UPA 2006: Call for Participation
Conference
Theme
The UPA 2006 conference theme, Usability Through Storytelling, is about communicating and educating. As usability professionals, we weave stories together that have been harvested from our user communities. As we observe and analyze the users and their tasks we begin to create stories that will bring the user community alive in the minds of designers, business owners, and technical teams.
In 2006, UPA goes to Colorado, a land where the stories of hardship and challenge in the quest to succeed in a new world mingle with even older stories in the ancient tradition of Native American tribes. It is in this mountain setting we will explore storytelling and its role in usability.
The Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) is the leading forum for the exchange of ideas among usability practitioners. We invite you to share your ideas and experiences with fellow practitioners at our annual conference by submitting proposals for presentations, volunteering to help at the conference, or by attending the conference. Last year's conference in Montreal attracted more than 525 usability professionals. Don't miss your chance to share your stories with us in 2006.
Submission and Review
Process Overview
- Read which topics conference attendees said they would like to see
- Review submission types
- (Note to submitters: Posters, Panels, and Idea Markets had fewer submissions in 2005, thus a higher acceptance rate.)
- Submit your proposal online
- Submissions are closed. See ideas for next year.
- Committee co-chairs organize a blind review, and several selected UPA-member reviewers read and rate all submissions
- An executive committee, including committee co-chairs, reviews submissions based on the ratings and makes the final selection
- Every submission receives feedback after the review
How to
Prepare a Successful Submission
The content and style of presentations, panels, papers and other submissions 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.
- HIGHLY RATED SESSIONS:
- Provide a healthy balance of lecture and audience participation
- Explain how usability relates to other areas
- Provide real-life examples and case studies
- Focus on topics with wide application such as Web-related topics
- Read which topics conference attendees said they would like to see
- HIGHLY RATED PRESENTERS:
- Give attendees materials to take home and ideas to start applying right away
- Have opinions and experience about the topic
- Present with energy and have clear and concise presentation materials
- 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 prevent people from submitting their ideas to the UPA conference. To encourage more submissions from the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) community, UPA can provide mentors to assist with ESL issues during preparation of submissions.