
Plan your experience
Session tracks
Power of Research
Strategies for maximizing the value of world-class UX research
Insights for Business
How to make human insights essential for any team's business strategy
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Best practices for designing, executing, and growing a research program
Agenda
Day 1: October 12th | University Live
8:30 AM-12:00 PM PT
Workshop: Level-up your customer insight skills
Workshop: Level-up your customer insight skills
Instructor:
Margaret Williamson
Senior UX Researcher, UserTesting
Overview
Quickly learning from your customers is a vital part of doing business today. Getting started, asking the right questions, and analyzing the results can seem intimidating. But rest assured, in this interactive session, Margaret will reveal all the tips and tricks you need to collect and analyze customer insights like a pro.
What you’ll learn
This workshop will cover the key areas for planning, executing, and analyzing feedback from your customers to discover important human insight:
How do you know what to test? How about when to test? In this workshop, Margaret will start off by answering these questions and show you how a little planning can give your research a lot of clarity and make a big impact.
Next, you'll learn about the best practices when creating a test to meet your research objectives. And then you'll get to put that new knowledge to work by building your own studies in small teams.
Margaret will wrap up this session by talking about impactful insights. Learn tips and tricks to analyze your data to find the story your users are telling you.
After this workshop, you’ll be able to:
- Plan your research with clear, measurable objectives
- Write test questions, tasks, and screeners to effectively and efficiently answer your customer feedback objectives
- Analyze your research results to gain impactful human insight
This session is best for
Designers, product managers, marketers, or anyone who is new to collecting user insights.
Workshop: Testing beyond digital experiences
Workshop: Testing beyond digital experiences
Instructor:
Michael Clifford
Customer Experience Consultant, UserTesting
Overview
Understanding your customer’s natural environment as well as the physical products they use—such as home office equipment, appliances, or smart speakers—is critical to understanding the complete user experience. Site visits can help; however, this can be costly, time-consuming, and nowadays, not even possible. So how can we learn more about our customer’s environment? Attend this session to learn how to start testing beyond the device remotely!
What you’ll learn
This workshop will cover the key areas for conducting remote tests on physical products and environments:
Michael will begin by showing you how to plan for remote testing of physical products and environments, specifically addressing three types of research studies—voice technology, local environments, and augmented reality.
Next, you’ll learn more about constructing tests that include physical products and environments. You’ll be asked to break into small teams to create your own tasks and questions that go beyond the digital experience.
Lastly, Michael will discuss all of the considerations outside of the typical research process required for these types of projects. You will leave this session with the practical information you need to start testing beyond the device to build empathy for your customer’s experience with current and emerging technologies.
After this workshop, you’ll be able to:
- Test physical products and environments remotely (e.g., testing a smart speaker or understanding your user’s home office setup)
- Plan research that goes beyond the desktop or mobile devices
- Use a framework for creating tasks and questions to test beyond the digital experience
This session is best for
Researchers, product managers, and designers who are interested in testing physical products or better understand their user’s natural environments.
Workshop: Delivering insights to inspire customer-centric decisions
Workshop: Delivering insights to inspire customer-centric decisions
Instructor:
Michael Domanic
Senior Customer Success Manager, UserTesting
Overview
Research fails if it doesn’t resonate with your stakeholders. Attend this workshop to learn and practice techniques for capturing meaningful insights to inspire customer-centric decision making. You’ll leave this session with strategies to put customer insights at the center of decision making.
What you’ll learn
This workshop will cover the key areas for capturing meaningful insights and sharing them with stakeholders in a way that resonates:
Michael will start by discussing the importance of getting to know your stakeholders and strategies for doing so. You’ll break into smaller teams and dive into this topic by walking through some real-world scenarios.
Next, you’ll learn more about presenting your insights with consumable visuals like charts and graphs. Michael will discuss the impact of highlight reels and share examples of how organizations are leveraging video to elevate the voice of their customers.
This workshop will conclude with a discussion about effective methods for taking these conversations with your stakeholders to the next level. You’ll leave this session with strategies to put customer insights at the center of decision making.
After this workshop, you’ll be able to
- Find ways to better understand your stakeholders to influence meaningful change
- Present insights from your studies as consumable and actionable charts and graphs, as well as highlight reels
- Take proactive measures to become even more relevant and valuable to executives
This session is best for
Researchers, designers, product managers, marketers, and anyone else who needs to convince stakeholders to take action.
Workshop: Train the trainer: helping your team connect with customers
Workshop: Train the trainer: helping your team connect with customers
Instructor:
Lisa Lloyd
Onboarding Specialist, UserTesting
Overview
Training your team on the Human Insight Platform is more than teaching your team to use a product—it is enabling your team to do some of the best work of their life by connecting with customers. Attend this workshop to learn and develop a plan for getting more team members comfortable launching tests and collecting more insights from end-users.
What you’ll learn
This workshop will cover the key areas for empowering your team members to effectively use the UserTesting platform to accomplish your CX goals:
Understanding how people learn is essential to enablement. To start this interactive workshop, Lisa will share best practices for creating the most efficient learning environment possible for your team.
Next, you’ll learn strategies for encouraging team members to test early and often, and how to embed customer feedback into your team’s workflows.
This workshop will conclude with tips and tricks to get the entire team invested in research. You will leave this session with the practical information you need to plan, execute, and maintain a thriving customer feedback loop at your organization.
After this workshop, you’ll be able to
- Create a successful learning environment for your team
- Integrate customer research into your team’s workflow
- Get your entire team invested in customer insights
This session is best for
Researchers, research managers, designers, product managers, marketers, and anyone who owns metrics, is responsible for team alignment, or prioritizes projects.
Day 2: October 13th
8:00 AM-8:20 AM PT
Yog-Hi at HiWorld
Yog-Hi at HiWorld
Instructor:
Chandni Wadhwa
Overview
This 20 minute yoga class will be a therapeutics style session. There will be emphasis on cultivating breath while opening up the spine (lying down), softening neck/shoulder tension (seated), and releasing the hips and thighs (standing). It's the perfect accompaniment to an exciting day of learning, and will leave you with a deep sense of calm and freedom in your mind, body, and spirit! Suitable for all levels of practitioners; beginners are welcome.
8:30 AM-9:25 AM PT
Opening Keynote
Opening Keynote
Human Insight World Opening Keynote
Speakers:
Andy MacMillan
Chief Executive Officer, UserTesting
Janelle Estes
Chief Insights Officer, UserTesting
Overview
Join UserTesting’s Chief Executive Officer, Andy MacMillan, and Chief Insights Officer, Janelle Estes, for a discussion of how companies are leveraging the power of human insights to understand changing customer behaviors, deliver innovative new experiences, and drive more value for their customers and their businesses.
9:30 AM–10:10 AM PT
Power of Research
Power of Research
Harnessing customer emotion, a cross-functional CX initiative
Speakers:
Kristina Bosland, MSHFID
Senior UX Manager, The Home Depot
Ki Arnould
Senior UX Researcher, The Home Depot
Overview
This session will highlight why The Home Depot started down the path of Harnessing Customer Emotion. We'll talk about ways we've been bringing emotion into our user research, as well as share a breakthrough technique to map the full spectrum of an experience back to the digital products we're working on, so others can learn to create more meaningful experiences for customers.
Insights for Business
Insights for Business
Putting the customer at the center of your innovation strategy
Speaker:
Mariko Frost
Associate Director User Experience, The Hartford
Overview
How does a business develop new products that its customers need and want? In this session we'll discuss multiple customer-first research methodologies that we use to evaluate new ideas and bring them to life. We'll also review a recent successful product launch and highlight how our approach can be used by any team looking to innovate and bring customer-centric experiences to market.
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Getting ready for take-off: Fueling product strategy with research at Alaska Airlines during COVID-19
Speaker:
Kanishk Shukla
User Experience Researcher, E-commerce, Alaska Airlines
Overview
As researchers, we strive to drive strategy in an organization. We use empathy and a variety of research methods to bring user behaviors, problems, and needs to the table. But conducting the research is just one piece of the puzzle. Through a real-world case study, I will share some ways we are driving product strategy and impact during the COVID-19 pandemic through user research, beyond conducting studies and extracting insights.
10:15 AM-10:55 AM PT
Power of Research
Power of Research
High-impact research at scale–secrets & strategies
Speaker:
Kelly Price
Senior Analyst Serving Customer Experience Professionals, Forrester
Overview
Forrester’s Kelly Price has spent years speaking with research leaders, distilling key lessons about what sets some research leaders and teams ahead of the pack. This session will outline key strategies research leaders and teams have used to grow the size of their practices, increase the scale and scope of their work, and cultivate an organization that values – and relies on – human insights.
Insights for Business
Insights for Business
Don’t guess, just test—even if your product sucks
Speaker:
Christian Idiodi
Partner, Silicon Valley Product Group
Overview
In Product, we’re so fortunate to be in a position to engage with customers, to deeply understand their needs and problems, to harness our creativity to design and validate solutions for them and to deliver high-quality solutions. But delivering a great product means going through many iterations and capturing a lot of customer feedback. And let’s face it, you'll have to weather a lot of criticism about your product along the way. In this session, learn about how to iterate efficiently, why critics are good for your product, and how to master techniques for turning feedback into value.
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Guiding principles for ethical research, and why you should care
Speaker:
Devin Harold
Senior Manager, UX Research Customer Marketplace Insights, Verizon
Overview
Currently, there's no governing body promoting user research ethics with human subjects. As champions of the DIY research practice, we must also be hospitable hosts within our labs or sessions and cautious custodians of customer information. With an ethical backbone, you can build the best recruitment pipeline, templates, and processes to be sensitive to your users; their preferences; their time; and their information.
Join this session to learn more about:
- The importance of being ethical
- How to create an ethical code
- Actionable insights for putting ethics into practice to influence prototypes, test plans, as well as data collection and retention
11:00 AM-12:00 PM PT
Closing Keynote and Live Book Signing with Q&A
Closing Keynote and Live Book Signing with Q&A
How to change anyone’s mind
Speaker:
Jonah Berger
New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and Wharton Professor
Overview
Everyone has something they want to change. Researchers want their insights to influence decision making. Designers and product teams want to gain buy-in. Marketers want to change the customer’s mind. Managers want to change employee behavior. Leaders want to change the way an entire organization does business. But change is hard. We persuade and cajole and push and push, but even after all that work, often nothing happens. Things change at a glacial pace, if at all. Could there be a better way?
In this new talk, Wharton Professor and change expert Dr. Jonah Berger outlines a revolutionary approach to change. Successful change isn’t about pushing harder or exerting more energy. It’s about removing barriers. Overcoming resistance by reducing friction and lowering the hurdles to action. Discover the hidden factors that impede change, why your biggest competitor is inertia, and why big changes require asking for less, not pushing for more. Whether you’re trying to change how consumers or employees think, motivate people to act, or shift the way an entire industry does business or think about customer experience, Berger will teach you how to become a catalyst.
12:00 PM-1:00 PM PT
Discussion Groups
Discussion Groups
Discussion groups bring customer experience professionals together to share and learn about a specific topic in a roundtable style conversation - led by a subject matter expert.
Topics include:
Scaling research
Design best practices
Storytelling with insights
Diversity and inclusion
And Many More..
12:00 PM-12:30 PM PT
Virtual Performance
Virtual Performance
Performer:
Jarrell Greene aka DJ CEO
Overview
Close out the first day of HiWorld with a custom set curated by DJ CEO. Impeccable style and passion for music has made DJ CEO one of world’s most sought-after deejays.He has also been the go-to deejay for several notable events such as the Pre-NBA Draft Party, the Pre-MTV Video Music Awards Client Party, and The 1st Annual YouTube Music Awards. DJ CEO will bring a unique and unforgettable musical experience to your screen.
Day 3: October 14th
8:00 AM-8:15 AM PT
Med-Hi-tate at HiWorld
Med-Hi-tate at HiWorld
Instructor:
Chandni Wadhwa
Overview
This 15 minute session will be a grounding practice anchored in mindfulness meditation. The session will begin with light stretching to prepare the body for a comfortable seat. From there we will explore the conscious act of mindfulness and use breath work to deepen our inner focus. It is a practice that slows down the thinking mind temporarily so we can tune into all of the elements around us, and expand our consciousness. It's a great compliment to your busy day, and will leave you feeling refreshed and revitalized. Plus you'll walk away with tools to use this technique in your daily life. No prior meditation experience required.
8:30 AM-9:25 AM PT
Opening Keynote
Opening Keynote
Human Insight World Product Keynote
Speakers:
Michelle Huff
Chief Marketing Officer, UserTesting
Kaj van de Loo
Chief Technology Officer, UserTesting
Overview
In the product keynote, UserTesting’s Chief Technology Officer, Kaj van de Loo, and Chief Marketing Officer, Michelle Huff, as they share UserTesting’s latest product and platform innovations.
9:30 AM-10:10 AM PT
Power of Research
Power of Research
Continuous Discovery In Situ: Better Than Being a Fly on the Wall
Speakers:
Mandy Drew
Head of UX Research, CreditWise, Capital One
Overview
More than ever before, economic, health, racial, political, and social issues are rapidly changing peoples' needs, attitudes, and behavior. How can we quickly and accurately uncover those insights to determine the best ways to respond? See how my team is uncovering opportunities and gaps to inspire meaningful experiences that can improve peoples' lives.
Insights for Business
Insights for Business
Reimagining usability: finally making data accessible to all
Speaker:
Dave Fowler
Chief Executive Officer, Chartio
Kevin Minnick
Vice President of Product, Chartio
Overview
For over 40 years Business Intelligence products have promised to enable business users to explore and understand their enterprise data. Excel delivered on that, but only for single spreadsheets. For organizations who need to understand large structured datasets, they’re still reliant on IT and Data teams that know SQL or who are experts on complex BI products.
After running hundreds of user tests, we found that our own BI product (that’s rated the best!) only enabled 1 in 10 people to explore data. So we embarked on a lengthy process to finally deliver on this 40 year promise, creating a new standard for usability in the BI space. We created thousands of designs, we ran extensive user tests on multiple prototypes and eventually we created an interface, Visual SQL that now intuitively enables 8 in 10 users (not just data teams) to explore and understand their data.
Join Chartio’s Founder and CEO, Dave Fowler and VP of Product Kevin Minnick, for a revealing look into this journey. They’ll share:
Best practices for fast, targeted user testing
Strategies for drawing conclusions from qualitative feedback
Tips for creating an evergreen testing framework
Advice for avoiding common pitfalls
...And more!
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
The art of alignment: how to unleash your research superpowers to drive product vision and strategy
Speaker:
Yuling An
Senior UX Researcher, Facebook
Overview
As UX Researchers, we possess many unique traits and skills. We know how to mold conversations to find answers to research questions. We listen with an open ear to our users when they share their successes, challenges, and wishes. We extract insights from observations. We present compellingly and drive empathy for our users. That’s just naming a few of our superpowers that we leverage to drive our work.
Product strategy and vision conversations are lengthy and complex. In this session, I’m going to unpack how UX Researchers at Facebook leverage 5 key Superpowers to navigate these complexities, and drive product vision and long-term strategy in our product spaces.
10:15 AM-10:55 AM PT
Power of Research
Power of Research
Human insight repositories: what to consider before you take the dive
Speaker:
Jeffrey Easton
Vice President, User Experience Research and Metrics, Goldman Sachs
Alex Duffield
Survey Scientist, Goldman Sachs
Overview
We all work hard to collect human insights through user research and other means, only to be frustrated that those valuable insights are usually trapped within research findings and other deliverables that see limited distribution and are soon forgotten after the project at hand is completed. Research insight repositories offer up a solution to this frustration. Many firms are looking to collect, aggregate, meta tag, and store their most valuable insights into a central, searchable, repository meant to ensure that the entire firm can get ongoing value from their research efforts. But how does your organization know if an insight repository is a good fit, and if so, how to proceed in establishing one?
Insights for Business
Insights for Business
Awareness and consideration benchmarking: a case study
Speaker:
Ashley Chinzi
UX/CX Researcher, GoDaddy
Rupa Patel
Lead CX/UX Researcher, GoDaddy
Overview
UX benchmarking studies have inspired GoDaddy's rebranding over the last couple of years. Our study approach focused attention on the awareness and consideration phases of the customer journey. We wanted to better understand the perception of our advertising search engine presence, home pages, and website design over time. In this talk, we'll share how we designed the study and aligned with key decision-makers to pave the way for meaningful changes to the GoDaddy brand.
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Customer Feedback Fundamentals
Lessons in intrapreneurship: how to quickly put fast customer feedback into action with limited research resources
Speaker:
Ann Enders
UX Director, Indeed
Overview
Leveraging a VC-funding model, the Indeed Incubator program cultivates intrapreneurship within the organization by allowing employees from across the company to pitch new product ideas. Once funded, each team has an initial 3 months to validate their concept in the market. Without dedicated research support, the Incubator teams work quickly and efficiently to inject the voice of the user into all stages of the product development process, from defining the initial MVP to iterating and scaling the solution.
In this talk, you’ll learn...
Techniques for conducting research quickly without a dedicated research team Integrating the voice of the user throughout your product development process Fostering a culture of intrapreneurship in your organization
11:00 AM-12:00 PM PT
Closing Keynote and Q&A
Closing Keynote and Q&A
How to learn about your customer when everything you know about them has changed
Speaker:
Tricia Wang
Co-Founder Sudden Compass and Global Tech Ethnographer
Overview
By definition, quantitative data describes the past. It captures activities, patterns, and beliefs that have already happened, and our world is moving so quickly that data points from the past may become useless overnight. Tricia explains how our obsession with “hard numbers” and Big Data has led us to use models built on information that’s outdated to varying degrees as soon as it’s recorded. In this new and emerging era, companies must recognize how quantitative data is tied to the past and embrace ways to merge it with more future-forward information sources. Insight is the key to moving beyond mere numbers, and requires us to make contextual generalizations based on observation and empathy. In this talk, Tricia explains the value of “thick data” as a complement to quant data, and helps listeners understand the importance of generating insights from data, and tying insights to strategy.
12:00 PM-12:30 PM PT
Closing Concert
Closing Concert
Performers:
Brandon Summers, Violin
Darion James, Guitar
Overview
The Perfect Strangers are a highly requested violin/guitar duo based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pop violinist Brandon Summers and guitarist Darion James merge their talents to add a unique twist to hit songs of today. Their repertoire includes songs by Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Sam Smith, The Chainsmokers, Adele, and more.
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