I was recently contacted by Australia’s Toby Biddle at Loop11. Toby has kindly offered a free Loop11 credit for a single online testing session ($350 US value) to all participants who sign up for any one of the workshops offered at Follow the UX Leader.

Loop11 is a self-serve, hosted solution for usability consultants, web managers and web designers to get the metrics you need to optimize website usability.

To experience a Loop11 testing session, you can participate in the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel survey.

Kristina Mausser and I had the pleasure of being invited to dinner at the Jamaica Pegasus by the owner and managers of the hotel while putting on workshops in Kingston Jamaica last year; a relationship formed by connecting and sharing ideas via Twitter.

A quick overview of the benefits of Loop11 include:

1. Test early, test often…affordably: Now you can conduct user testing faster, at a lower cost and more frequently than ever before.
2. No coding. No downloading: There’s no need for your participants to download software. No code to install. No need for training. And no lengthy subscriptions.
3. Real-time results: Track task completion rates, number of clicks, time on task, satisfaction…and more.
4. Test in over 40 languages: Run your user test in up to 40 foreign languages. And if we don’t have yours, let us know and we’ll get it!
5. Test on any HTML interface: Conduct testing on any interface that can be displayed in html. And not just your own website, benchmark against your competitors.

Many thanks to Toby and the entire Loop11 team for your generosity in sponsoring Follow the UX Leader Workshops.

* Perpetually evaluating our understanding of the tools and processes that make up our respective (and very similar) industries. (UX, IA, IxD, HCI, etc.)
* Move the conversation away from the merits of a specific set of tools or processes
* Ask better questions of users and the answers we capture beyond the data points
* Come together and recognize, as Jesse James Garrett pointed out at last years’ IA Summit, that engagement is our collective objective or end state.

Evolving the UX Conversation from Jeff Parks on Vimeo.

We can’t evolve the conversation beyond the tools that make up any discipline, or worse, cling to a belief that the processes that worked even five years ago are still relevant to the way others are communicating both online and off.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is continuing to try and control the messaging within Canada, in spite of harsh criticism by Canadians. Now this should not come as a galloping shock that professional politicians are hiding the truth or trying to shape the message! #CallingOutTheElephantInTheRoom

However living in an era where people can share ideas with the click of a button, or upload videos in a matter of minutes to YouTube – next to Google, the second largest search engine in the world – such obsession with control is quite frankly, laughable.

The measure of a man is what he does with power. ~ Plato

A brilliant example of this new world, from a Canadian perspective, was shared by a good friend and colleague in Toronto Renée Warren: “Next is Now!”

Another great example of how connected we are, and how control is truly an illusion, is this presentation by Tom Scott (@tomscott). The story is both entertaining and disturbing – illustrating the speed at which we can share information, and the necessity to know who we can trust.

Mob (a near-future science fiction story) by Tom Scott from hurryonhome on Vimeo.

Two years ago that would have been implausible. Five years ago that would have been impossible. But if that happened in the news tomorrow would any of you be shocked? The world turns upside down in ten years and you turn upside down right along with it.

We need to strike a balance between the latest generations’ enthusiasm to share, with the wisdom of business and government officials who have worked in the same sector for 30 plus years.

It is imperative that both sides work towards a greater understanding of the others’ processes rather than argue over who has the better approach. Equilibrium can only be achieved if both sides make this effort; otherwise history WILL repeat itself.

In an effort to help both private and public sectors communicate more effectively, I am holding workshops on User Experience Design, Information Architecture, and Writing for the Web, entitled Follow the UX Leader.

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Optimal Workshop, I’ve been able to leverage their online card sorting tool Optimal Sort.

If you would like to share your insights, select any of the links below and try your hand at an open card sort!

How would you organize information for a Car Dealership?
How would you organize information for a Grocery Store?
How would you organize information for a Hardware Store?
How would you organize information for a Mobile Service Provider?

The more data I can collect for the Follow the UX Leader Workshops, the greater context I can provide participants about the importance of creating engaging experiences that speak to the needs of those for whom we are designing.

Audio Podcasts from discussions described in this post are now available on Mad*Pow Podcast page.

My first discussion was an interview with Amy Cueva, Chief Experience Officer at Mad*Pow and Will Evans, Principal of Semantic Foundary. We talked about the many issues facing the American Health Care system and how technology and the sharing of data could aid in the recovery of patients.

Thanks to the efforts of my colleague and founder of The UX Workshop Chris Palle, we were able to record a video conversation on Research Design with a world renowned group of UX professionals I gathered on short notice; all of whom I’m honored to call friends.

From left to right in the photo above:

* Steve Baty Principal at Meld Studios in Sydney Australia;
* Eric Reiss Partner and Founder of FatDUX in Copenhagen Denmark;
* (yours truly),
* Daniel Szuc from Apogee Ltd in Hong Kong;
* Chris Avore UX Consultant and Principal for Erova LLC. in New York; and
* Indi Young who is one of the founders of Adaptive Path and author of Rosenfeld Media’s Mental Models.

This was a wonderful, unscripted dialogue that shared experiences and ideas from different cultures, projects, and conversations with both users and professionals alike.

The future, as the picture below would indicate as we stare into the sun, looks very bright for the design community. I wanted to focus on those who will be leading the way for our communities, regardless of title or process.

I was very fortunate to find four students attending the conference who took time to share their ideas and insights with me. In the photo above, from left to right:

* Anahi Bagu Msc Design for Interaction at Delft University of Technology.
* (yours truly)
* Vincent Steurs Masters in Interaction Design at Delft University of Technology.
* Katie McCurdy University of Michigan HCI grad student, user experience designer
* Laura Rodrian Interaction Designer and M.S.I. student studying Human Computer Interaction and Incentive Centered Design at the University of Michigan.

In an impressive demonstration of the brilliance that exists outside the speakers at any conference, these young designers shared ideas including:

* Designing to support the largest generation in North American history while simultaneously helping the Environment.
* Embracing the diversity of experiences outside traditional mediums to innovate like never before.
* Taking a leadership role to mentor high school students about what they are learning at college.
* Unimpressed by the “rock star” mentality of some and the hope that the biggest names in the design community will eventually reach out to students before they enter the field.

Then to wrap up the conference I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Vassallo from Moment in New York City.

Greg gave an emotionally powerful talk entitled “10 Things I Learned About Being a Design Consultant While Living in the Hospital for a Year“.

In a true demonstration of courage, Greg shared the story of his newborn son Luca who was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia, AML. He went on to describe how these experiences impacted his life personally, and his subsequent outlook as a designer, professionally.

I’m thrilled to let the community know that Luca has recovered and is a healthy, active little man, enjoying life in the Big Apple!

Thank you again to Mad*Pow for allowing me the opportunity to share with others and to Morgan Kaufmann who has generously agreed to sponsor the podcasts.