Call for proposals - UX Management Track

Are you in the process of making the transition from practitioner to manager? Or, have you already gone through the transition and successfully emerged as a manager?

Many members of our UX community are now in management roles, either by chance, intention, or luck. The challenges and issues the UX Manager faces are often considerably different than those of the practitioner.

Up until this point, the collective body of shared knowledge for UX Management has been surprisingly thin, both online and in conference settings. This deficit is certainly not because of a lack of an interested audience. As the IA Summit enters its 9th year, it’s time to roll out a track specifically dedicated to the UX Manager.

We’re looking for UX management types, both in-house/product and agency-side, to share their experiences and perspective with our community. For the purpose of this track, we consider a manager as somebody who is directly responsible for the oversight of a UX delivery team. This management should include tasks such as recruiting, professional development, performance reviews, estimation/budgeting, and other aspects of operation.

In particular, we’re looking for:

  • Presentations – running 45 minutes, allow time for Q&A
  • Panels – a 1 hour moderated discussion with 3-5 participants
  • Working Sessions – 2 hour sessions in which the participants are sub-divided into smaller groups and discuss/work through topics and share with the larger group at the conclusion of the session
  • Table topics / birds of a feather meet ups for lunches

All are encouraged to apply including returning speakers, new speakers, seasoned managers, newly minted managers, etc…

Review Process and Criteria

Submissions to the management track will be peer-reviewed and evaluated separately from general conference submissions. In particular we are looking for timely and relevant presentations that speak directly to the UX Management community. We seek perspectives from UX managers on how to manage the day to day operations of a UX department within an organization.

We are not looking for papers that specifically discuss project engagement methodology, how to sell the value of UX to an organization, or other topics typically covered in the practitioner tracks.

Preparing your submission

Submissions should be detailed, yet concise. If you can’t explain the topic in 2-3 paragraphs, it’s probably not ready for primetime. Please consider submitting it for mentor review prior to submitting it here.

Uploaded documents should be prepared in the following formats: Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, or Microsoft PPT.

Your submission should include the following:

  • Name
  • Professional Bio (under 100 words)
  • Current job title, name of current employer
  • Number of years being in UX Management
  • Contact Information
  • Topic Title
  • Topic description (3 paragraphs, maximum)
  • Target audience
  • Why this topic should be selected and why you are qualified to deliver it (3 paragraphs, maximum)

How and when to submit

  • The call for papers closed on November 6th.

Registration - New for 2008: One complimentary conference registration will be given to each presentation or panel accepted - details will be distributed with acceptance notifications in January 2008. Additional presenters or panelists may register for the summit at the reduced "additional presenter" rate.