World Usability Day is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of November by thousands of people in countries around the world. It is about promoting “making life easier.” Here are some tips that I hope will make your event planning easier.
- Will you follow the World Usability Day theme? Check out worldusabilityday.org for the current theme and decide if you can incorporate it into your event. If the theme doesn’t match your company, doesn’t motivate your planning team, or doesn’t excite your target audience, you don’t have to use it to have a great event. Think of another usability angle to promote.
- What is the takeaway food for attendees? What do you hope attendees will gain from your efforts? Knowledge of usability concepts? Real UX Skills You Can Take Back? Knowledge about the products and / or services of your organization? Respect for your organization’s commitment to user experience? Registration to your group? Keep your goal in mind.
- Will it be a public or private event? Is this something you want to open up to people outside of your organization? One of the obvious benefits of doing so is advertising the fact that you care about the user experience of your products. Another benefit is the purely unselfishness of spreading the UX gospel to the masses. Some disadvantages of a public event are the logistics, financing and the time required to organize it.
- Will you host events on site or off site or neither? Whether public or private, are you going to hold your event in your organization, elsewhere or virtually? This could depend on the type of event you choose to host and the scope you want. Or it can boost the type of event you do.
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How will you pay for it? If you have a core UX team, you probably have your own UX budget. If you’re part of a core company-wide team, funding could be an issue. You may need to consider some costs:
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site or room rental (don’t forget to book a rehearsal day too)
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speaker fees
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promotion (signage, flyers, newspapers)
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food or snacks (a great time to ditch the Halloween candy from the week before!)
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team
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support staff (event coordinator, A / V, network)
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materials (brochures)
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swag gift
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- Have you expected participation? Rather than simply having a speaker present to the audience, you could consider an event where attendees can be actively involved before the event (photo submission, scavenger hunt), during the event (quiz show, “quiz at the hallway “) or after the event (follow-up surveys). Those are fun ideas, and they can help your UX themes stay better with your audience, but they require more planning and prep time.
- How far in advance should you start planning? Are things getting done quickly or slowly in your organization? Are coveted conference rooms or nearby venues booked months in advance? Do internal announcements and company-wide emails take a long time to get approved? Is this a voluntary endeavor where the planning team still has its normal work to do and which takes precedence? Is anyone in the planning group well connected with key people who will get things done quickly just for them? Consider your answers to those questions as you plan your schedule.
- Is your audience a UX expert? Are you preaching to the UX choir? If so, you can raise the bar on your presentation and fill it with UX jargon, abstraction, and inner humor. But if you’re trying to indoctrinate UX newbies, keep it light and stay out of the weeds. Anyone can relate to a bad user experience, use that as a starting point.
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Finally …
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Designate one or two lead coordinators
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Check current and past WUD events for ideas
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Brainstorm and refine ideas based on your goal, audience, venue, time, and budget
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Make backup plans in case of no-shows, equipment failure, venue / room hijacking, hurricanes, etc.
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Make a to-do list and asset list with names, dates, and times
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Test
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Arrives early
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Remember the goal
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Have fun
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Take photos
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Thank your sponsors
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