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From the kitchen of UX Spain
We live in a reactionary age, in which the currency of change is immediate reaction. I think that writing a post just after the end of an event, drawing conclusions, is not only opportunistic, but also very hasty. We need to rest, cool our heads and look at things with perspective, in order to be able to decide whether it is worth holding another edition and how to organise it.
As a member of the organisation, as far as I am concerned, the objectives of this experiment were more than achieved. Only 5 months ago we were praying to reach at least 100 participants and we did not count on the confirmation of many speakers.
I had no great surprises in terms of the quality of the content and the speakers. The idea was have a panoramic photograph with a better resolution of the state of the community and to get to know each other better. I took home a nice postcard (the moment of the entrance in the hall of the dinner on Friday was priceless), but the devirtualisation has been partial and it has happened to me like the bride and groom, who are more concerned about the guests having a good time and enjoy the party less.
From my totally subjective impressions, both on our part and on the part of each of the attendees and participants. improvements should be made the following:
- The event was billed as a meeting of professionals, not a trade show, and I was saddened by the parade of corporate T-shirts and sales people on the hunt for clients. I was concerned about the clientelism and the lack of permeability between groups of attendees.
- Despite the networking, there was little willingness to share knowledge and little willingness to go for the jugular at the slightest opportunity. There was a lack of respect and everyone managed their Twitter envy and frustration as best they could, but few people came forward to discuss things face to face.
- In that sense, I assume that the round tables were excessively long, keeping up the pace and tension for 90 minutes is not easy, and I don't think it is the best format for sharing knowledge.
On the positive side, I would definitely like to thank the Pontifical University of Salamanca and especially to the organisation support team: Mercedes, María, Eli... they have been exceptional hosts.
And I'll stick with the best of UX Spain: Sergio, Yusef y César, We were exceptional battle buddies. Our constant mutual support, conversations and laughs behind the scenes were without a doubt the best thing about the event, just to meet again would be worth organising a second edition. We will think about it...
I share your criticisms in general, but don't read too much into Twitter. It has been an acidic channel where a lot of things are taken out of proportion but it has also brought a lot of fun, information and final reflections of appreciation and gratitude to you.
The unanimous tweet-sized summary is that of a memorable organisation and above all - and this says it all - a great desire for a new UX Spain.
Thank you David, we certainly left Salamanca with a very good taste in our mouths, but there are always things to improve in order to generate other dynamics.
The issue needs to be allowed to settle.
Hello Sergio,
First of all, congratulations on the organisation of the event.
I am from Redbility, and the first feeling I have is that I would like to sponsor the event again next year.
I have been reading several blogs today, mainly commenting on the quality of the presentations or what was said in them.
For me, the idea was different (as Sergio Ortega told me), it was about getting to know each other, meeting each other's faces, etc. I considered that the presentations were only a means, that the end was another.
On the other hand, I wanted to talk about why you were sad to see people wearing T-shirts. I don't understand that. At Redbility there were people who wore them, and I don't think it was a big deal. Given the number of sponsors, you could say that the event «filled up» with all the people who came from those companies.
And thanks to the t-shirts we managed to get people to locate us (like the red scarf), there were people with whom I have a relationship through twitter that I found it very difficult to recognise them. Moreover, being an event where «making it easy» is basic in our profession, I PROPOSE: to use T-shirts by colour, depending on the company, or the speciality for next year. Imagine, green SEO people, yellow VISUAL people, etc... Communication would flow, or at least it would be a wink. And if not, at least people would wear the twitter t-shirt :)
A hug and congratulations
Mario, thank you very much for your support.
I fully agree with the theme of the papers, I said it at the time in the UX Spain blog, The presentations and papers were never the end of the event.
Don't mind me too much on the subject of T-shirts, sometimes I have too idealistic a vision and I'm too much of a «white label» :-) . Sorry if it bothered you.
A hug and thank you.
I went without any gadgets on me. That is to say, I paid my full attention to the event (or as much as I could, except for the microsleeps that attacked me at some point). I say this because I was very surprised to see that more than half of the attendees were only paying attention to their devices and gadgets than to the stage. Some even spent the whole day (literally) at their laptops (and they weren't working).
In future editions, it would be great to be able to elaborate more on the audience. To find a clever way of attracting an audience that is really interested in listening even if some of the presentations are not of total interest. The lack of interest of many of the attendees was a nuisance for those of us who were trying to attend. Worthy of an institute.
Apart from the audience, it would be necessary to ensure that the sound volume is more than sufficient to be heard all the way to the end of the room, as Javier Cañada very elegantly ensured before the start. And, if one were to ask, try to be selective with the speakers and demand a certain diction and basic tips for speaking into the microphone. There were many moments when the volume was so low that it was very difficult to pay attention.
Otherwise, the overall quality of the presentations was very good, the city chosen was ideal and the organisation, in my opinion, excellent. Everything went smoothly, if only it were always like that.
Thank you very much for your trouble ; )
Thank you very much Christian.
Although I am personally annoyed by certain things, I am not the one to say how people should come to the event, and even less to make a selection of attendees.
The issue of how to make presentations is another debate, I don't think we should all be required to be experts in our fields and to have the guts to stand in front of 400 people and present our ideas. We are asked to argue, and the normal thing to do is to do it in petit comité. Anything else is an extra ball.
I applaud even more the speakers who had a hard time and came out of it with flying colours. I repeat, it was not a congress to see papers, the most interesting thing is happening now, with all the conversations that are being generated.
Now we are left with the most complicated task: how we all orchestrate the post UX Spain.
I agree with almost everything that has been said in the comments and in your post. Like everyone else, I would like to congratulate you on the organisation because I think it has tremendous merit to have done as well as you have done. The fact that there are issues that could be improved does not detract from the fact that as a first edition it has been a total success. The city also helps, the truth :)
I think the event has left us all wanting more and I think it is good that there is debate on issues that may be debatable; it means that things are done with, let's call it, passion. If we were all in agreement we would be dead by now; the environment is too demanding to fall asleep and we have no idea how to deal with most of what we do. That is the uncertainty that makes our work so wonderful.
Understanding that this first UXSpain has been a «snapshot» of what there is, it would be great if in future congresses new ideas or new ways of facing reality (the day to day) could be put forward.
Once again, congratulations on your good work.
Thank you Sergio for having the courage and enthusiasm to organise such an event.
There are always things that can be improved, but it's phenomenal how many people went, and beyond everything - and in pure «lean» spirit (even if it's a «word», it hides truths and common sense as a house), the idea is to learn and improve by iterating.