Holistic Usability: Making Stone Soup for Stakeholders and Clients

Tuesday June 22, 2010, 6pm to 8pm

Quicken Loans in Livonia, Michigan

What things do you create that allow people to make connections and share experiences?

As UX professionals, we are often the champion of the end-user. Whether an IA, an IXD, or a usability specialist, our main goal is to create good experiences surrounding products.

But our products are more than just interfaces, designs, software, or widgets; they are reports, personas, presentations, recommendations, and a myriad of other deliverables that we created for the people who commissioned our work: clients and stakeholders.

The UX skills we employ every day in creating positive and memorable experiences for the end-user can be used on business stakeholders, software engineers, and clients of our services in order to:

  • increase investment
  • decrease productivity blocking
  • increase efficient information sharing, and ultimately
  • improve the end-user experience

Through the concepts of holism and corporate culture, this talk will present case studies that examine how UX techniques, methods, skills, and deliverables can be repurposed to create good experiences for all people who come into contact with our work. (Christina’s talk is based on a workshop given at the 2010 UPA Conference in Munich, Germany in May 2010.)

Christina York is Manager of the User Experience Design group at ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization that provides ways of finding and accessing scholarly information online in the creation of new knowledge. She is passionate about all things usable, useful, and meaningful.

Christina has worked in the UX field for more than eight years and still loves what she does every day. Her favourite things are the UX community, horror films, beer, and Deeeetroit Basketball. Find Christina on Twitter (@UXtina) and in local brew pubs in Ann Arbor.

Location

Quicken Loans
Puerto Rico Room – Third Floor
20255 Victor Parkway
Livonia, MI 48152 (map)
Website

Cost

$5, Current students
$10, Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association members
$20, All others

Register online at Guestlist so we can ensure we have enough refreshments to go around. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} miupa dot org.

Schedule

6:00pm, Networking and food
6:45pm, Announcements
7:00pm, Program begins

State of Michigan User Experience Awareness Day

Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Michigan State Police Training Academy Auditorium, Lansing

As part of our mission to promote usability in the state of Michigan, the Michigan Chapter of the Usability Professionals Association (MiUPA) is pleased to host the State of Michigan User Experience Awareness Day

This event is being held in conjunction with the State of Michigan Department of Technology Management & Budget (DTMB), and is primarily focused on supporting usability efforts throughout the state government.

When

Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Where (Please note location change)

Michigan State Police Training Academy Auditorium
7426 N Canal Rd
Dimondale, MI 48821-5001

map

There is limited seating available for the afternoon session, which runs from 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Afternoon agenda:

User Centered Design methods you can use today.

  • Method Discussions
    • User Profiles and Personas
    • User Requirements vs. Technical Requirements and the Separation of Designer / Programmer roles
    • Web Evaluation Lite
    • Writing for the Web
  • Open Discussion
  • Next Steps

There is no fee for this event, thanks to our generous sponsors:

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please send reservation requests to president@miupa.org

Social Networking with Lou Rosenfeld

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti

Lou Rosenfeld, one of the fathers of information architecture, is in town, and this is your chance to rub elbows with him and your fellow usability, IA, and UX professionals!

Lou Rosenfeld is teaching two day long workshops in Ann Arbor on March 30th and 31st. On Tuesday, March 30th, starting at 7pm, the Michigan UPA will host a networking function at the Corner Brewery brewpub in Ypsilanti. This is your chance to network and have fun with your colleagues. There will be a cash bar, and Michigan UPA will provide snacks. There will be book giveaways, and Lou Rosenfeld will be available for book-signing.

This event is brought to you by MIUPA, and co-sponsored by Ypsilanti Area Convention & Visitors Bureau and Rosenfeld Media.

When

Tuesday, March 30, 7 PM – 9 PM
Lou Rosenfeld will only be there until 9PM, but feel free to stay and enjoy the Corner Brewery after that!

Where

Corner Brewery
720 Norris St
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
Map

Cost

Registration is $5. Please register at online registration service Guestlist.
Book giveaways will be based on registrations.

What Makes an Effective User Experience Professional and Team: The UX Practitioner Perspectives

February 23, 2010, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

West Hall, Room 411 (aka “Ehrlicher Room”), University of Michigan

The Michigan chapters of UPA and CHI (currently in formation), in conjunction with the University of Michigan School of Information Career Development Office and Student CHI Chapter, invite you to a very special evening networking and panel session. Five industry UX practitioners will give short position presentations on the skills that make a successful practitioner and team. This will be followed by panel and audience Q&A discussion,and then a networking reception. Come to network, learn, and position/reposition yourself for success in this exciting field.

LEARN what user experience industry professionals are saying about what it takes to succeed in the field.  Make sure you are developing the skills and competencies that will grow your effectiveness, currency, and marketability.

When

Tuesday February 23rd, 2010 7:00 – 9:00PM

Where

West Hall, Room 411 (aka “Ehrlicher Room”), University of Michigan

1085 South University Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107

Cost

Free – University of Michigan School of Information full-time students and faculty
$5 – Other current students
$10 – Michigan Usability Professionals’ Association or Michigan Computer Human Interaction members
$15 – All others

Register online so we can ensure we have enough refreshments to go around. We’ll also take payment (cash or check) at the door. Questions? Email events {at} miupa dot org.

Schedule

6:45 PM, Registration opens

7:00 PM, Announcements

7:10 PM, Program begins

8:25-9:00 PM, Networking

Panelists

Mike Beasley

User Experiologist, Pure Visibility, Inc.

Dan Cooney

User Experience Consultant

Lija Hogan

Usability Team Lead, ForeSee Results

Sumanth Muthyala

Senior User Experience Engineer, Compuware Corporation

Michael Wuergler

Human Factors Engineer, OnStar by GM

This panel will be moderated by Dave Mitropoulos-Rundus (aka ‘the Jerry Springer of panel moderators’ and a staunch supporter of the ‘Brawls for Better Brains Society’)

UX and Agile

a panel discussion on User Experience in an Agile Environment

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Organic, Bloomfield Hills

Practicing user experience as part of an agile project can be challenging. How do we provide for a consistent user experience across the entire product when the development is broken up into short iterations? How do we perform typical user experience design tasks like user research, persona development, user testing, or UI design in an agile environment?
Bring your questions. This panel of experts will discuss best practices they have discovered.

When

Thursday, January 28, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Where

Organic
2600 S. Telegraph
Suite 100
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
(Enter off Franklin Road)
Map

Cost

$5 for Full-time Students (ID must be presented)

$10 for MIUPA and MOCHI members

$20 All others

RSVP

Seating is limited, so please RSVP at Upcoming.org to ensure entrance to this event. You can also send an RSVP to events@miupa.org

Schedule

6:00 PM Registration, networking, and pizza

6:45 PM Announcements

7:00 PM Program

Panelists

Helene Gidley
Owner of Agile PM consulting firm HSG Consulting LLC and founder of Agile Groupies, A2 based Agile User Group

Carissa Demetris
Owner, Circle D Design

Josie Scott
Senior User Researcher, TechSmith

Serena Rosenhan
User Experience Specialist, ProQuest

John Rivard
Information Architect, Assistant Vice President, Comerica Bank

Moderator

Anthony Viviano
Senior Experience Architect at Organic Detroit