I often get asked by educators and people who are new to UX: “what are the best conferences to attend?” My answer is often: “that depends.” For educators, who notoriously suffer from a dearth of travel funding, making it to top-notch UX conferences can be difficult.
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That’s why I’ve broken down a growing UX conference list into 5 of my favorites. These are my favorites for several reasons, namely:
- Affordability: All these conferences are at price points that at least some educators can afford.
- Diversity of the crowd: All of these conferences are relatively diverse, meaning they are attended by lots of different kinds of people, including educators.
- Entry level: Going to UX conferences can be intimidating, especially if you’re new to the field. These are all conferences that feature a high level of beginner-level panels.
1) The User Experience Professionals Association
One of the largest UX professionals organizations in the world, the UXPA is great for educators because they have presentations at their annual conference for all skill levels. In addition, many of their local chapters host their own conferences and meetups.
2) Confab
A great content strategy conference, Confab is perfect for people of all skill levels.
3) Midwest UX
A regional gathering that attracts a lot of top-level talent, Midwest UX is a reasonably affordable event that features a great mix of pre-conference workshops, keynotes, 1-hour presentations, lightning talks, and hands on sessions.
4) The Internet Summit
Another regional gathering in my own neck of the woods, the Internet Summit is a great mix of digital marketing, content strategy, and UX that features some great speakers.
5) A Bunch More (Okay, I cheated)
Here’s a great list of other conferences from UX Mastery. Educators probably need to find conferences in their area, because of our serious lack of travel funding when compared to our private sector counterparts, so feel free to look in your own backyard!