Best Links: NYC UXPA

UXPA is the national organization, NYC UXPA is the chapter.  Even if the url is "nycupa.org", don't worry.  The national organization changed its name in 2012, from Usability Professional's Association to User Experience Professional's Association.  (Jargon, I know, but someone out there will find this useful!!)

PRO: Best group out there specifically for UX professionals.  They organize lectures, events, (speed-dating for your resume!), Empathy workshops and the annual World Usability Day, this year happening on November 14 (more info).  Friendly bunch and a great way to get into some of the bigger tech companies for a tour (Bloomberg, etc), especially if you don't work there.

CON: Not too many, really. (They do not allow you to buy tickets until a week or two before the event, which is a pain).  They cater to the market, which in NYC is mostly for UX Designers and UX Developers.  They only meet once a month and their website is a little less than what it could be, but everyone is too busy working!!

Their mission statement:
We seek to bring together professionals from the marketing, design, technology and research communities so that we may share our collective experiences and create a forum for learning and professional growth. We encourage you to join us at our monthly events, which are open to members and non-members.

Best Links: Gary's Guide

So, if I were to be like Gary of Gary's Guide (yes, the Gary of the Red Tie), I'd adopt a casual, yet informative style of listing.

Every Monday, he sends out a list of the best Tech Events by email.
I admire him, his style and his level of info.  Currently, he carries listings sorted by a weekly calendar.  He lists Events, Classes, Jobs and Deals.

PRO:  Personally, I love going through his email every Monday morning and can easily get lost on all the fun events.  There are social events there too, to get us Tech Nerds to talk to each other.

CON: This is primarily a Tech & Startup listing.  Few of the events have a UX focus, and if anyone were to ask, UX would be given lots of positive talk.  Some in this community do not know how to talk intelligently about User Experience-plenty of opportunities abound here!

Who I Am

Greetings All!

I am an Independent UX Researcher living in NYC.  Trained at Bentley University's Human Factors in Information Design (MS in HFID and MBA).  But I have little to no pretensions about "official training".

And honestly, I love meeting people.  Lots of independent people like me might attend a lot of the typical Networking Events.  Somehow, it's still hard to break the ice.  Especially when you are trying to suss out the level of bull anyone at an NYC party might be dishing out.  (Not strictly limited to the UX world).

There are lots of event listings out there, but oddly, most are defunct or populated by a bot (also defunct).  Lots of stuff happening, after all-everyone wants to host a party and be the Go-To person at an event.  This is my Primer for any UX person new to the NYC area.

The constant theme of UX is about FEEDBACK.  After all that, if you are interested in submitting some event or have any other info, please contact me at tamava rose at g mail dot com.  And all that.