Proposals

I guess it’s time to jump into the deep end of the pool.  I am very new to this.  Here’s a public record of my successful and not so successful conference proposals.

2011 IA Summit Proposal

Proposed Title:  The Reluctant Design Strategist:  A Story of a UX Team of 1.5 Failing Forward.

What content will you address?  How is your topic relevant to the IA Summit audience?

Over the years I’ve noticed a theme when it comes to the case studies and redesigns that get presented at big conferences:  Often they are e-commerce related. Often there are teams of people working together to solve the problem.  Often there is real money associated with the project.

I don’t have any of that.  I work at nonprofit.  I am a UX “team” of 1.5.

And though I don’t have all the answers and am still trying to figure it all out (as I think many new-to-UX people are) there is one theme that is becoming clear:  Though my title is User Experience Analyst and I love doing user research first and foremost, if I want my projects to succeed I have to become a better Design Strategist.  And thus, that’s the title of my talk:  The Reluctant Design Strategist.

I’d like to share four stories — 2 complete failures and 2 success stories — based on my work in a large nonprofit organization.  Looking back on why things failed and why things succeeded I’ve come to realize the successes had everything to do with spending time developing strategy.  And in the absence of strategy, I had to make one up.

This would be my first time attending the IA Summit, so I confess I worry it might not be right for the audience.  But if you have attendees who are just starting out in the UX field, people who are hitting their heads against the wall because their work isn’t seeing the light of day, or who don’t have huge teams and big dollars I can share some of the ideas on how they might reduce their failure rate.

How will you deliver your content? How will people participate?

Do any of you watch the E! channel’s Fashion Police show?  If so, you’ll understand how I’m proposing to model the talk.  Each week the fashion panel plays a game called ‘Starlet’ or ‘Streetwalker’.  They show a picture of someone and ask the panel to decide if it’s a starlet or a streetwalker.  They have little paddles they hold up.  I think I could engage the audience by playing a similar game with the four stories I’d share.  I could summarize the story and then ask the audience to hold up a sign guessing whether I succeeded or failed.  I could engage the audience by asking them why they thought one way or the other and then go on to describe what happened.

Supplemental Materials

My idea is still a bit rough around the edges, but I hope this sketch helps communicate the idea and story I’m trying to tell:

IA Summit Proposal – Reluctant Design Strategist Sketch [PDF]

So what happened with this one?

I got accepted!  I’m so excited!  And sooooo nervous.  But once upon a time, a very long time ago (nobody knows exactly how long ago) a theater director told me that if I was filled with nerves it simply meant I was about to do something great.  I sure hope he was right…