2017 UX Conferences - Where to Go?

Careers & Mentoring
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#1

I just had my bi-annual review, and one of the pieces that was listed on my professional development was to attend two UX Conferences in 2017. I’m excited to get to attend, but admittedly I’m unsure of what the best conferences might be. I’m not looking to learn any new skills in particular, but to stay up-to-date, more or less, on the industry and trends, to do some networking, and broaden my UX horizons?

Can anyone recommend any conferences?

Difficulty: I probably can’t travel too far, so ideally the conference would be in the US. Australia is definitely out (sorry @HAWK), and Europe is likely not in the cards, with the possible exception of the UK if I ask very nicely.

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#2

Hi @dougcollins

Very good question! Actually I was looking to plan some for myself too. I would definitely recommend the Interaction 17 which will be in New York, and also the Adaptive Path design events in San Francisco (It seems they haven’t announced the 2017 schedule yet, but you can find them here soon: http://adaptivepath.org/events-training/). Here you can learn about their past event in 2016: http://uxweek.com/

I would probably show up in Interaction 17 :slight_smile:

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#3

D’aww shucks, you gave me links and everything! Thanks bro.

Interaction 17 looks really quite interesting, and it’s timing is pretty good. I have a big site-wide re-design project that’s due at the end of February, and that conference seems perfectly timed to help me re-engage when I may be getting some brain lag. I’ve always wanted to visit NYC, too, so that’s a bonus. If I go, let’s make sure we get together for a bit.

I’ll keep an eye out for UX Week 2017. Thanks for the links!

If anyone else has any other suggestions, I’d love to hear them :slight_smile:

#4

Of course, let’s catch up on Interaction 17. I may also have a talk in one of their sessions, still waiting for their final schedule :wink:

The conference will be amazing, all great researchers and UX evangelists are gonna show up, and absolutely being in NYC is a bonus for all UXers :slight_smile:

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#5

@Lukcha can probably help with some suggestions here

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#6

Not exhaustive, but these are some of the many decent ones in the US/UK:

@maadonna (who runs many of the main UX events here in Australia) has some valuable opinions on the most valuable conferences in the US & UK too, I bet!

Don’t forget we’ve got our giant list of conferences: http://uxmastery.com/resources/conferences/

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#7

Although I’m not in the field yet working , I’m definitely going to interaction week at some point, sounds awesome and NYC is a 1hour train ride for me.

Sure it’ll be good for a new Jr UX person.

Thanks for the list!!

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#9

Soooo helpful! Thank you very much :smiley:

#10

My pick is always IA Summit (which is much more than an IA conference). I always hear good things about Midwest UX, though haven’t made it yet. Please don’t go to GIANT. NNG are crazy expensive - you could go to 2-3 community conferences for their price. SXSW is too large to enjoy or get anything out of :slight_smile: UIE conferences are professional and solid - always really good content.

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#11

@Lukcha, @AshleaMcKay @ruth and I are currently at UXNZ and it’s been amazing so far.

Looking forward to seeing Ash on the stage shortly as the UX Agony Aunt. Hang fire for a photo.

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#12

Thanks again to everyone for the great suggestions! Looks like I’m going to ask to go to Interaction 17 and ACM’s Computer Human Interaction (in my beautiful hometown). Hopefully I’ll see some of you there!

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#13

@dougcollins : I don’t know your location yet, but you can browse near by UX Designer meetup at UX Conferences in 2017 . Or let me know if you need more help to reach at there. Thanks

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#14

I went to UXNZ too. My first UX conference (yay… finally allowed out in public! :wink: ) It was a good blend of practical, here’s something interesting, and here’s something to think about.

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#15

Oh! I wish I had known and we would have sought you out. Glad you enjoyed it. :slight_smile:

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#16

Another option is Design & Development Conference 2017 in Barcelona. Flights to there from US might be cheaper than you assume.

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#17

One that hasn’t been mentioned yet is UXSTRAT (which has both europe and US conference). It focuses more on the strategic aspect of UX. If I get to go to one conference this year, this is the one I will propose (US for me…)

Europe: June 15-16, 2017
USA: September 2017

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#19

I’m organising The UX Conference in London on June 13th for designers and developers to understand UX design and each other better: theuxconf.com.

It’s going to be a really interesting day full of practical UX design talks & hands-on workshops: from creating chatbots, designing a style guide and running card sorting to managing UX team, creating experience maps and rapid prototyping. All suitable for junior and mid-weight designers & developers.

Come along!

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#20

@sgolubev I’d love to be able to come! Unfortunately, I don’t think my company is going to spring for me to go to London, especially only for a single-day conference. It’s a bummer, too-- looking through the site, it looks like there’s a lot there to learn!

#21

No worries, Doug, if you can’t make it in person, you can always book video recording on our site.

#22

I went to World IA Day in Seattle this last weekend and highly recommend watching some of the recorded videos the event!

http://2017.worldiaday.org/locations

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