We’re on the search for the most diverse, interesting and fun proposals to build our conference program

If you’ve got an idea to share, a new technique, case study or something entirely different we’d love to hear from you. 

Our proposal submission system is called COMS, the first step is to create an account, then submit your proposal. If you have any questions drop us an email to chair2023@uxpa.org.

Closing date for submissions has been EXTENDED to Sunday September 25 11:59PM PDT

Submitting a proposal is easy:

1) First choose from one of our six topics

2) Next pick the type of proposal you want to submit

3) Finally choose a level  

4) Create a COMS account and start writing your submission

What happens to your proposal?

Every proposal is anonymously reviewed by at least five people on our reviewer committee. Topic and type chairs then review each submission and considering the reviewer comments shortlist their top proposals. The full conference committee then meet to select the final conference program.

UXPA International is a community event and we’ll need your help to review all the submissions. For every proposal you submit you will be required to review three other proposals.

Learn more about our review process

Speaker compensation

UXPA International is a non-profit organization supporting those studying and practicing UX all over the world. The primary speaker for each accepted submission will receive a $250 discount on their 3-day conference registration. Pre-conference course leaders are entitled to an honorarium based on the duration of their course. Unfortunately we are unable to offer complimentary conference registrations to speakers. 

1) CHOOSE A TOPIC

Career Development and Management

Whether you’re thinking about your next career move or planning to continue growing at your current organization, it can be important to consider your goals and the steps you can take to get there. This track is all about growing and developing as UXers, and navigating the challenges of UX management. Some key topics include:

• What’s motivating you to continue developing your skills?
• What’s the next step in your career, and how are you going to get there?
• Why and how do you develop your hard and soft skills?
• Why do you practice UX instead of managing a team (or vice-versa)?
• What are the differences in key skills for practitioners vs. managers?
• How does the practice of UX differ if you’re working in a large company, small company, agency, or as an independent consultant? What are the advantages and challenges of each, and how does a practitioner determine which is the best environment for their own personality?
• Why do you evangelize UX as a force for change?

Design Psychology

Have you used knowledge of psychology and human factors to create usable, findable, useful, and desirable experiences?  The Design Psychology track welcomes submissions from all areas of design (visual, graphic, front-end, content, user interface, interaction, information architecture, industrial, etc.) that discuss:

• Applications of techniques and methods rooted in behavioral/social/cognitive psychology and human factors
• Psychologically-driven solutions for learnability, efficiency, memorability, error prevention, and satisfaction
• Design for people with a broad range of physical and cognitive abilities
• Other related topics that are inspiring, interesting, and/or informative

Innovation and Emerging Technologies

The practice of UX continues to rapidly evolve beyond the desktop. People’s interactions and experiences are taking place over multiple online and offline platforms. What is the latest and greatest technology you are working with? What do you foresee happening in the near future in these areas:

• Advanced design for accessibility, diversity and inclusion
• Universal design
• Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)
• Future of mobile
• Internet of things (IOT)
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Voice User Interface (VUI) and chatbots
• Mixed reality (XR)

Interaction and Visual Design

Many practitioners who don the title of “interaction designer”, “web designer”, or “visual/graphic designer” often wear many hats but are primarily responsible for crafting a usable, desirable, and memorable experience between the user and a digital product. What are the new set of concerns and challenges that designers face today? How has the role of UI/interaction designer evolved in the rapidly changing field of digital product design and how might we equip designers with the latest relevant insights for continued growth and advancement? Areas of concern may include:

• Visual aesthetics–new trends and best practices
• Gestalt theory and principles of design
• Design systems and strategies
• Motion and sound design
• Design for non-visual UI’s e.g., Voice User Interfaces (VUI’s) 
• Responsive vs adaptive UI
• Designing for users with physical impairments or technological constraints
• Design sprints and the agile team environment
• Prototyping
• Design presentations, documentation, and design handoffs
• New workflows, systems, and design tools that have improved productivity, collaboration, and efficiency

Tools and Techniques

UXers use a wide variety of tools and techniques to get things done. The Tools and Techniques track aims to help conference attendees become better at what they do, i.e., more efficient, more accurate, more user-focused, more integrated, more cost effective, simpler, etc. Tools and Techniques conference sessions teach the methods, processes, and tools UXers can use to improve their performance and their products.  The strongest presentations address the tactics and practice of a tool/technique, including why the tool/technique is valuable, especially relative to alternatives, and how to apply the tool/technique in different contexts so attendees leave prepared.

The Tools and Techniques track seeks submissions in all of the following areas:

• Discovery tools and techniques, such as service mapping, journey mapping, alignment, analytics, card sorting, and contextual inquiry
• Design tools and techniques, such as brainstorming methods, specific design or prototyping applications, and low-fidelity prototyping
• Development tools and techniques, such as HTML5 prototyping, extreme programming, and developing for accessibility
• Evaluation tools and techniques, such as metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), benchmarking, remote user testing, tree tests, A/B testing, and multivariate testing
• Management tools and techniques, such as project tracking and team communication 
• Any other tools and techniques that aren’t listed above

UX Strategy

Many claim the next step in the evolution of UX is becoming more strategic. How simple should it be to get UX practitioners to get involved in the bigger decisions and longer-term direction of the business? How can we simplify our own processes and bring greater efficacy and efficiency to our UX work? Subcategories would include:

• ROI – How do we overcome the gap between our ability to plan/report ROI and the clients’ expectations of it?
• Getting access at the Board of Directors level. Is it necessary? If so, how do we achieve it?
• What role can Big Data and quantitative methods play in helping UX gain traction within organizations?
• How can UX help set the vision and the long-term objectives?
• Where does UX strategy sit amongst all the other strategies – business, communications, digital, content, social media, etc.?
• Agile and UCD: How do they work together? Or don’t they?
• Lean UX vs. Lean Startup: What can the two movements learn from each other?

2) CHOOSE A TYPE

Full-length Presentation (60 min)

Presentation sessions focus on a practitioner’s ideas and experience with usability methods, skills, philosophy, design, business case studies, or other relevant topics. Speakers should plan ample time for innovative audience participation within the 60-minute allocation.

Panel (60 min)

Panels can cover the same areas of interest as presentations, or go little beyond the traditional UX topics.  Good panel topics are the ones with different aspects to discuss on. There should be 3-5 domain experts as panelists representing different perspectives or aspects to the topic at hand. Submissions should include a short, anonymous position statement from each potential panelist. Like previous years, 2020’s panels will have a 60-minute time slot

Pre-Conference Course (Half-Day: 4 hours / or Full-Day: 8 hours)

UXPA pre-conference courses allow attendees to extend their knowledge with half-day or full-day sessions led by experienced and skilled UX professionals.  These courses are classroom-style sessions, where instructors teach attendees specific user experience knowledge or skills. Courses will include presentations covering in-depth explorations of a topic, as well as discussions and activities to allow attendees to share and practice their new skills.  

We are looking for courses on a wide range of topics, including design, evaluation, research, and UX management. Courses can be targeted for novice or advanced user experience professionals, or for a more general UXPA audience.  

Note: Course leaders are entitled to an honorarium, either in the form of direct payment ($1,000 for full day and $500 for half day) or greater conference registration discounts (TBD)

Poster (5 min talk during a 60 min time slot)

Posters are a way to present research results, new ideas or concepts in an informal, visual and interactive manner. Presenting is very informal: a few people will gather around as you talk them through your poster. Make sure to include what you did, why, how and what you’ve learned. It’s a great first step into presenting at conferences. Your research, ideas or concepts don’t need to be complete; you can even use the session to pick the brains of professionals to help move your thinking forward.

It’s often helpful for submitters to include an image depicting the planned layout of the poster. There is no official template for posters, so be creative and find the best way to tell your own story. Selected poster presenters will be responsible for printing their own posters.

3) CHOOSE A LEVEL

Entry level

Proposals at this level cover the basics of a topic and are aimed at those with little experience in the topic of your submission.

Senior level

The audience of your proposal have a strong base level of experience in the topic. Your proposal is offering a new way of thinking, a detailed case study or practical tips on an advanced technique. It will be of interest to UX professionals and academics of a senior level.

Deep Dive

If your proposal is a thorough analysis of a narrow topic choose a Deep Dive. Your proposal will truly challenge ways of thinking and push the industry forward. What is the effect on reliability of a 5 versus 7-point Likert scale? How much difference does it make if you ask for “agree/disagree” versus “ easy/difficult” responses? This could be new research on something highly specific, like text fields or captcha. Maybe you can talk about a specific aspect of accessibility, like the daunting challenges that blind users have trying to use flat screen control panels for home appliances, taking attendees far beyond tags and automated browser extensions.

If you have any questions, drop us an email at chair2022@uxpa.org