Interaction11 news and information

Hello Attendees!

You’ve probably heard that Interaction11 in Boulder is sold out, and then some! The Interaction11 team is incredibly excited about the program we’ve put together, and we want to make sure you get the most out of your conference. We’ll send periodic email newsletters to let you know about details, deadlines, developments, and other information.

Today, we’ve got info about:

Workshops
- Q&A with Indi Young about her workshop Stop Thinking, Start Listening: How to Get the Whole Story
- Q&A with Karen McGrane & Bill DeRouchey about their workshop Interaction History for Interaction Designers
Deadline for activities sign-up
Get to know your fellow attendees with Crowdvine
Media Partnerships
Articles about and or by I11 Speakers (+ an article by Conference Co-Chair Jon Kolko)

Cheers,
Josh Damon Williams & Erik Gibb
Marketing and PR Co-Chairs for Interaction11
@IxDConf

WORKSHOPS

Workshops provide you with the opportunity to learn more about a specific aspect of interaction design from recognized leaders in the field, and in a small-group classroom setting. Workshops all have limited space, and they’re filling up fast so look through the list of topics and don’t wait to sign up!

Check out the full lineup of workshops
Log in to your registration to add workshops

Q&A with Indi Young about her workshop “Stop Thinking, Start Listening: How to Get the Whole Story”

Q: Whom would you recommend this workshop to?
A: This workshop is for those with interviewing experience. Even though I’ve been conducting interviews for 15 years, I am still learning to get better. I pick up little hints and tips in lots of places and try to incorporate them into my practice. You’re probably a lot like me: you’ve got a lot of interviews under your belt, you know what to avoid, and yet it couldn’t hurt to improve with every session.

Q: What will people learn in your workshop?
A: Workshop participants will approach their next set of interviews in a whole new state of mind. Rather than “making sure I get the right stuff‚” you will be focused on “making sure I understand the participant.” In other words, instead of being aware of the process of conducting the interview, you will instead be focused on what the participant is saying and finding out more about what they mean and why they’re saying it. One of the key practices is to skip the list of interview questions and walk into the interview with a small, blank square of paper on which to jot maybe 10 or 15 words as they come up during the interview. The workshop will equip you to adopt this somewhat alarming practice with confidence.

Find out more about Indi’s workshop

Q&A with Karen McGrane & Bill DeRouchey about their workshop “Interaction History for Interaction Designers”

Q: Who should take this workshop?
A: Since these topics are rarely covered, all interaction designers could benefit from this workshop. However, interaction designers who have never worked on software products or physical devices will benefit the most, as this workshop will introduce them to principles that go beyond the web.

Q: What will they take away?
A: The core principles of interaction design are rooted in the history of how humans interact with technology. Assumptions that we take for granted were design decisions of previous generations. Whether principles were first created in physical products or early computers, a core set of interaction concepts were handed to our generation. Understanding these concepts will help inform design decisions today.

Q: Why are the ideas they take away are important?
A: Even though technology change is so turbulent right now, the current generation of designers is likely to set the interface standards for the next generation. It’s important to have a historical sense of how even the smallest design decisions can have a great impact on future generations. QWERTY, anyone?

Find out more about Karen and Bill’s workshop

DEADLINE FOR ACTIVITY SIGN-UP

Our Friday Activity Sessions allow you to explore Boulder, stimulate creativity and connect with your fellow attendees outside of the traditional conference setting. Most attendees signed up for an activity when they registered, but some have not!

On January 7th (5:00PM EST) Activity selection will be CLOSED. Those who haven’t selected an Activity will be assigned to one of the free ones automatically.

Additionally, a bunch of conference registrants didn’t check the Activity Waiver checkbox. Criticisms about poor form design aside, we really do need that checkbox checked. If you can’t remember, double-check your registration!

GET TO KNOW YOUR FELLOW ATTENDEES WITH CROWDVINE

Back by popular demand, we’ve integrated Crowdvine into the Interaction11 website so you can connect with fellow attendees — all 600+ of them — and generate some conference buzz of your own. Now you can get a head start on networking and the great conversations about interaction design that IxDA is famous for.

Visit Crowdvine to set up an account or log into your account from last year!

MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS

We have three awesome media partners who will all be doing their part to cover the conversations in Boulder. Johnny Holland and Core77 have been ongoing supporters of Interaction. And we’ve found a new media partner in Webgrrls International, who has a goal of helping women — at a global level — succeed in the technical workplace through networking, exchanging job and business leads, and teaching new skills.