The content and style of presentations, panels, papers, advanced topic seminars, tutorials, workshops, idea markets and posters are the heart of the UPA conference. Content and style are what make the experience fruitful, educational, and fun for attendees. To learn what appeals to conference attendees, the conference committee analyzes the evaluations from the previous conference each year.

  Successful sessions in past conferences consistently meet these standards:

• Highly rated sessions provide a healthy balance of lecture and audience participation; help people understand how usability relates to other areas; provide real-life examples and case studies; focus on topics with wide application such as Web-related topics; and give attendees ideas and materials to take back home and start applying right away.
• Highly rated presenters have opinions and experience about the topic, present with energy, and have clear and concise presentation materials.

Review Process

The submission review process has two stages. First, committee co-chairs organize a blind review, and several selected UPA-member reviewers read and rate the submissions. Second, an executive committee, which includes committee co-chairs, reviews the submissions based on the ratings and makes the final selection. Every submission will receive feedback following the review.

Help Preparing Materials for English-speaking Audiences

UPA seeks to become a world-wide community. To accomplish this goal, we encourage submissions from those for whom English is a second language. At the same time, we recognize that a language barrier might inhibit people from submitting their ideas to the UPA conference. To encourage more submissions from the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) community, UPA provides mentors to assist with ESL issues during preparation of submissions. UPA is an English-language conference; however, we continue to support and encourage local UPA chapters to extend their resources to the wider UPA community. Contact Alain Robillard-Bastien or Nathalie Barthe, for more information about English-language mentoring.

Testimonials from Past Conferences

If you are new to UPA, or you would like to understand what kind of presentations that attendees found most valuable, here are a few presentations from the 2003 conference, with evaluation comments.

Overall

• "I attended last year and loved it. I will attend as long as they have conferences!"
• "[I come] to obtain practical information from a wide variety of experts."
• "UPA is a very useful, practical conference. I always learn a lot of new techniques and obtain new ideas."
• "UPA is always an exciting and positive experience."

  Tutorials and Workshops

UCD in the Age of "Web Years", XP, and Agile Programming Methods: Towards Agile User-Centered Design

"Very enjoyable time; [I] felt like we accomplished a lot and made great progress towards future work on this."
Forms that Work: Understanding Forms to Improve their Design
"Excellent workshop. Provided an excellent breadth and depth of info that will be very helpful to current and future projects. Good examples supported concepts."

Conducting a Hands-on Usability Assessment
"This was an excellent session - the right amount of teaching, class interaction and practice exercise
Get real! Techniques for gathering and analyzing user requirements in the "Real World"".
"Excellent balance of practical experience and specific information. Doing these activities will change the way our department works."

  Panels

Adventures in Participant Recruiting: From Screening with Rigor to Dealing with No-Shows
"This was the most useful session of the conference for me."

  Idea Market: Dynamic Discussion About Ideas on Methodology, Data Gathering, Roles, and More.

"This is an exceptional session—it is a great idea. I loved the opportunity to wander from conversation to conversation on my own time, and those who lead good discussions were amazing! This was the best session at UPA!"

The State of Web Site Usability for June 2003
"Very thought-provoking about what the next steps for the profession might be."

  Presentations

Beyond Video: Accessibility Profiles, Personas, and Scenarios Up Close and Personal
"This session is a fantastic opportunity to see accessibility issues in action. There is nothing more powerful than real people’s experiences with real products and explaining their trials and triumphs in person and in context. Wonderful opportunity and experience. Thank you!"

Field Research in Commercial Product Development
"FANTASTIC! Relevant and interesting. This presentation was worth the price of admission to the entire conference. Value received! This concrete, specific type of presentation is the most helpful to me in my job."

Fixing What Matters: Accounting for Organizational Priorities When Communicating Usability Problems
"Timely topic matter and usable techniques that could be sealed based on need. Even from a non-usability professional perspective, helpful overview."

Using Movies to Make Complex Software More Approachable
"VERY well-organized and interesting session."

Social cultural trends and insights and their implications for product
"Comprehensive content, excellent data, educational.
Dimensions of Usability: Defining the Conversation, Driving the Process"

"This was informative, engaging, and fun. A perfect topic for Friday morning and useful information for anytime."

  Invited Speakers

Music and the Arts: Usability in fact and as metaphor
"Very engaging and thought provoking talk. I thoroughly enjoyed the theme of the talk and how the speaker related it to usability."

"Outstanding; worth the price of the conference."

Keynote Speaker: Opening Plenary
"The content was inspirational."

"I liked [the] cross-industry involvement."

"These are the kind of comments that we want to hear about every session. People are excited. They’re learning. They have new insight into how they can do their work. They have new tools and new ways to apply old tools."

People at UPA share with each other, not only in the halls or at dinner, but at sessions as well. They always want more, but they give, too. UPA should be as exciting for presenters as it is for attendees.