value judgments about a person or thing within a context for a time.\r\n\r\nEach of the concepts are discussed in some detail, and finally a simple example is presented (traffic estimates on Google Maps for Android) that demonstrates the model at work, and how to use it to make system design improvements."},"is_spam":false,"location":null,"room":"","series_id":null,"slides_url":"http://www.slideshare.net/soldierant/reputation-modelmidwestux","slideshare_key":"reputationmodelmidwestux-110413094144-phpapp01","talk_url":"http://www.midwestuxconference.com/program/#bryce_glass","timezone":null,"title":"A Model of Reputation","updated_at":"2011-04-14T16:25:39Z","when":"2011-04-10T23:40:00Z","rating":"4.3"}]}