Tips for your 1st session
If you’ve never hosted a barcamp session, even the thought of doing this can be daunting: Which topic should I pick? Is it good enough? What if nobody wants to join my session? How do I prepare for it? And so on.
No worries, we got your back: First, we’ll answer all of the above questions. And below that, you get to see examples from former sessions: Maybe one of them inspires you to pick a similar topic or just an aspect or…
General tips
Topic: Pick a topic you care about. It could be an idea you want to present and get feedback on. Or a question that’s been bugging you. Anything UX related is fine, as long it’s important to you.
Relevance: If you think your topic is relevant, then it is, period. And if only one person joins your session? That’s perfectly fine: Have a 1:1 exchange – and maybe also discuss why so few people see its significance.
Preparation: This bit is completely up to you. At every UX Camp, several of the sessions have nothing but a leading question to kick-start a discussion. Other sessions include a polished presentation. You do you.
The right time: Maybe you’re like: “I have a nice topic, but this is my first time at a barcamp, so maybe I just watch this time and host a session next year.” Our advice: Do it this time. You won’t regret it, promise.
Topics from past sessions
This is a small selection of topics people came up with throughout the years:
Impact of Design Choices
The way people perceive design is influenced by a multitude of factors. By identifying these, we can more easily determine who we are creating our designs for and who we are not. In this talk, we will explore how to craft designs with intention and examine ways to make more mindful design decisions. Let’s reawaken our empathy and drive ourselves to create designs that truly enrich our users’ experiences.
UX of Energy
Renewable energies such as solar and wind are making energy less of a commodity and more of a technology: the cost of it decreases over time and we can generate it ourselves. What does this mean for how we interact with it? Should it feel more like a computer or more like an appliance? How might we share it, or sell it? Do we even want to think about energy?
Tips for UX Newbies
I’m new to UX and just transitioned from a Marketing role. In this session, I would appreciate people to give me tips for breaking into UX: What are things you would have liked to learn when you first started as a UX professional? What would have helped you get into it more quickly and efficiently?
Do we have a moral responsibility?
To make it clear from the beginning: I’m actually asking. I don’t have an answer. Because more often than not, the products we design have questionable objectives or side-effects: Maybe because they focus on company goals, not user goals. Or because the service we’re designing for has a negative environmental or social impact. How should we deal with situations like that?
The Action Plan for Digital Accessibility
This talk delves into the intricacies of Germany’s digital accessibility laws and outlines the practical steps necessary to achieve inclusiveness on digital platforms. Daniel will present an essential guide for organizations seeking to navigate the legal landscape and embrace a culture of accessibility within their digital content.
Real-World Prototypes
Too often UX and UI practitioners focus their efforts only on digital parts of a user’s journey. However, actual interaction will never occur in a laboratory environment but takes place in complex real-world environments. Together we will come to understand the importance of desirability testing, we will learn to build non-digital prototypes and we will have a look at several qualitative and quantitative testing methods. Vivid project examples will illustrate the case and will make you want to start your own real-world prototype.
De-Risking UX Hires
How can we help companies hire more than just Unicorn Senior UX Designers?
DX – Developer Experience
Developer Experience is often reduced to “how effective is the development and can we measure it?” but of course there is more: let’s talk about how we can design software for software developers. What is different (much takes place in the terminal and not in the UI) and what is familiar (Laws of UX, information architecture, visual design with text (!)).
What does the M in MVP stand for again?
The idea behind the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is to bring a product or service to market with the least amount of effort and to continuously optimise it through rapid customer feedback. But let’s be honest: almost nobody dares to start with a well-focused minimum and so MVPs quickly turn into huge and often slow projects. In this talk, you will learn how to recognise such fake MVPs and how to focus back on the essentials.
Tips for optimising Figma workflows
Learn how to avoid typical mistakes in Figma and complete your projects faster with better structure. I share my practical tips and tricks that might also make your workflow more efficient and enjoyable. Let’s explore the secrets of an effective Figma workflow together and learn how order and creativity can go hand in hand. I’ll show you how it works best for me – maybe you’ll adopt something, or even share an even better solution with us.
Design Systems: What’s Your Happy Path?
There is probably not such a thing as the one perfect way to set up a Design System – but maybe there are a few things that are good ingredients. In this session, we’ll share with one another what we think some of those ingredients are.
UX Writing: The Secret Sauce of UX
What’s the difference between a good UI and a great one? Depending on how you look at it, the answer may vary – but one of the secret sauces is UI copy that makes it easy for people to understand where they are, what they see, and what they can do – and that makes them feel comfortable, welcome, and encouraged.
Too junior to matter?
Juniors are often seen as too slow, too inexperienced, or simply not driven enough – especially now that AI seems faster, cheaper, and always available. As a junior designer myself, I want to challenge that idea and open up a conversation about what we bring to the table.
How do our personalities shape our designs?
You have probably heard about the concept of “unconscious bias”. In this open discussion, let’s talk about how our own biases can shape our ideas and concepts – and what kind of steps we can take to minimise their influence.