Berlin.
On the weekend of 7 June 2014, I was one of 500+ user experience types participating in UX Camp Europe 2014. The event is a bit different, with a real sense of Europe-wide community.
It’s been held every June, since 2009, at the Erwin-Schrödinger Zentrum - part of Humboldt University Berlin - and is put together by an outstanding group of friendly volunteers.
A measure of the event’s excellence and popularity: the (free) tickets for this year’s event ‘sold out’ in 2 minutes. Join the mailing list or follow @UxCampEurope for future announcements.
The Rules of Barcamp: “No spectators, only participants” were reflected in the engagement levels. Scroll through the hashtags #uxce14 and #uxcampeurope or watch a video of the welcome session to get a feeling for the event.
What sort of sessions were there?
Certainly the topics you might expect, for example: leanUX, agile, accessibility, service design, usability, optimisation, analytics, sketching, pattern libraries, research methods, sprints and jams, and the future of UX.
But, being a BarCamp, people spoke on: “First, we must kill the UX Designers”, “Learn to be persuasive” and “How the Ukulele is helping me getting (sic) people into UX & mobile strategy”.
Planned the evening before, over bier, I ran a (therapy) workshop called 'UX Confessions'. I invited participants to discuss anonymously the biggest failure/s of their professional lives, it was fascinating and strangely emotional but I can say no more: what happens in Berlin, stays in Berlin.
This well-organised German UX unconference also offered table Fußball, Wurst, and a serious analytics presentation with a great cat video.
See you there next year.
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