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talks & workshops - descriptions

Discover our program.

Find out more about our talks and workshops and have a

look at our speaker bios.

DebbieLevittTalk

Stop evangelizing UX -
and what to do instead

live-streamed & video-recorded

No other role at your company spends time and effort evangelizing themselves the way we do. Developers aren’t making PowerPoints to explain why it’s important to hire qualified developers and let them write code. QA isn’t holding meetings to teach everyone the importance of testing software. It’s just us and it’s making us look weird and whiny. It’s rarely working and sometimes backfiring. How do you get CX and UX buy-in or start leveling up your company’s maturity?

This session will examine the pitfalls of evangelism and what actions we can take instead. We’ll look at how some of the popular methodologies we think are bringing everybody onto the CX bandwagon might be training co-workers on how little they need us. We’ll focus on hiring CX specialists, building more Agile and Lean teams, improving collaboration between our cross-functional teammates and us, and avoiding the pitfalls of fake Agile, fake Lean, and design-by-committee.

We’ll learn how to bring customer-centricity, business strategy, Agile, and Lean together. We can prove the value of CX and UX with a “show, don’t tell” approach.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Debbie Levitt

Debbie Levitt is the CXO of Delta CX. She's a CX and UX consultant specializing in strategy, research, training, and Human-Centered Design. Using Agile and Lean principles, she helps businesses become customer-centric.

 

Debbie has worked in CX and UX leadership and individual contributor roles at companies like Wells Fargo, Macy's, StepStone, Sony Mobile, and Constant Contact. San Francisco agencies like Traction, Fjord, LIFT, Rauxa, ROI·DNA, and Fiddlehead have sought her out for projects. Clients call her "Mary Poppins" because she improves everything she can and then moves on to her next adventure. Her book, "Customers Know You Suck" (2022), is a how-to manual for customer-centricity. She self-publishes through her own imprint, Delta CX Media.

 

Debbie also enjoys singing symphonic prog goth metal, opera, and New Wave. You can find her on the Delta CX YouTube channel.

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RazSchwartz

How do you research the future?
6 lessons about UX research from developing zero to one products

Finding new products opportunities is hard. In this talk I share six lessons I learned about taking product teams from zero to one and from leading groups of UX researchers and data scientists over my career at Facebook, Oculus and Spotify.  From the favelas of Brazil to the streets of Japan, I show examples highlighting the importance of triangulating data and bringing forward a strong research voice to guide a product vision. 

live-streamed & video-recorded

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Raz Schwartz

Raz is a former Senior Product Insights Manager at Spotify where he focused on new product innovation and the study of emerging technologies such as Audio AI and Web3. 

Before joining Spotify Raz was a research manager on the Facebook AR/VR team. Prior to Facebook, Raz was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Tech and at Rutgers University as well as a research fellow at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia Journalism School. During his Ph.D., Raz was a visiting scholar at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Raz's work was published in various academic settings and was featured in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Rhizome, and The Atlantic.
 

Raz Schwartz.jfif
WillMiner

The business behind the buttons

live-streamed & video-recorded

In this talk, we will examine how the industry and business model of a company can influence its design and research practices. We will explore the unique challenges and opportunities that designers and researchers face when working in various industries, including consumer goods, education, and finance.
 
We will also examine how different factors, such as the economic environment, user demographics, and the competitive landscape, can impact the design process. By highlighting best practices for conducting research and designing successful products in a variety of contexts, we hope to equip attendees with a better understanding of the interplay between business and design.
 
Whether you are a designer, researcher, or product manager, this talk will provide valuable insights into how different industries and business models can shape your design and research practices. Join us as we explore new ways to approach your work and create successful products, no matter the industry.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Will Miner

Will is a designer and product leader with over a decade of experience in building productivity-focused software. He has led teams of various sizes, ranging from a single member to as many as 90 individuals. Will's leadership approach is anchored on values such as quality, inclusivity, and authenticity.

 

Currently, Will works at Slack, leading product design for our enterprise surfaces. 

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XhesilaReci

Purpose-led design

live-streamed & video-recorded

Can we do so much good through technology while still driving a good business? Purpose-led design brings together human behaviors and their impact on business, society and the planet in this mindset where we start designing with a purpose in mind.

It is a continuation and extension of human-centred design, which was the first major design mindset and methodology that came out of the world wide web bubble, full of unstructured links and information. The web in early 2000 was messy. Nobody knew what to do with it until user-centred design created this mindset that the web exists to serve people and not the other way around. While focusing on the users, we started to forget about humans.  

So then, we began talking about human-centred design. After all, we were designing for a person with a personality, a family, a house, and an everyday life beyond the screen of a laptop or a mobile phone. We started talking about user journeys and how it impacts their everyday life and their family. The ecosystem started broadening from users to humans, eventually leading to talks about purpose-led design. This brought an even larger ecosystem into the picture, where you think about design beyond human experiences. We started to consider the impact design has on society and the planet at the same time. 


In this talk I will explore some of the tools that can help us design with purpose.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Xhensila Reci

Xhensila is an optimistic individual who is committed to working with sustainable businesses that are forward-looking. She primarily leads teams that are focused on creating digital experiences with a clear sense of purpose. Over the past five years, Xhensila has been involved in the development of several creative projects, working closely with design agencies, startups, and corporations. Her ultimate goal is to leverage the power of exceptional design and human interaction to inspire businesses to adopt conscious and humanity-centered practices.

Currently, Xhensila is UX lead at The LEGO Group.

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SetorZilevu

The future of technology:
Merging UX & AI

live-streamed & video-recorded

Let yourself be surprised!

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

intermediate to expert

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Setor Zilevu

Setor is a Lead User Experience Researcher at Meta (Facebook) and a professor at New York University, Tandon School of Engineering. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, a Master of Science in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction. Setor was honored as a 2022 Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review for his work on developing assistive technologies for stroke survivors.  He has a wealth of experience in the field, having worked on developing interfaces and user experience for the world's first cyber-human system for stroke survivors, and is now utilizing the Z-Methodology to merge UX and AI in education, retail, and sports.

 

His additional past experiences include working as a UX Researcher at Google and focusing his Ph.D. dissertation on understanding the mental models of humans as it pertains to therapists and clinicians to aid in creating an in-home-based system for stroke survivors. His work over the years has led him to become the youngest Ghanaian UX Ph.D. holder.

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JavierBargasTalk

Making a career in UX

audio-recorded

In this session I will share some of the common pitfalls that people commit when approaching their career in the field of UX. This is not a scientific talk. It's me sharing some lessons I have learned through building and managing UX teams, as well as mentoring and coaching numerous people in the field of UX.

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

das lot

skill level:

mid-level to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila

Javier is a User Experience (Research) manager with over 20 years of experience in the field. He is passionate about building effective research organizations that deliver critical user insights, which help teams develop successful products that delight users. He has a proven track record of career development and coaching, making him a trusted manager.

Currently, Javier is
leading the UX Research organization for Google Play. Prior to that, he built a UX research organization for Google Cloud Platform, where he focused on developing processes, programs, methods, and tools that helped researchers conduct high-quality research. Additionally, he built and led UX research teams working on Google's brand advertiser products and YouTube. Before joining Google, Javier built and managed the HCI research lab at the University of Basel.

Javier holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in HCI journals and conferences. His work has covered topics such as user satisfaction, mental models in website perception, website aesthetics, and internationalization of products.

Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila
JavierBargasWorkshop

UX metrics: Measuring the
user experience 

live-streamed & video-recorded

As we move from technology to user centered product development, the question arises how to define and measure smart user centric metrics that provide signals about users experience. This talk presents the HEART framework, a publicly available Google tool to help you think through, plan and implement user centric metrics for your products.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

mid-level / advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila

Javier is a User Experience (Research) manager with over 20 years of experience in the field. He is passionate about building effective research organizations that deliver critical user insights, which help teams develop successful products that delight users. He has a proven track record of career development and coaching, making him a trusted manager.

Currently, Javier is
leading the UX Research organization for Google Play. Prior to that, he built a UX research organization for Google Cloud Platform, where he focused on developing processes, programs, methods, and tools that helped researchers conduct high-quality research. Additionally, he built and led UX research teams working on Google's brand advertiser products and YouTube. Before joining Google, Javier built and managed the HCI research lab at the University of Basel.

Javier holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers in HCI journals and conferences. His work has covered topics such as user satisfaction, mental models in website perception, website aesthetics, and internationalization of products.

Javier Andrés Bargas-Avila
DebbieLevittWorkshop

Strategizing products and customer experience (SPACE)

Your Entire Business Revolves Around Customer and User Experiences

Everybody is talking about customer-centricity and being more “user-obsessed,” but what does that really mean? Sometimes we are sacrificing quality, collaboration, and the customer experience to “just ship it” and find out very late and reactively if our ideas, products, or services had any benefits for users.

Customers don’t want minimally viable anything. They want their problems solved and their expectations met or exceeded. Business goals don’t always overlap with customers’ needs. Agile and Lean claim customer satisfaction is our highest priority, but are we delivering high value to our trial and paying users? The customer decides what is “quality,” “done,” and “good enough,” and their standards might be higher than yours.

Customers notice when we get it wrong. Our competitors, investors, shareholders, the press, bloggers, and social media notice. Morale suffers, and we might have trouble retaining or hiring the best leaders and staff. Great customer experiences require the right team and strategies in place to predict and mitigate the risk of delivering wrong or flawed products, services, and experiences (PSE). Marketing and sales initiatives have uphill battles when we are offering PSE that are difficult to learn, frustrating to use, or not meeting customers’ real needs.

What needs to change and how can we start to create this shift on our teams and at our companies? It’s not always easy or straightforward. In this workshop, we’ll look at models and approaches for a small or large business transformation back to high quality products and services that meet and exceed customers’ real needs.

Roughly half of the workshop time is spent in exercises that are in a Miro board. You’ll need a computer but you won’t need a Miro account.

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

freiraum 3

skill level:

open to all / more strategic

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Debbie Levitt

Debbie Levitt, MBA, is the CXO of Delta CX. She's a CX and UX consultant specializing in strategy, research, training, and Human-Centered Design. Using Agile and Lean principles, she helps businesses become customer-centric.

 

Debbie has worked in CX and UX leadership and individual contributor roles at companies like Wells Fargo, Macy's, StepStone, Sony Mobile, and Constant Contact. San Francisco agencies like Traction, Fjord, LIFT, Rauxa, ROI·DNA, and Fiddlehead have sought her out for projects. Clients call her "Mary Poppins" because she improves everything she can and then moves on to her next adventure. Her book, "Customers Know You Suck" (2022), is a how-to manual for customer-centricity. She self-publishes through her own imprint, Delta CX Media.

 

Debbie also enjoys singing symphonic prog goth metal, opera, and New Wave. You can find her on the Delta CX YouTube channel.

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JenniferFraser

Authentic conversations:
your team’s superpower when you don’t have magic lassos

Communication is a critical skill in our role as UX Professionals and as Leaders. Regardless of whether your background is in Design, Research or some other UX –related discipline, in your job, most of your time has been spent communicating; communicating to stakeholders, clients, colleagues and team members. Yet, communication skills are not something that is taught well, either in academia or in the work environment. This workshop aims to provide you with a different perspective when it comes to thinking about your organization, the dynamics within it, and how to build resiliency on teams using Authentic Conversations...

 

The workshop will be broken down into 3 areas: 

  • Re-thinking your “organization”  

  • Authentic Conversation 

  • Channeling your superpowers  


There will be examples discussed to put the ideas into practice, exercises for the participants, and take-away collateral.

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

freiraum 2

​​

skill level:

advanced to expert

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jennifer Fraser

Jennifer is an accomplished design executive with deep experience in the field of Experience Design. She has designed products for many different target markets, including: healthcare; aviation; and finance. As a part of her work, she facilitates collaboration with colleagues, clients and customers through every phase of a project – from the initial discovery, through to implementation and measurement – ensuring that the final product will both meet business goals and resonate with the people using it.   

In her most recent role, she led experience design across the spectrum of Customer Experience, Employee Experience and User Experience. She worked as an architect in her former life, which relates to her interest in systems design and finding connections between things.

Jennifer Fraser
LaurenAlysKelly

Unveiling the Magic of UX Psychology: Crafting Remarkable User Experiences

Replacement workshop for "Unlocking human behavior design".
Because Michaela Holzmann got sick last-minute, the wonderful Christiane kindly stepped in for her!

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

Discover the secrets behind crafting unforgettable user experiences! Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of UX Psychology, where science meets design to create digital experiences. Learn how understanding human behavior, emotions, and cognition can supercharge your design process, boost user engagement, and make your products truly user centric.

 

room info:

freiraum 3

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christiane Moser

Christiane is a UX Research & Design Freelancer having more than 14 years of experience in the field of UX and a tech background. The last 4 years, she has been working as UX Freelancer for SMEs in Europe. Previously, she worked for 10 years in user research at the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg. Ever since she loved to share her knowledge and experiences, therefore, she is mentoring UX Researcher and Designer around the globe on ADPList and for CareerFoundry. She is also teaching at the Applied University of Salzburg and at Talent Garden Vienna. 

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PeterBoersma

The many ways in which DesignOps supports design teams

live-streamed & video-recorded

In recent years, several responsibilities of design managers, particularly those that focus on improving the organization of design work, have been reassigned to DesignOps specialists. By now, the field of DesignOps has its own communities, conferences, and education programs.


This talk gives an overview - and some details - of how DesignOps specialists can support design teams and is based on the presenter’s experience as someone who has had the DesignOps mindset forever, who needed DesignOps services for his teams, and who has had the role of DesignOps Manager at Miro.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Peter Boersma

Peter helps organisations increase the chances of good design happening.


Until recently, he was DesignOps Manager at Miro, supporting the team of 45 researchers, designers, and writers by working with the design leaders on maintaining the DesignOps roadmap and helping cross-functional teams execute DesignOps initiatives. In previous jobs as a designer and design manager, he would also work on improving design processes, defining career ladders, or clarifying roles and responsibilities of designers and their peers in engineering and product management.

Peter has spoken and taught workshops at more than 50 design-related conferences and he has hosted the Amsterdam UX Cocktail Hours since 2001.

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DandiWangTalk

From sticky notes to product roadmap: driving business impact with design-led strategy

live-streamed & video-recorded

Get ready to unlock the secrets of driving design-led strategies in this talk. You will learn how to transform ideas from sticky notes into impactful projects on a product roadmap that packs a punch. 

 

Learn how to collaborating effectively with your cross-functional partners and aligning your design vision with your company's goals. Explore techniques that bridge the gap between ideation and execution, propelling your projects to new heights. 

  

Be inspired by real-life examples that showcase the remarkable impact of design on driving business success. Join Dandi to harness the transformative power of design and elevate your role as a visionary within your organization! 

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dandi Wang

Dandi is a visionary Lead Product Designer at Pinterest, where she focuses on elevating the creator and business user experience. She is passionate about crafting product vision and strategy and is currently leading strategic initiatives across multiple teams.

Prior to joining Pinterest, Dandi led teams at LinkedIn, Yelp, Panasonic, and Musely, where she played a pivotal role in developing processes, building teams, and driving innovations. Dandi's interdisciplinary background in computer science, human-computer interaction, and business enables her to understand business needs and bridge the gap between technology and user-centric solutions. Her versatile skills empower her to effectively navigate the intricate landscape of modern business challenges.

Beyond her daily work, Dandi is also a dedicated design mentor. She is committed to nurturing the next generation of design talent and inspiring young designers to pursue their passions.

Dandi Wang.JPG
DandiWangWorkshop

Driving business impact with design-Led strategy: Tools and techniques to transform ideas into reality

Take your skills to the next level and dive deeper into the world of design-led strategy with the immersive workshop! Join Dandi as she delves into the tools and techniques that empower you to transform your ideas into reality. Explore practical ways to drive business impact through design-led approaches and learn how to navigate the challenges that arise along the way. 

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

freiraum 2

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dandi Wang

Dandi is a visionary Lead Product Designer at Pinterest, where she focuses on elevating the creator and business user experience. She is passionate about crafting product vision and strategy and is currently leading strategic initiatives across multiple teams.

Prior to joining Pinterest, Dandi led teams at LinkedIn, Yelp, Panasonic, and Musely, where she played a pivotal role in developing processes, building teams, and driving innovations. Dandi's interdisciplinary background in computer science, human-computer interaction, and business enables her to understand business needs and bridge the gap between technology and user-centric solutions. Her versatile skills empower her to effectively navigate the intricate landscape of modern business challenges.

Beyond her daily work, Dandi is also a dedicated design mentor. She is committed to nurturing the next generation of design talent and inspiring young designers to pursue their passions.

Dandi Wang.JPG
TomZahler

Supercharge your UX Process with AI 

audio-recorded

Let’s let the hot air out of the AI balloon and explore together how we can apply AI tools to the UX process. In this interactive talk, we'll cut through the hype and dive into the practical applications of AI for user research, design, copywriting, and development. Will AI speed us up? And how much? Will it take away my job? Or create new ones? Is AI biased? And what can it do anyway, and what can’t it do? Do I have to edit the outputs? Will it really save time or create more work? You'll walk away with real-life use cases and insights from our collective mind-mapping exercise.  

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

das lot

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Tom Zahler

Tom, co-founder and managing director of intuio, is an expert in UX and digital product design. With over 20 years of experience in the field, Tom uses his expertise to help customers navigate the challenges of digital transformation. He is skilled at motivating multi-disciplinary teams and has a deep understanding of various UX and design thinking techniques, such as participatory design, live sketching, design studios, and rapid interactive prototyping. Tom is also passionate about sharing his knowledge with others. He regularly holds workshops for companies looking to learn more about user experience and how to implement successful UX strategies.

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KathleenAsjes

The hopes, dreams and fallacies of research democratisation

audio-recorded

Research democratisation. Hated and feared by many but for some it's promised to be the holy grail that will magically solve all problems. But let’s face it, research democratisation is not a silver bullet. It requires a company wide culture shift and takes a lot of effort to establish.  

So let’s do some myth busting on what research democratisation can do. Based on Kathleen’s experience from the field she will share tips that will help decide whether this is the right tool for you.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

advanced to expert

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kathleen Asjes

Kathleen is a research & insights leader with 15+ years' experience in digital product development. She enjoys building research capacity from scratch and has led teams of researchers, designers and product managers on their journey towards working insight-informed. She is originally from the Netherlands but has lived in South Korea, Australia, Sweden and is currently residing in France. Working across boundaries of cultures and disciplines has shown her how to work with international product development in the best possible way.
 
Kathleen is a known advocate for research democratisation and uses this as one of many tools for creating an insights culture. She will share experiences from all her years of experimenting with different ways to engage people with research & insights.

If you want to find out more about Kathleen, you can also check out the UXtweak podcast: She has her own episode where she joins the uxcon vienna special along with other speakers.

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JanelleWard

Influencing change: Strategies for accelerating UX research impact

Our ability to create an insights-ready mindset in our organizations is arguably the most essential thing we can do to set up a research practice for success. This workshop focuses on giving UX researchers the tools to better engage with our non-research stakeholders – and this process starts with ourselves.  With this in mind, we will approach this challenge from two perspectives: How to create impact both inside and outside our research teams.

The workshop is for any UX researcher who:  

  • Is working at a company where the UX research practice is struggling to create the desired and expected impact

  • Wants to excel at promoting an insights-ready mindset in their organization

  • Wants to level up their leadership skills to become a strong mentor to research peers, whether in an IC or in a management role


Outcomes you can expect from this workshop:  
 

  • A deeper understanding of why a company’s mindset toward research insights is key to the integration and success of a UX research practice 

  • Concrete strategies for uncovering and impacting your organization’s current mindset

  • Contact with peers in a supportive environment where we discuss our challenges and make meaningful professional connections

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

design thinking space

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Janelle Ward

Janelle is Principal Consultant at Janelle Ward Insights, where she partners with companies to create research capabilities that supercharge their competitive advantage. She's built UX research teams from scratch and upskilled existing UX research teams, for both B2B and B2C digital product companies. These teams produced insights that transformed decision making, prioritization and roadmap planning.

 

She has a background in psychology and digital communication and spent 15 years in academia before transitioning to the tech world. Read more at janelleward.com

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VivekArun

Motivating users to stay fit with adiClub

audio-recorded

Let yourself be surprised!

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Vivek Arun

Vivek is Senior Product Designer at adidas Runtastic; previously at Microsoft and IBM.  With more than 8 years of experience in the design industry, has had the privilege of designing products for companies like American Express, Arco, State Bank of India, IBM, MetLife, and Microsoft. 
 
In his free time, Vivek enjoys playing the piano, exploring new places and taking photographs.  

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RubyPryor

UX marks the spot: Adapting my UXR practice to South East Asia 

live-streamed & video-recorded

Much has been written about how to work productively in cross cultural teams (including great work by Erin Meyer and Hofstede). In this talk I will contextualise some of these concepts for UX Research. This talk is based on my own extensive experience conducting UXR in Australia and Southeast Asia. In this talk I will unpack 3 different cultural dimensions and explain their implication for research: High and low context, high and low power distance, linear time vs flexible time. I will discuss examples from my own experience and provide suggestions for ways that we can get the most insightful results while creating inclusive research experiences.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ruby Pryor

Ruby is on a mission to increase the impact that design has in the world. She has crystalised this mission through her work across Australia and Asia with companies including Boston Consulting Group, Grab and Nous Group. Currently, Ruby is the founder of REX. REX is an education platform dedicated to equipping designers with the skills they need to demonstrate and increase their impact. Ruby has spoken at multiple international conferences and regularly shares design thought leadership on LinkedIn.

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YaoAdantor

The UX Odyssey: Navigating the journey to long-term career success and personal fulfillment 

live-streamed & video-recorded

Join me as I discuss the journey to achieve long-term career success and personal fulfillment in the field of UX. In this talk, I will explore the two archetypes present in each UX professional and share a roadmap for navigating the challenges of work-life harmony, pursuing creative functionalism, and settling the soul. Don't miss out on this insightful discussion!

talk

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Yao Adantor

Meet Yao, User Experience Researcher and Co-Founder of the Research Bookmark UX education platform, with 8 years of diverse experience in e-commerce, healthcare, and federal government sectors. As an adjunct professor for 4 years, he taught user experience research and prototyping. Yao's passion for understanding human behavior and decision-making led him to specialize in UX research and its impact on technology-driven products. He strives to make a meaningful impact through his work while cherishing life's precious moments with his two daughters and wife. 

If you want to find out more about Yao, you can also check out the UXtweak podcast: He has his own episode where he joins the uxcon vienna special along with other speakers.

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JohannesLehner

Bridging the gap between UX and development

audio-recorded

Why are so many digital products good but far from being great? It's all about UX! Not easy to get right. No worries - you got amazing UX designers and developers. 

But, here's the thing: I've seen it way too often that UX designers and developers tend to work within their own silos, each doing their part to create the best product possible. And that's where UX and development fall apart. Coding limitations, time constraints, lack of resources - just a few things that eclipse UX recommendations.  

From my experience, UX designers and developers do NOT actively avoid cooperation. Many times, departments are physically divided, or it's a matter of internal processes, or information is just lost in translation. 

In this session, I am going to show you how many hats UX engineers have to wear and share my experience about how this role can improve your overall product quality. 

talk:

​​

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Johannes Lehner

In addition to his efforts around the UX Graz community, Johannes Lehner is Regional Representative of the UXPA Austria, board member of the 24 Hours of UX, and since 2022, Chairman of barcamp Graz. 

Together with his office dog Zeus, Johannes works for Intact GmbH as a Lead UX Engineer. Since he started his position in 2014, he has played a pivotal role in raising awareness for UX at Intact, resulting in a UX-conscious project approach. Since 2022, he is also playing a key role in the development of a UX team at Intact. 

 

Additionally, Johannes takes on freelance projects under the jBear Graphics brand, supporting companies in UX research, concept creation, and integrating UX into their business for close to ten years. 

 

Furthermore, Johannes has shared his expertise as a guest lecturer at the University of Passau (Germany) since 2019. 

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WendyFox

(In)accessible design systems: Doing things wrong to get it right 

live-streamed & video-recorded

Creating effective design systems is a challenge, and making them accessible adds another layer of complexity. In this talk, we will explore the obstacles and opportunities of building inclusive design systems that thrive. Drawing on our experience creating the Chameleon Design System at GoTo, we will examine the typical stages companies go through when embracing inclusive design and share examples of past failures and lessons learned. By the end of the talk, attendees will have gained insights into how to avoid common pitfalls and create successful, accessible design systems that prioritize empathy and passion over perfectionism. Join me on this journey towards more inclusive and effective design!

extended talk:

​​

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Wendy Fox

Wendy is a Senior UX Manager and Design System Leader at GoTo, formerly LogMeIn. She drove GoTo's in-depth research into the accessibility of online meeting tools which led to the formation of the company’s grassroots Accessibility Champions program and the position of a dedicated Accessibility Lead. Wendy also leads GoTo’s Chameleon Design System team that she helped build from scratch and now supports 10 product lines across 2 distinct business units.

Driven by a strong interest in communication and human connection, Wendy holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics and is a certified Communication Designer (Diplom). As she enjoys sharing her experience and knowledge, she has given a variety of talks and workshops on accessibility, design, eye-tracking research, and creative subtitling. When she isn’t pushing for user-centered design and systematic problem-solving, she can usually be found climbing at boulder gyms or all across Europe’s beautiful mountain ranges.

Wendy Fox.jfif
JulianDellaMattia

Research Ops: building the backbone
of your research practice 

audio-recorded

Research Ops is normally associated to UX Research but actually the whole product org can benefit from it, even if you have no researchers in your company.  ReOps is a practice that goes from building insight repositories to participant pools, from knowledge management to data governance.


In this talk I'll show how it can provide the infrastructure needed for product discovery and help PMs build better products as a consequence.

talk:

30 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

das lot

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Julian Della Mattia

Julian Della Mattia is UX Research Lead at Kiwi.com and founder of the180 Agency. Specializing in Research Operations, he helps companies build and scale research teams. 

JulianDellaMattia.jpg
JamesMcKinnonWorkshop

The AI Healthcare Friction Game

The workshop will be in the form of a card game, created by James Mckinnon and You.Me.Us.We.  

The game's goal is to assist product teams in recognizing social, cultural, and racial gaps in digital health products and to motivate them to create more inclusive user interfaces.

The gameplay will enable group conversations about the value of inclusive UX design in digital health products and the effects of social, cultural, and racial differences on user experience following the game's conclusion. The use of different populations in user research, the incorporation of accessibility and usability guidelines, and collaboration with community organizations to promote inclusivity are just a few examples of the steps players are encouraged to take in their own product development activities.

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

freiraum 2

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

James McKinnon

James is a human-technologist and human-centered researcher in digital health and service design. His work explores areas where business, technology, and design merge together to impact digital services, people, and society.

You. Me. Us. We. is a human-centered research lab led by James. The studio’s work is driven by inclusive and equitable practices in care delivery, lowering barriers to access to novel life-saving digital health services and tools. The studio works with governments, health care systems, pharma, start-ups, and hospital administrators working in public and private care settings. These are places where services are lacking, and an understanding of people's social, economic, and cultural mindsets has to be deeply taken into account.

James McKinnon.jpg
JamesMcKinnonTalk

Sticky & complicated: Digital health + algorithms + inclusion

live-streamed & video-recorded

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

Digital health products and services have the potential to transform healthcare and improve health outcomes for people around the world. However, as the use of AI in healthcare becomes more prevalent, it's essential to broaden the views of who it can impact and who can benefit the most in this future.
 
In this conference speech, we will explore the impact of inclusion, social justice, and anti-discrimination in digital health, with a focus on the role of AI in perpetuating bias and discrimination. We will also discuss the importance of incorporating ethics into the product development process, and how game play and inclusive methodologies can help.
 
The speech will cover the following topics:

 

  • The impact of AI on discrimination in digital health

  • Understanding the challenges that prevent product teams from creating inclusive and ethical digital health solutions

  • How UX researchers, service designers, and business designers can use game play and inclusive methodologies to bring more ethics and discussion into product teams by:

    • Creating inclusive design sprints that promote diversity of thought and perspective

    • Encouraging open and honest dialogue about the impact of digital health products on underrepresented communities

    • Advocating for the needs of underrepresented communities within the product development process

 
Ultimately, the goal of this talk is to inspire and empower product teams to create digital health solutions that are accessible, inclusive, and ethical for all.

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

James McKinnon

James is a human-technologist and human-centered researcher in digital health and service design. His work explores areas where business, technology, and design merge together to impact digital services, people, and society.

You. Me. Us. We. is a human-centered research lab led by James. The studio’s work is driven by inclusive and equitable practices in care delivery, lowering barriers to access to novel life-saving digital health services and tools. The studio works with governments, health care systems, pharma, start-ups, and hospital administrators working in public and private care settings. These are places where services are lacking, and an understanding of people's social, economic, and cultural mindsets has to be deeply taken into account.

James McKinnon.jpg
LizzieKellyDyson

The power of empathy: How parenthood shapes UX leadership 

live-streamed & video-recorded

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

In a world where mental health is increasingly prioritised, research shows that empathy is becoming one of the most desirable skills within the leadership team. It increases innovation, engagement, retention, inclusivity and the perception of work-life balance.  

Empathy is a powerful tool, and parenthood can be one of the most intensive training grounds for honing it. The underrepresentation of mothers in leadership roles is not just a missed opportunity; it's an oversight of a valuable reservoir of skills. These skills, such as empathy, multitasking, and conflict resolution, are not just “soft”—they're strategic, especially in UX leadership.

Let’s explore the transferable skills between parenthood and UX leadership and why it’s so important to support parents in the workplace. Plus, I’ll share some ideas that you can use to break down barriers and increase empathy within your teams. 

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

advanced to expert

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lizzie Kelly-Dyson

Since she first realised she wanted to work in tech, Lizzie has been aware of the fact that the industry is male-dominated. During the first year of her career, she Co-Founded Ladies that UX, a global community of women that supports and promotes each other. This community now exists in over 80 cities worldwide. With over 10 years' of experience, she has worked at companies such as the BBC, Booking.com and TalkTalk.  

Recently, Lizzie has launched her own
consultancy, Define UX Ltd. She is passionate about championing underrepresented women and designing inclusive services.

Lizzie Kelly-Dyson_edited.jpg
SetorZilevuWorkshop

Empathic AI: Designing for emotional intelligence

In this 2-hour workshop, I will guide participants through the process of integrating empathy and emotional understanding into AI systems for various use cases in education, retail, and healthcare. The workshop will consist of hands-on activities to create user personas, map out emotional touchpoints, and brainstorm ways to enhance AI-driven experiences with empathetic design principles.
 

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on experience

room info:

freiraum 3

skill level:

intermediate to advanced

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Setor Zilevu

Setor is a Lead User Experience Researcher at Meta (Facebook) and a professor at New York University, Tandon School of Engineering. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, a Master of Science in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction. Setor was honored as a 2022 Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review for his work on developing assistive technologies for stroke survivors.  He has a wealth of experience in the field, having worked on developing interfaces and user experience for the world's first cyber-human system for stroke survivors, and is now utilizing the Z-Methodology to merge UX and AI in education, retail, and sports.

 

His additional past experiences include working as a UX Researcher at Google and focusing his Ph.D. dissertation on understanding the mental models of humans as it pertains to therapists and clinicians to aid in creating an in-home-based system for stroke survivors. His work over the years has led him to become the youngest Ghanaian UX Ph.D. holder.

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BigitGeiberger

Human-centered leadership for positive impact at scale: Insights from diverse perspectives and models

live-streamed & video-recorded

The public discourse regarding Human-centricity and Inclusivity within the design field and beyond is becoming increasingly fragmented. Polarizing and provocative statements are leading to less constructive dialogue, which is stifling the diverse voices and powerful movements aimed at doing good and building bridges.

As design professionals, we are well-versed in working with a human-centric approach. However, there is only a relatively small group of individuals who have publicly shared their success in implementing human-centered leadership principles.

This realization prompted me to launch an initiative where I interview leaders from various cultures and backgrounds in the design field. My goal is to explore and share different perspectives, encourage the exchange of ideas and a constructive dialogue that inspires positive change.

I firmly believe that effective leadership is pivotal in promoting a shift in perspective, empowering all voices, and cultivating large-scale positive change.  

During my presentation, I will examine various leadership models, share insights garnered from diverse perspectives, and recount my experiences applying human-centric leadership.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

advanced to expert

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Birgit Geiberger

Birgit is a seasoned design leader who has been thriving in diverse global leadership roles in for-profit & nonprofit entities, across industries and cultures. She is the founder of Curious Bridges, an initiative that fosters constructive dialogues about human-centricity, inclusivity, and leadership in design and beyond.

With a strong belief in giving back, Birgit has been supporting the global design community in various leadership roles for over 10 years. She has served as a board member and director of local liaison for the Interaction Design Association (IxDA.org).

Birgit currently serves as the
Head of Product UX Design at IKEA, where she leads a team of over 40 designers and researchers, creating a better everyday life for the many people.

Birgit Geiberger.jpg
NoelleGhanem

The race for business survival and the strategic power of design

audio-recorded

In an era of relentless competition and disruptive forces, staying ahead in the market has become more challenging than ever before. And in this high-stakes race, the role of design emerges as a pivotal differentiator. Design is not merely about aesthetics; it is a strategic approach that encompasses the user experience (digital or not), innovation, and brand perception. By leveraging the power of design, businesses can create innovative solutions, establish emotional connections with customers, and adapt to evolving market demands.

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

das lot

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Noelle Ghanem

Noelle is an Entrepreneur at heart and very much enjoyed co-founding her two startups. She gained experience at Google and the Local Data Company in the UK and moved 4 years later to Berlin to work in HealthTech, first at Ada Health where she grew a design team from 1 to 10 designers and worked on a medical AI-based chatbot and then at Medicus AI as a product lead where she got to work on a patent. Looking for a faster pace and a new challenge, Noelle later joined the FinTech industry and is today leading design for the Customer Experience department at Revolut.

Noelle Ghanem.jpg
LemastersGiurfa

Measuring UX: How to surface value, maturity and cultural impact

Problem:
While UX teams are able to achieve success, they usually hit a maturity ceiling in large organizations. Design work is perceived as unmeasurable, which obscures the value of UX contribution and oftentimes attributes all credit to Product or Engineering. At the same time, product organizations are hyper-focused on company gains, often neglecting customer-centric metrics.

Purpose:
Our workshop will help participants kickstart a self-fulfilling metric program that demonstrates not only the quality and effectiveness of the UX craft, but how it intrinsically affects stakeholder satisfaction, enterprise-level ROI, and UX maturity.


Method & Outcome:
Attendees will learn about a holistic measurement approach that improves UX operational efficiency and maturity while demonstrating its relationship to ROI and impact on culture.


 

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on experience

room info:

freiraum 3

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Lucas Lemasters

Lucas is a Senior UX Strategist and ResearchOps Lead at American Airlines where he inspires teams to conduct high fidelity research that speaks for the customer and aims to design travel experiences that are empowering, accessible, and delightful. 

Lucas Lemasters

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Paco Giurfa

Paco is a DesignOps Lead at American Airlines. As a systems engineer, his work involves implementing scalable Operations and Design Systems to set up product teams for success in delivering consistent and efficient solutions to customers. 

Paco Giurfa

Getting the most out of your repository: How to leverage past research to conduct large-scale learning sessions 

live-streamed & video-recorded

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

This talk will focus on the process of developing and leading large-scale knowledge shares with the goal of establishing collective knowledge of customers in a short period of time within an organization that has experienced a significant strategy change. With constrained resources, organizations can lean on their prior knowledge and create engaging content to share across various roles (product, design, and engineering) that spark discussion and help teams clarify their focus. 

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Aurelia Alston

Aurelia has been fortunate to traverse various types of products, customers, and markets during her time as a researcher -- including B2B Saas, digital fitness, e-commerce, and digital devices. She is experienced in executing research across the product development lifecycle and is particularly passionate about generative research focused on determining product strategy that meets business goals while solving consumer problems. Aurelia has a passion for building rigorous, adaptable research disciplines, and turning qualitative and quantitative customer data into compelling stories.

Aurelia currently works at
L.A. Times as Senior UX Research Manager.

Aurelia Alston.jpeg
AureliaAlston
PanelDiscussion

Panel Discussion: The future of UX

live-stream & video-recording

Join us for a riveting panel discussion featuring industry experts as they explore the unpredictable future of user experience (UX) and its potential impact. Discover how emerging technologies and design/research approaches will shape UX and how we can help UX to stay relevant. From the transformative potential of artificial intelligence to the challenges of balancing business goals with user needs, this discussion will leave you with a fresh perspective on the rapidly evolving field of UX. 

Questions for the Panel: 

  • How can UX be defined? Do we need more unity and clarity in the terms used when talking about user experience(s)? How to differentiate UX and CX (if at all)? 

  • What do we need to do (differently) to ensure that UX stays relevant and doesn’t get co-opted by other professions? 

  • How can research help to advance UX and ensure that it stays relevant in the industry? 

  • Is UX Education broken? What skillset are you looking for when hiring UX people? 

panel discussion:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

room info:

expedithalle

speakers

Will Miner, Slack

Yao Adantor, Research Bookmark

Christiane Moser, CUXpro
Aurelia Alston, LA Times

Birgit Geiberger, IKEA

AnnaRatkai

“Only 1 item left in stock”:
The role of persuasive design in excessive consumption 

audio-recorded

We all love a great online shopping experience. We love to design one. Making it super easy for our users to find the specific purple sweater they have been looking for, what a rewarding job we have!  

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there.

While we (mostly) want to design the smoothest, easiest shopping experience for the users, our boss and boss’ boss care about business metrics like sales conversion rate, average order value, inventory sold per day etc. The more the user buys the better. To achieve these business goals, we use the tools and platforms available to us: nudging, dark patterns, and psychology applied on digital shopping interfaces to ‘help’ the user fill up their cart with more stuff.

Ultimately this impacts one of the biggest stakeholders in the process, who we tend to forget about: the planet. Our current speed and scale of consumption of resources is unsustainable and as UX designers we must be aware of the impact our design decisions have in the world.  

After this talk, you will have a better understanding of what persuasive UX design tools and tactics are used in online shopping design to encourage excessive consumption, the relationship between business goals and design execution, and ways we can move toward designing more mindful online shopping experiences. 

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Anna Ratkai

Anna is a UX researcher at Recorded Future where she helps the brilliant design team build the best threat intelligence tool on the market. Besides cyber threats, she cares deeply about another pressing issue: the devastating deterioration of our planet. As a personal project, she combines her knowledge about human behavior with her passion for sustainability to understand design’s role in the never-ending pursuit of “more”. She dedicated her master’s thesis to dive deep into persuasive design patterns in e-commerce, and she is now on a mission to raise awareness about the influential role of design (and designer) in encouraging and enabling excessive consumption. She is building a resource to enable designing mindful shopping experiences.  

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SabrinaOswald

Sustainable UX

In this workshop, we find ways to drive sustainability in UX and through UX, based on the Sustainable Developments (SDGs) of the United Nations. We will work on specific challenges, apply a set of methods and decide on how to bring the results some steps further.

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

design thinking space

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Sabrina Oswald

Sabrina is founder of FUTURA, a marketing consulting collective with a focus on brand storytelling, positioning & marketing. She started her career in 1989 and worked in various large marketing agencies in a management function (GGK Design, TBWA), later also as a partner in ACCEDO (PR and Lobbying) until she finally started her own business in 2009. Sabrina Oswald is known as Austria's "Mrs.Storytelling". She covers this topic as one of the first in Austria - already since 2009. As a board member of the Austrian Marketing Society, she is actively engaged in advancing diversity and SDG orientation in the field of marketing. She teaches at FH Vienna, FH Salzburg and FH St.Pölten and has her own course "Social Media Management" at the Werbe Akademie. In addition, she has been deputy chairwoman of the Information & Consulting division of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry since end of 2020 and an expert lay judge at the Higher Regional Court since 2022. 

Sabrina Oswald.jpg

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Emanuel Jochum

Emanuel is an experience designer, content strategist and lecturer. Together with teams in companies, institutions, social businesses and design agencies, he creates concepts and designs for holistic brand and service experiences as well as digital applications. He is enthusiastic about social entrepreneurship, sustainable living and mountain hiking. 

Emanuel Jochum | Photo: Werner Streitfelder
ZariahCameron

Creating equitable UX that matters

live-streamed & video-recorded

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

Inclusion, Inclusive design, and Equity has become a hot topic over the last few years and rather watered down, also. It's become more of just a buzzword to say, rather than authentically implementing it in our practices and processes, externally to our users, and internally to our design employees. Creating an equitably designed world starts at the foundation and requires a growth mindset. 

This talk explores the harmful realities and truths of Performative Inclusion, and the future actions to take that will turn your performance into practice. We'll dive into some personal example strategies. Zariah's developing that are equitable within UX research, design, and the employee experience.

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Zariah Cameron

Zariah is Co-Director of Community + Research at Àròko Cooperative and an Equity UX thought leader at Ally Financial and International speaker who centers on operationalizing how we build and design products and communities more inclusively, especially for those living on the margins. She believes in creating a sense of community within her work and is passionate about mentoring young Black designers. She’s also the founder of the AEI Design Program, an initiative that provides resources and virtual events to prepare Black design college students for the industry. Outside her professional life, Zariah enjoys yoga, traveling, and creating written stories that amplify the voices of the underrepresented. 

 

If you want to find out more about Zariah, you can also check out the UXtweak podcast: She has her own episode where she joins the uxcon vienna special along with other speakers.

Zaria Cameron
EllieKemery

Let’s talk about Responsible AI!  

live-streamed & video-recorded

Let’s talk about Responsible AI – and the role we all play in ensuring we have human-centered outcomes. It’s critical that teams identify problems that AI is uniquely suited to solve.  By grounding AI in a deep understanding of the diverse people it will be affecting, we can improve product experiences for those who use them and create real value. During this session, we’ll walk through some of the challenges, opportunities, move beyond the jargon, and equip everyone with practical tips they can use to make Responsible and Human-Centered AI part of their everyday practice. 

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ellie Kemery

Ellie is advancing a culture of ethical research and design practices across SAP in a way that proactively informs the way teams build intelligent product experiences that ALL people love.

Her focus includes Product Inclusion, Responsible AI, and Sustainability with an emphasis on product impact. Her team generates deep and actionable insight on these topics, establishes principles, and operationalizes frameworks that guide and empower teams.

Ellie has spent her career at the intersection of humanity, design, and technology. Her work deepens our understanding of people who use our products and helps teams to ethically build intelligent human-centered product experiences.

Ellie Kemery
ChristopherWidauer

How technology is reshaping the user experience in music and art

live-streamed & video-recorded

Join Christopher in his talk about how technology is changing the way we enjoy music and art.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christopher Widauer

Christopher, born 1961 in Salzburg, initially taught and then entered music management. He developed a ticketing software, worked with musicians like Gulda and Harnoncourt, and founded a puppet theatre for contemporary arts, touring globally.

In 2010, he joined Vienna's Cultural Affairs. By March 2013, at Vienna State Opera, he made it a self-reliant producer of HD digital content. He introduced an in-house system with 2,100 tablets for subtitles, info, surveys, and more.

In 2018, he partnered with NEWZIK.com to digitize sheet music, aiming to replace paper scores with tablets. After leaving Vienna State Opera in 9/2021, he joined NEWZIK to develop digital solutions for music venues. He also aided Milan's La Scala and Cairo Opera House's digitalization.

Christopher Widauer.jpg

Unleashing uniqueness: UX principles for game-changing design 

audio-recorded

How to keep your design process unique, bold and innovative within the boundaries of best practice and identifiable UX principles.

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jason Lievesley

From 2005 until 2012, Jason worked at Printed Word in London, creating printed props for pop videos, commercials, feature films, and television productions. After that he moved to Vienna and started working at the award-winning online-first company nexxar. There, he created responsive web experiences that showcased a company's annual, financial, or sustainability reports. Later, Jason transitioned into working as a freelance UX/UI designer and consultant, specializing in responsive web design, apps, and web architecture for a broad range of international clients.

In 2020, he joined the team at
Fonda as a senior UX/UI designer where he produces an extensive array of user-centric digital designs that are unique and tailor-made to fit each client's specific needs.

JasonLievesley.jpg
JasonLievesley

Design unleashed: the magic of design tokens

audio-recorded

Dive into the captivating world of design tokens and witness how they can transform your UI/UX creations into spellbinding experiences. No more thinking about which color or font to use when.

 

Plus: Fasten your seatbelts because multi-brand-design-systems and dark modes are easier than ever to create.  

Notes: Multi-brand-design-system, dark-mode, flexible concept 

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

room info:

das lot

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Julius Wuhnsen

Julius is a multidisciplinary Creative Director — specialized in Art Direction, User Experience and Interface Design. 

As Head of Design at TOWA Julius has the privilege of managing and guiding a team of talented designers in creating visually stunning and intuitive digital experiences that drive business growth. He loves working closely with clients to understand their needs and goals to create designs that not only meet those needs, but also exceed expectations.  

Focus Areas are B2B in general: Finance, E-Commerce and Product Design for complex digital Products and Solutions. 

Julius_Wuhnsen.jpg

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jacqueline Reiterer

Jacqueline is working at TOWA since 2020 - developing from intern to Queen of Design Systems. Jacqueline is mainly responsible for the interaction of design & development at TOWA.

Jaqueline_Reiterer.jpg
JuliusWuhnsen
SilvanaPodaras
ElifAlpMarent

How to turn a group of designers and developers into a team

audio-recorded

talk:

30 minutes
short Q&A

A practical approach to working in interdisciplinary teams: featuring insights, stories and anecdotes from real life. May contain traces of memes.  

room info:

das lot

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Silvana Podaras

Silvana studied computer science with a focus on computer graphics at Technical University of Vienna. She has several years of experience as a developer with a focus on 3D applications and highly customized mobile apps for customers such as the HC Andersen Museum in Odense and Jewish Museum Berlin. Currently, Silvana is leveling up the knowledge she gained at iteratec: Together with her colleagues she is creating compelling user experiences which empower the digital champions of tomorrow. 

Silvana.jpg

UX writing crash course

Discover the art of designing with words in this immersive UX writing crash course. We‘ll cover essential UX writing fundamentals, powering your work with AI, as well as localising and scaling content design. Furthermore, you’ll learn what and who it takes to lead and deliver major initiatives and projects. There will also be time to work on crafting impactful user experiences through language, so come prepared to roll up your sleeves and design with words. Discover the art of designing with words in this immersive UX writing crash course. We’ll cover essential UX writing fundamentals, powering your work with AI, as well as localising and scaling content design. Furthermore, you’ll learn what and who it takes to lead and deliver major initiatives and projects. There will also be time to work on crafting impactful user experiences through language, so come prepared to roll up your sleeves and design with words. 

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

design thinking space

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Elif Alp-Marent

After over a decade of studying how people do things together, Elif left sociology for the design space, where she studied how people do things together in order to design better experiences for them. Elif crafts products that empower people by blending her design knowledge with her training in the social sciences.  

Elif Alp-Marent.jpeg

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Christina Markovic

Christina is a Senior Content Design Ops at Bitpanda.

Christina_Markovic.jpg
SimonHerzog

Zooming Out: Service Design Beyond the Interface 

This workshop is for the strategically minded who see the bigger picture. In what context do the interfaces and experiences you work on exist, and what is their greater purpose? In this workshop, we go beyond UX and dive into service design, which is concerned with the end-to-end experience and the depths of the service, including backstage processes and teams.  

You'll leave the workshop with your own personal service blueprint and an action plan of how to use it in your team. To get there, we’ll guide you step by step through scoping the end-to-end experience of the entire service, mapping the touchpoints, and understanding the hidden backstage people and processes that make the touchpoints happen.  

By the end of the workshop, you’ll take away an understanding of the discipline of service design as well as a tangible tool you can share with your colleagues and use as a roadmap to the research still to be done, the touchpoints to be designed, the people to include, and the processes to be improved. Join us to zoom out and become more strategic about UX! 

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

design thinking spce

skill level:

beginner to intermediate

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Simon Herzog

Simon is the founder and director of Anglemap. He works to understand the behaviors and motivations of people in any context or culture in order to formulate strategy and concepts. Since founding Anglemap in 2017, Simon has led design projects, training, and research in over 20 countries. He specializes in strategy, creative workshops, precise communication, and cross-cultural design research in difficult environments such as prisons and corporate boardrooms. He is from Vienna and brings a background in sociology (cum laude) from Columbia University and in interaction design (with honors) from CIID in Copenhagen. 

Simon_Herzog.jpg

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kasey Politano

Kasey, a Canadian Service Designer and Researcher at Anglemap, leverages her academic achievements—a Bachelor's in Sociology from Algoma University and a Master's in Social Justice from Wilfrid Laurier University—to shape her inclusive design approach. Focused on organizational service design and research, she adeptly navigates diverse contexts, and employs creative strategies to enhance user experiences. 

Kasey_Politano.jpg

Ask me anything! Q&A with Erika Hall (remote)

live-streamed & video-recorded

Q&A:

30 minutes

room info:

expedithalle

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Erika Hall

Erika is a co-founder and Director of Strategy at Mule, a renowned design consultancy. With a career spanning back to the late 20th century, she has consistently championed evidence-based design and the use of clear language in the field.

Erika is widely recognized as the author of two influential books published by A Book Apart: "Just Enough Research," now in its second edition, and "Conversational Design."

Currently, Erika's focus lies in assisting designers in gaining a systems perspective and a deeper understanding of the businesses they collaborate with. Her ongoing project aims to bridge the gap between design and business, fostering a holistic approach.

Erika Hall.jpg
Erika Hall
StevenHill

Breaking Down & Researching Up Generative AI Experiences

audio-recorded

extended talk:

60 minutes
interactive part/discussion

Pretty much every company or institution on the planet are currently thinking about how to incorporate Gen AI into their products. In this workshop we cover the basics of Gen AI, have a hands on break down of a current Gen AI product, and learn how to put together a research agenda that tackles the unique properties of this technology.

room info:

das lot

skill level:

tba

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ellie Kemery

Ellie is advancing a culture of ethical research and design practices across SAP in a way that proactively informs the way teams build intelligent product experiences that ALL people love.

Her focus includes Product Inclusion, Responsible AI, and Sustainability with an emphasis on product impact. Her team generates deep and actionable insight on these topics, establishes principles, and operationalizes frameworks that guide and empower teams.

Ellie has spent her career at the intersection of humanity, design, and technology. Her work deepens our understanding of people who use our products and helps teams to ethically build intelligent human-centered product experiences.

Ellie Kemery

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Raz Schwartz

Raz is a former Senior Product Insights Manager at Spotify where he focused on new product innovation and the study of emerging technologies such as Audio AI and Web3. 

Before joining Spotify Raz was a research manager on the Facebook AR/VR team. Prior to Facebook, Raz was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell Tech and at Rutgers University as well as a research fellow at the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Columbia Journalism School. During his Ph.D., Raz was a visiting scholar at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Raz's work was published in various academic settings and was featured in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Rhizome, and The Atlantic.
 

Raz Schwartz.jfif

UXR Therapy

Ever feel lonely at work, even though you are surrounded by colleagues?
Would you love to talk to someone who truly understands your struggles?
Do you long to connect deeply with others who face similar challenges?
Join this workshop for some UXR therapy!

You will gain a new perspective on the challenges you are facing in your day to day work, helping you to see things in a new light.

Every participant brings their own challenge, which they can discuss with others through a peer-sparring method, under guidance of your workshop host Kathleen. You will get to experience first hand how valuable it is to hear the perspective from someone who is not your colleague, friend or partner. To talk with someone you do not know (yet), but does have relevant experience and ideas to share.  

You will leave the workshop with loads of energy, fresh ideas and new connections with user researchers from around the world (discussing our challenges and growing together 🌱).

workshop:

120 minutes
hands-on learning experience

room info:

freiraum 2

skill level:

open to all

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Kathleen Asjes

Kathleen is a research & insights leader with 15+ years' experience in digital product development. She enjoys building research capacity from scratch and has led teams of researchers, designers and product managers on their journey towards working insight-informed. She is originally from the Netherlands but has lived in South Korea, Australia, Sweden and is currently residing in France. Working across boundaries of cultures and disciplines has shown her how to work with international product development in the best possible way.
 
Kathleen is a known advocate for research democratisation and uses this as one of many tools for creating an insights culture. She will share experiences from all her years of experimenting with different ways to engage people with research & insights.

If you want to find out more about Kathleen, you can also check out the UXtweak podcast: She has her own episode where she joins the uxcon vienna special along with other speakers.

Kathleen Asjes.jfif
KathleenAsjesWS

Moderation

We can't emphasize enough how crucial it is to have top-notch moderation at any event. And boy, are we lucky to have Mirjam and Tina as our host for uxcon vienna.

Not only do they know exactly how to keep things smooth and engaging but also are they lovely human beings who we really appreciate having in our team. They will work their magic and bring an extraordinary touch to the event!

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Mirjam de Klepper

Mirjam is originally from the Netherlands, but Vienna has been her chosen home. Once upon a time she was an award-winning social impact entrepreneur, founder of “the knowledge and know-how hub for sharing (in) the city” and a TEDx speaker.


Over the years, her desire to keep things meaningful and create a positive impact has led her to focus on digital health products, in companies such as mySugr and Clue. There she built upon her background in anthropology and developed her UX research and operations skill set.


As a moderator, her authentic energy brings our main stage to life. With very little patience for empty words and hot air, she’ll always cut straight to the core. Which can be both a blessing and a curse for everyone involved.

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ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Tina, who is originally from Bratislava in Slovakia, currently resides and works in the lovely city of Vienna, just across the border.


Somebody recently called her a 'UX researcher all-rounder', which summarizes well her experiences as a service designer and research lead with decent Re-Ops and moderation skills. After "just a few years" of contemplations, she decided to go freelance - so as you can imagine, it's an exciting time for her right now.
She mostly works on projects in meteorology and finance but at uxcon, she'll be taking on a different role as a
moderator for our side stage "das Lot".


Oh, and did we mention Tina is also an awesome podcast host?
She gets to chat with UX researchers, including even some of our uxcon speakers.

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