7 UX Events in 2019 & 2020 You Should Know About
User experience is taken for granted by a lot of people until they notice that something is out of place, unexpected, or dysfunctional.
For every individual with this mindset, there are many more who painstakingly research and iterate to optimise how we interact with interfaces, products, services and just about anything we work with. In order to learn each other’s approaches, UX events are crucially valuable experiences.
Today, as part of our ever-growing event round-up series, we wanted to highlight some key UX events taking place in late 2019 and early 2020 that present opportunities for UX and design experts to get together and discover new and perfected tactics.
1. Design Leadership Summit
Ever wanted to rub shoulders with the Director of UX at Shopify? Maybe the Director of Design Ops at Pinterest? Perhaps the VP of UX Research and Insights at Fidelity? Well, here’s your chance.
The Design Leadership Summit, presented by Figma, takes place this November in Toronto. As well as the insights they’ll garner during talks from the aforementioned leaders in global design, attendees can look forward to ways to level up their skills amid peer and expert coaching sessions throughout the conference.
Key to this event is increasing how much we retain from the conferences we attend. Four weeks after the conference, attendees will be surveyed to understand the impact of the conference in its aftermath. Based on the findings of that research, the team behind the event will help attendees to get to know respondents with similar challenges meaning the conversations and community will continue to thrive long after the last mic is turned off.
Dates: November 4th & 5th, 2019.
Location: Toronto, Canada.
Tickets: Available now from $676.87 for both days.
2. SGVUX.09 Escape Room UX Workshop + Potluck
A key tenet of design is enjoyment. A modern intersection of this and the practical and professional aspects of UX is immersive design.
The key question of this SGVUX event asks if immersive experiences are restricted to intangible or digital spaces, or if immersion can expand to physical spaces too.
In order to demonstrate the possibilities and set the scene for discussion, how better to achieve that than with an escape room and a potluck?
Hosted by Liferay, attendees on the night can look forward to participating in an escape room, food and drinks, and mingling with other passionate designers throughout.
There are just 15 tickets remaining at time of writing, so if this is for you, now is the time to secure your place.
Date: November 5th, 2019.
Location: California, USA.
Tickets: $32.
3. The BAD Conference 2020
The BAD (Behaviour & Design) Conference is a full day of psychology-focused design talks.
A one-track event: BAD is dedicated entirely to the behavioural science that underpins psychology-based user research.It is pulling together some of the world’s leading Psychologists and Researchers to the Greenwood Theatre in London, to understand how behavioural-led research and design, directly impacts the decision-making process of users.
Which practices are most effective in making the human the centre of the UX process? What are the cognitive drivers which make humans tick, and respond appropriately to certain design choices?
You will find out all this and more at The BAD Conference 2020!
Featuring:
- Dr. Elizabeth Churchill (Global Director of UX, Google)
- Dr. Susan Weinschenk (COO, The Team W)
- Dr. Nick Fine (Lead User Researcher, Greater London Authority)
- Joe Leech (UX Consultant & Speaker)
- Dr. Alexander Muir (CX & UX Research Leader, People First)
- Dr. David Evans (Senior Manager of Customer Research, Microsoft) and more.
Dates: Thursday, 4th June, 2019
Location: London, UK.
Tickets: £300
4. UX London 2020
London calling this time. UX London takes place in spring 2020, but it’s worth considering as early as possible given the popularity of their Super Early Bird ticket release earlier this year.
If you’re looking to learn from those who shape the UX and design industry, this is a key event to get to. Authors, founders, and directors in the design field will come together to form the line-up and the audience for this must-attend UX event.
The venue alone could be enough to draw you in as UX London will be taking place in the stunning Trinity Laban. As the only conservatoire of music and dance in the UK, the space is rife with inspirational history and architecture to feed the minds of designers endlessly.
Aside from its location, attendees will be treated to stories from UX influencers from the world over. Though the schedule for 2020 has yet to be released (though, give them time. It’s seven months away!), a quick look at last year’s line-up is envy-inspiring. Among those who graced the stage were Jared Spool, Josh Clark, and Kevin Hoffman, so it’ll be no surprise when we see the best and brightest displayed on their speaker page closer to kickoff.
Dates: May 27th – 29th, 2020.
Location: London, UK.
Tickets: £1,158 for full access.
5. Design Matters Tokyo 20
A simple glimpse at the Design Matters Tokyo homepage fills me with joy. A playful intro, with a powerful purpose: to explore design trends, creative empowerment, the designer’s role, and more.
With dedicated days for talks and workshops respectively, Design Matters Tokyo promises to aid designers in their aspirations to improve and experience the work of thought leaders in their industry.
The cast of creators includes the Creative Director of the BBC, the Head of UX and Research at Volvo, and the VP of Product at Figma.
They also respectfully acknowledge that coffee matters to designers, and named their break time as such.
For a chance to take part, all you need do is keep an eye on the site in the coming months for ticket announcements or subscribe to their newsletter for announcements and helpful articles such as this one featuring a host of queer illustrators you need to follow now.
Dates: January 29th & 30th, 2020.
Location: Tokyo, Japan.
Tickets: TBA, but keep an eye for details here.
6. Leading Design San Francisco 2020
If an excuse to travel to Tokyo wasn’t enough for you, here’s one for a trip to San Francisco too. Leading Design is quickly becoming a household name in the UX world, and for good reason.
The 2020 edition of the Leading Design conference takes place in March of next year. As the name might suggest, it’s catered towards leaders in the design industry, whether that is within an organisation, or someone whose expertise focuses on design and related functions.
An emphasis is placed on balancing work and play at the conference with the schedule boasting hands-on workshops, inspiring talks, superb parties and excellent socials in equal measure.
Keep an eye out for the schedule which is due to go live in the coming months for more specifics, but in the mean time, we’d encourage you to check out the ticket options as they’re likely to fill up baskets very soon.
Date: March 4th – 6th, 2020.
Location: San Francisco, CA.
Tickets: $1,995 for three days.
7. UX Foundation Training | Brussels | March 2020
What would design be without an emphasis on the fundamentals?
If you’re more of a learn-by-doing kind of person, this option is for you. The team behind uxtraining.com facilitate online training, in-house training, and experiences like this one taking place in Brussels in 2020.
As a comprehensive training session, the fine folks co-ordinating it have suggested it’s suitable for those of you in the following walks of work:
- Product managers
- Business owners
- UX designers
- Web designers
- Project managers and
- Everybody who wants to explore a career in UX in any capacity.
With small class sizes, a practical, commercial focus, and expert-led sessions, this opportunity is optimised for anyone who wants to hone their UX skills in a top-tier environment.
Date: March 10th – 11th, 2020.
Location: Brussels, Belgium.
Tickets: €845 for Early Birds.
These events run on Tito (that’s us!) For a quick intro to what we provide for UX event hosts and beyond, you can take a look at our getting started video or, if you’re eager for more quality conferences to attend in the coming months, why not check out some of our previous editions in this series here: