Let’s start with a quick clarification: yes, I’m both a designer and a developer, so this topic is near and dear to my heart. User experience is at the top of my mind throughout the entire process of creating a website (as it ought to be), starting with the initial strategic phases on through design and development.

Now about the talk itself: I wish that this talk was recorded because most of the value was packed in the Q&A portion. The talk lasted about half an hour, we covered the basics as promised and touched on a few of my favorite parts of UX: research & usability and information architecture. The Q&A however, lasted almost an entire hour!

Photo credit: Cherry Chen

I was impressed with the breadth of questions my audience had on this subject matter: everything from app tutorial screens, to using pop-ups, and even some concerns related to working with clients and project management. Of course, the topic of UX covers such a wide range of disciplines and techniques, so it’s really no wonder that there would be lots of questions. I was also told that my comfort level with this subject was clear throughout the presentation and had a lot to do with the audience engagement. Yep, that definitely felt good!

I thoroughly enjoyed connecting with my audience and, in general, prefer the Q&A discussion format to just presenting which is why I often get involved in teaching opportunities. This also means that I could definitely stand to get better at creating presentations and slides for talks, so I’m very open to future speaking opportunities as I’m not one to shy away from trying and trying again.