TCANZ Pre-Conference Workshops 2007
"Visual Structure", and
"Choosing the Right Usability Technique"

We are pleased to announce that these pre-conference workshops will be held on Tuesday 6th November at the Duxton Hotel in Wellington. Full details of each workshop are provided below. Please click the "register" button to register for both workshops.

"Visual Structure" with Jean-luc Doumont

Workshop details

The need for visual structure is everywhere-in picture-oriented media such as presentation slides, in text-oriented media such as printed documents, or in electronic, interactive media such as Web sites. Yet most of us have had little training, if any, on how to convey a structure visually, and the vast majority of slides, page layouts, and Web designs out there fail to reveal any underlying structure effectively, as they violate the most basic principles of visual interpretation.

Outline

This half-day workshop focuses on the basics on visual structure and on their effective application. After a first conceptual part in the form of a group discussion, it proposes an interactive analysis of example slides, page layouts, and Web designs brought by the participants, with a view to improving them.

Outcomes

As a participant, you can thus expect both to sharpen your analytical skills on a variety of visual structures and to receive group feedback on some of your own creations.

When

Tuesday November 6th 2007 (please register before 30/10/2007)
8:30am - 12:30pm.
Tea and Coffee will be served on arrival from 8.00am

Need more information? Contact workshop organiser Johanne Booth.

About the presenter

Jean-luc Doumont

Jean-luc Doumont teaches and provides advice on professional speaking, writing, and graphing. He also trains instructors and can facilitate any process that requires solid structuring and effective communication. For more than fifteen years, he has helped audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities structure their thoughts and construct their communication, in English, French, Dutch, and Spanish.

Jean-luc is one of the very few trainers in the field to combine a top-notch technical background with acclaimed communication and teaching skills. Thanks to this unusual combination, he approaches professional communication in an innovative, engineering-like way that contrasts sharply with the tradition of the field, rooted in the humanities. He is thus well received by engineers, scientists, and managers, who say that they are "on the same wavelength"-a prerequisite to effective learning.

An articulate, entertaining, and thought-provoking presenter, Jean-luc is a popular keynote or invited speaker worldwide. In recent years, he is giving guest lectures increasingly often at top-ranked graduate engineering schools, such as at MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, UC San Diego, UCLA, University of Maryland, Harvard, and Penn State.

"Choosing the Right Usability Technique:
The right answer to the right question" with Whitney Quesenbery

Workshop details

There are many user experience design and evaluation techniques, from card sorting to usability testing. Each has its own advantages and requirements. Selecting the right technique, at the right time is critical to a successful project. That first decision affects the resources and budget needed, and can determine whether you can provide useful and effective information to improve a product.

This workshop is based on the assumption that there is not "one right way" to do user experience, but that if you can identify the questions, you can find a way to get answers within your resources.

We will review different options for usability and user experience work and look at how they can be used most effectively. Whether you are planning your first project or your hundredth, this workshop will help you match the right technique to your goals, to get the answers you need to improve your products, documentation and web sites.

Outline

Outcomes

Participants in this workshop will leave with:

When

Tuesday November 6th 2007 (please register before 30/10/2007)
1:30pm - 5:30pm.
Tea and Coffee will be served on arrival from 1.00pm

Need more information? Contact workshop organiser Johanne Booth.

About the presenter

Whitney Quesenbery

Whitney Quesenbery is a user interface designer and usability specialist with a passion for clear communication. As the principal consultant for Whitney Interactive Design (wqusability.com) she works with companies around the world to develop usable web sites and applications.

As a principal at Cognetics Corporation for 12 years, she was instrumental in building a great design staff, and the design leader for many design and usability projects. Her project credits include work with companies such as Novartis, Deloitte Consulting, Lucent, McGraw-Hill, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, and Dow Jones. While at Cognetics, she was one of the developers of LUCID (Logical User-Centered Interaction Design), which promotes the importance of a user-centered approach and usability in design.

Cost (for both workshops)

Members (TCANZ, NZATD): $337.50 (Incl GST) Non-members $517.50 (Incl GST)

Venue

The Private Room
Duxton Hotel
Wellington