Women Talk Design + Hexagon UX Chicago Present: Women Talk: Conferences (Chicago) a panel of brilliant women sharing their experiences and advice for speaking at tech and design conferences

Thursday, January 31st, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

In this panel discussion, we’ve invited incredible women in UX who have spoken at design and tech conferences and public events to share their experiences. Learn how they got their first speaking engagement, what conferences they attend, how they prepare for giving a talk, and what advice they have for those getting started. We hope you’ll leave inspired to share your own ideas and experiences, and get out there and speak.

Agenda:
6:30 – 6:50 – Meet and mingle
6:50 – 8:15 – Panel & Q&A
8:15 – 8:30 – More networking

Panelists:

Kathi Kaiser, Co-founder and Partner, Centralis

Kathi Kaiser is co-founder and partner at Centralis, a Chicago-based UX consultancy. She leads a top-notch team in creating great user experiences for global clients, start-ups, and cultural institutions. When Kathi’s not at the whiteboard or in the lab, she may be found observing users on boats, in museums, at train stations, and anywhere else where the digital and physical worlds collide. Kathi is a frequent speaker on topics in UX, and has served as an adjunct faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design.

Tanarra Schneider, Managing Director, Fjord

Tanarra is the Managing Director of Fjord in the Midwest. She is a product of a very eclectic background. She’s been a dancer, cook, event planner, designer and—most recently—a mother, and she credits all of these experiences for inspiring her and informing the way she works at Accenture every day. Agility, discipline, perseverance and performance were a focus of dance; cooking taught her the value of authenticity and how to lead with craft in service of others to build community; and through event planning, she learned to be prepared, to check everything twice, and to bring other people’s visions to life—even when it’s not her “taste.” Prior to joining Fjord, Tanarra has held leadership positions at agencies in New York and Chicago. She was the Sr. Director of Design and Development at Playboy Enterprises and spent 3 years crafting JetBlue Airways internal eLearning practice. Her introduction to digital design was as a graduate student at UCLA where she sought to build upon her BA in English Literature from University of Illinois.

Mick Champayne, Leader User Experience Designer, Digitas

Mick Champayne is a Lead Experience Designer at Digitas by daylight, and an illustrator/donut whisperer by moonlight. She loves to create solutions that have beauty AND brains: making things look beautiful with smart strategy and UX, and she’s always scheming ways to inject a little personality and humor into experiences.

Natalie Hanson, Principal and Partner, ZS

Natalie Hanson is a Principal and partner at ZS, where she built and now leads the User Experience team across both software development and technology consulting organizations. Prior to ZS, she worked at software giant SAP, where she also built a User Experience team supporting Board-level projects. Natalie holds an MA in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University Seattle, and a PhD in Anthropology from Temple University. She researches work practices and work environments, with a focus the ways institutions respond to macro-economic, industry, and regional trends, and how the resulting organizational changes affect the lives of employees. Natalie is the founder of anthrodesign, a vibrant, global, online community of over three thousand multi-disciplinary researchers who use ethnographic methods in the business setting. She blogs episodically at nataliehanson.com.

Refreshments and snacks will be served.

The event is open to everyone. Please take a moment to read through Women Talk Design’s Code of Conduct before RSVPing.

By registering for this event, you recognize that photographs will be taken during the event, that may be used in press and marketing materials for Women Talk Design and Hexagon UX. If you would like to opt out, please let the registration desk know when you check in, or send us an email at contact@womentalkdesign.com.

Photo courtesy of Meg Durcan

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Tags: Chicago, Digitas, Hexagon UX Chicago, Kathi Kaiser, Loop, Mick Champayne, Natalie Hanson, Tanarra Schneider, Women Talk: Conferences