On August 12th, we kicked off the OhioX User Experience Roundtable. (See my category of posts about OhioX for background.)
- Watch the recording of the webinar. (Edited to 40 minutes.)
- Fill out the feedback and volunteer form. Tell us what you thought and how you want to be involved.
What happened at the kickoff
We had 80 people register and about 40 attend. Most were practicing UXers, a few were aspirants (e.g., students) and a few were from workforce development.
The first 30 minutes were focused on using the slides to explain key points. I recapped my history of UX communities in Ohio and showed our draft model of how we hope to support OhioX (and our own goals).
UX Communities
I shared some stories from my 20+ years of being a part of Ohio UX communities, such as BuckCHI (1996-2002), NEOUPA World Usability Day cake (2008, with many WUD events across the state over the years), UX Toledo Region (2012-2018), and MidwestUX in 2012 (it was also in Ohio in 2011 & 2017, postponed in 2020).
A few people asked about a list of the “active” communities. The groups I have been in contact with regarding the roundtable (and who helped make it happen): UX Akron, IxDA Cincinnati, IxDA Columbus, IxDF Columbus. Folks from UXPA Cleveland have been a big help, as they wind their local group down.
Other groups who I will approach to get more involved: IDSA Columbus & Cleveland & Cincinnati, AIGA Cincinnati & Cleveland & Columbus & Toledo, IxDF Cleveland & Cincinnati, UX Dayton, Columbus & Cleveland CXPA, Ladies that UX Cincinnati. Some of these groups might be dormant or still emerging.
When you expand to other professionals who are interested in UX, it explodes: librarians, marketers, software developers, corporate communications, product people, change managers, etc.
UX Capabilities
In the UX Capabilities breakout, led by Marc Majers, the group talked about how to set up a UX practice within an organization. The challenge is figuring out the right approach based on culture, product maturity, industry, business model, and much more.
In the Zoom chat, it was also mentioned that “generative research doesn’t get quite the focus that evaluative does.” We can gain “influence for UX and design in general when we have a seat at creating the focus for the product (new products, new features, etc.).”
Professionalization
Joshua Randall is the captain of the Professionalization team and reported that they talked about the right professional analogy: lawyer or electrician? There is a huge gap in entry level jobs. We do not have a standardized list of skills.
Career Awareness
Our leader of Career Awareness, Melanie Bozzelli, mentioned diversity & inclusion as a key topic. Challenges: how to reach students when they are ready, explaining evolving UX job roles.
Humane Tech Hub
As we wrapped up, we also talked a little about social responsibility. For example, “Move slow & fix things” instead of “Move fast & break things”. In the Zoom chat, someone recommended Festina lente: “make haste, slowly”.
What to do next
The vibe from the session I got was captured in the chat: “Fun connecting with you all!” – “Nice to meet so many awesome folks” – “Great to see everyone and excited about seeing this group together.”
Great start! Here are some things that you can do next:
Learn more about OhioX: what they are doing, how to join, etc. (Roundtables for UX, MarCom, and Product Management are not listed on the website yet.) Ohio Tech Day is the next big event. Save May 18th for the in-person #OhioTechSummit.
Sign up for the OhioX email newsletter, follow on Twitter and LinkedIn, join the Slack.
Specifically about the UX Roundtable: Fill out the Feedback and Volunteer form. This will help us plan whatever comes next.
If you want to mention our efforts, add #OhioUX to your tweets and LinkedIn posts to help spread the word. Thanks!
