Calgary UX

Brian Traynor from Mount Royal University’s Information Design program has invited Calgary UX group members to presentation at the school on Wednesday, March 20.

A representative from Noldus will be demonstrating their Observer XT software, an event-logging tool focused on the “collection, analysis, and presentation of observational data” – something that might come in handy when conducting user research and usability studies.

More information on Observer XT can be found on Noldus’ website at http://www.noldus.com

The presentation will be held at 3:30pm in the afternoon in room T295.

To help find your way around campus, please refer to the MRU visitor parking map and the level 2 campus map. (The easiest entrance to find the room from is the West Gate. If you are driving, you can park in Lot 2.)

VanUE is hosting an event tonight to share the findings of the survey that was sent out in the fall. They have set up a GoToMeeting so that you can join in remotely. There is only capacity for 100 remote participants so make sure to sign in early. A huge thank you to VanUE (www.vanue.com) for setting this up, and for the opportunity to join in!

presentation starts at: 7:00pm MST/6:00pm PST

panel discussion starts at: 7:30pm MST/6:30pm PST

Here are the details

How much is UX talent worth? What are companies looking for in a ‘UX’ person? What are the skills that matter? How do you find, hire, and keep a UX professional?

Last fall we asked the VanUE community to participate in the Work and Salary Survey. (Nope, not the IA Institute one, but a survey just for us Canadians!) This survey captured information on demographics, work experience and positions, and compensation of UX professionals across Canada. The goal for this survey was to gather up-to-date information about the state of user experience jobs to help all professionals understand the UX market and opportunities in Canada.

Now the time you’ve been waiting for has finally come. Answers have been tallied, numbers have been crunched, and Laura Ballay and Meghan Deutscher from Periscope UX will share highlights of the survey results.

Following the salary survey presentation, Gordon Ross from OpenRoad will facilitate a discusson of several senior UX professionals on the topic of finding, hiring, and keeping UX designers. The panelists come from a range of industry and professional backgrounds, but are all responsible for hiring user experience talent. They will be discussing their shared and unique challenges of managing UX staff against the backdrop of the salary survey findings.

Panelists:

Representing the following types of organizations:

Chris Ryan, VP Interaction Design and Usability at Vision Critical

Chris Miller, Director of Brand Services at Cossette

Blair Neufeld & Dominique Bohn, User Experience Design Team leads, BC Gov

Boris Mann, Managing Partner, Full Stack

Speakers:

Periscope UX is Laura Ballay and Meghan Deutscher, two User Experience and Interaction Designers based in Vancouver, BC. With their combined 20 or so years of design and usability experience and Masters degrees in Interaction Design and HCI, they provide a full range of user-centered design services to clients in web, mobile and software.

How to connect:

1. Please join my meeting, 2013-02-26 at 6:30 PM MST.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/901731032

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) – a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.

Dial +1 (647) 497-9351

Access Code: 901-731-032

Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting

Meeting ID: 901-731-032

GoToMeeting®

Online Meetings Made Easy®

Not at your computer? Click the link to join this meeting from your iPhone®, iPad® or Android® device via the GoToMeeting app.

In recognition of World Usability Day on November 8th the Faculty of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University has put together a selection of speakers and have extended the invitation to CalUX.  Here are the details…

Measuring user experience during product development or after release can indicate if you got design right or where there might be potential problems. Each new product or service seems to have unique needs and extends our knowledge around user interaction.  On November 8, World Usability Day, come listen to industry experts share their experiences and best practices.  We have an outstanding list of guest speakers.
Date/Time:  Thursday, 8 November.   5:00 – 7:10

Location:  Room Y324 (videoconference classroom)

Note: Room Y324 is closest to the West Gate entrance on campus. I’ve included a link to our MRU Transportation & Parking website.
http://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/TransportationParking/index.htm

Agenda:

5:00  Introductions

5:05  Rob Lokinger, App Centrica Inc. (Toronto) – UX: What’s Unique About Business Systems

5:25  Darryl Prince, UserInsight,(Atlanta) – Small Business Personas

5:45  Alan Boykiw, SMART Technologies (Calgary) – Challenges of Multi-Touch Interfaces

6:05  Jennifer Hogan, Getty Images (Calgary) – Changing a Business Model through UX Research

6:25  Darren Northcott, UX Guys (Calgary) – Gesture Based UX: taking mobile to a new level

6:45  Erik Fields, Critical Mass (Calgary) – Just Ask Why. The success of Apple and all things successful

7:05  Wrap-up

Online Lync:
If you  can’t make it to the event in person, don’t worry as it will be presented as a synchronous session so you can join and participate online.

Guest access for online participation:

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.27C696A0E491AC5622A97401483767&sid=2011305

You will be asked to accept a Java download to access the collaborative environment.  You can validate your computer setup at the following
Blackboard link:

http://support.blackboardcollaborate.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=8336&task=knowledge&questionID=1