Past Events
2024
Advancing Research 2024 – Looking Back…to Look Ahead (keynote)
BLEND – Stop Solving Problems! (keynote) – March 2, Stratford, ON
CHIFOO – We already knew that: When research findings fail to land (video)
Curiosity Tank – Interviewing Users: Evolving Perspectives and Umpteen Paths
How to Use UX Research to Delight Your Users (panel)
QRCA – Looking Back…to Look Ahead
Rally – AMA with Steve: What makes a mature research practice? (recap, video)
Talking Research Independence: An Unhosted Panel Discussion
uxcon vienna – User Research: Looking back…to look ahead (keynote), Interviewing users: Uncovering compelling insights (workshop)
UXPA International Webinar – We Already Knew That: When Research Findings Fail to Land
UX Researchers’ Guild – Interviewing Users: What Has Changed in the 2nd Edition (video)
2023
Chicago Camps Tent Talks – Interviewing Users
Mind the Product – User Research (workshop)
Product Makers – Boosting user research impact (video)
2022
BetterUX Virtual Summit – Boosting User Research Impact (video)
CEDIM Innovation Talks – Stop Solving Problems! (video)
University of California, Santa Cruz, Human Computer Interaction Seminar – Stop Solving Problems!
2021
Advancing Research Community – Research and Bridging the Gaps (panel)
Delta CX – Ask Me Anything (video)
IDSA Design Research Section – Ask Me Anything
Mind the Product – Research and Discovery (panel)
The Research Society – Human Insights Conference (keynote)
2020
Advancing Research 2020 – War Stories Live! (panel)
Business of Software USA – Understanding Users (breakout)
Business of Software USA – User Research – Uncovering compelling insights through interviews (workshop)
Business of Software USA – We’ve done all this user research, now what? (workshop)
Hotjar UX Lightning Talks –
How to ask questions (especially user research questions)
Mind the Product – Ask Me Anything (video)
Mind the Product – We Need To Do Research…But We Can’t (talk)
Remote Design Week – Stop Solving Problems!
Rosenfeld Media Slack – Ask Me Anything (recap)
QRCA UX SIG Book Club –
discussion and Q&A about “Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries”
TBD – Stop Solving Problems!
UK Home Office – Stop Solving Problems!
uxWaterloo – Stop Solving Problems! (writeup)
2019
CanUX – Stop Solving Problems (talk) (sketchnote)
D-Fifteen dialogues: IoT – Stop Solving Problems (talk)
Design Research – What we (DON’T) talk about when we talk about research (keynote) (Tweet thread); Learning From User Research War Stories (workshop)
Digital Thinkers Conference – Great Research for Non-Researchers (talk) (video)
Mind the Product – Great Research for Non-Researchers (talk) (video, writeup, sketchnote 1, sketchnote 2)
OutSystems – Stop Solving Problems! (talk)
Productized – Great Research for Non-Researchers (keynote)(video), We’ve Done All This Research, Now What (workshop)
Rosenfeld Media – Fundamentals of Interviewing Users (workshop)
UXinsight – What we (DON’T) talk about when we talk about research (keynote)
World IA Day San Francisco – Dollars to Donuts live
2018
Houston UXPA – The Power of Bad Ideas (talk)
IxDA Sydney – The Power of Bad Ideas (talk) (video)
NUX7 – The Designer Is Present (keynote) (video, slides)
ProductCamp Poland – Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights (workshop), Stop Solving Problems (keynote)
Mind the Product – User Research Interviews (workshop)
UX Australia – Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights (workshop), Stop Solving Problems! (talk) (slides, audio, sketchnotes; interview)
uxWaterloo – Soft Skills Are Hard (presentation)
UX Week – We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (workshop)
Web à Québec – Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights (presentation)
2017
Big Design – Learning From User Research War Stories (presentation)
Confab Higher Ed – User research: Uncovering compelling insights through interviews (workshop); We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (presentation)
Confab Intensive – We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (workshop)
IDEO – Discussion of Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries
Interaction 17 – User Research War Stories (video)
InVision Design Talks – User Research War Stories (video)
Midwest UX -Interviewing Users workshop; User Research War Stories (video)
Mind The Product – User Research Interviews (workshop)
O’Reilly Design Conference – User Research War Stories (slides, video)
Radical Research Summit – Learning From User Research War Stories (keynote) (slides)
Rome UX Book Club – Discussion of Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries
San Diego Experience Design – User Research War Stories (presentation/workshop)
User Research London – User Research War Stories (presentation) (video)
UX Book Club: PDX – Discussion of Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries
UX Melbourne Book Club – Discussion of Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries (video)
UX Week – User research: Uncovering compelling insights through interviews (workshop)
2016
Amuse UX (Budapest) – Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories keynote (video)
Ask the UXperts: Learning from the comic, tragic & astonishing moments in user research (transcript)
Confab Intensive – Interviewing Users workshop
Design Thinking Meetup – User Experience Research panel
Design Week – Designing Products: Research Stories Untold panel
Lean Product & Lean UX Silicon Valley Meetup – How to Interview Users to Uncover Insights (video, slides)
NASDAQ Pro/Design Masterclass (fireside chat)
Product Tank SF – The Power of Bad Ideas (video)
User Friendly China – Interviewing Users: Uncovering Compelling Insights (workshop); Learning from User Research War Stories (keynote); From User Experience to Brand Experience (panel)
UX Australia – Soft Skills Are Hard workshop, Fieldwork Fundamentals talk (slides, audio)
World IA Day Boston – Soft Skills Are Hard
2015
18F – The Power of Bad Ideas (video, summary)
Ask the UXperts: Using Insights to Inform Design & Innovation (transcript)
Association of Registered Graphic Designers – Interviewing Users Webinar
CCA – Improv, Creativity and Collaboration
DELVE – Designing for Unmet Needs
Design Writing Summit – Beating the Blank Page
Fluxible – Epic FAIL: Takeaways from the War Stories Project
EnterpriseUX – Theme leader for Insight at Scale
EnterpriseUX – Soft Skills workshop
General Assembly UX Intensive – The Power of Bad Ideas
Great Schools – Improv, Creativity and Collaboration
Interact 15 – The Designer is Present keynote (podcast, slides, video) and Soft Skills Are Hard workshop
Interaction 15 – Soft Skills Are Hard (slides)
IxDA San Francisco – Moments of Influence with Dan Szuc and Jo Wong (slides)
People Skills for UX – Listening
Rackspace UX Book Club – Interviewing Users
RE:DESIGN/UXD 2015 – Improv, Creativity and Collaboration
UX Careers 2015: Where is the field headed and how do you stay current?
UX Community on Slack – Ask Me Anything (transcript)
UX New Zealand – Well We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (workshop) and Yes, My Tuatara Loves to Cha-Cha: Improv, Creativity and Design (video, slides)
UX Week 15- Soft Skills Are Hard (workshop)
World IA Day DC – The Designer is Present workshop (video, highlight video, slides, sketchnote)
2014
BrooklynUX – Soft Skills for Design and Innovation (slides)
CHIFOO – Epic FAIL – Takeaways from the War Stories project (summary)
Code for America – Interviewing Users workshop
Denver UX Book Club (video)
EuroIA – Well We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? workshop (slides)
Fundraiser – Advice for Early-career Designers (summary)
HOW Interactive Design – Interviewing Users (slides, Vimeo, YouTube)
Interaction South America – Designing the Problem (video, slides, audio, sketchnotes)
IxDA Grand Rapids – Soft Skills are Hard (slides, video, photos)
IxDA Seattle – Healthy and Creative Work Environments Workshop with Dan Szuc
IxDA Seattle – Soft Skills Are Hard – A Journey To Healthier Work with Dan Szuc (slides)
Rosenfeld Media – 32 Awesomely Practical UX Tips (tweets)
UX Australia – Epic FAIL – Takeaways from the War Stories Project (slides, audio, sketchnotes)
UX Australia – The Designer is Present (workshop)
uxWaterloo – Building the Muscles of Innovators
Warm Gun – Designing for Unmet Needs (slides, audio, sketchnotes)
2013
UC Berkeley New Product Development class (2011, 2013) – We’ve Done All This Research, Now What?
Citrix – UX Research Methods
Catapult Labs – Interviewing Users
Design Research Fireside Chat
Fluxible – The Designer Is Present (review, slides)
Fluxible – The Power Of Silence (video)
IxDA Silicon Valley – The Power of Bad Ideas (slides)
IxDA Los Angeles/LA UX Meetup – Interviewing Users (slides, video, alternate video, tweets)
IxDA NYC – Interviewing Users
Mozilla – Interviewing 101
O’Reilly Webcast – Interviewing Users – Uncovering Compelling Insights (video, sketchnotes)
MIMA Summit – Interviewing Users – Uncovering Compelling Insights
PayPal UX Summit – User Research for Mobile
Rome UX Book Club – Interviewing Users
School of Visual Arts – The Power of Bad Ideas
SJSU Human Factors/Ergonomics Alumni Symposium – The Power of Bad Ideas
SXSW – The Power of Bad Ideas (slides, sketchnotes)
TiE Silicon Valley – Panel on Design-led Innovation – Building Successful Products
TorCHI – Skill Building for Design Innovators (slides)
Twitter – Design/Research Fireside Chat
UX Book Club DC – Interviewing Users
UX Book Club Philly – Interviewing Users
UX Week – Interviewing Users Workshop – How To Uncover Compelling Insights
Walmart Global UX Summit – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Design
Wolters Kluwer – User Research Methods
2012
User Experience Design class @ General Assembly – Early-stage User Research (slides)
IDSA Silicon Valley – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Design (summary)
Mozilla – We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (video)
San Francisco Bay Area ACM – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Design (slides)
Schwab’s “Brain Circus” – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Design
Service Design Melbourne – Skill Building for Design Innovators (writeup, video).
UIE Virtual Seminar – Championing Contextual Research in Your Organization
University of Dundee Masters of Design Ethnography – Qualitative Data Analysis
UX Australia – Immersive Field Techniques (Sketchnotes 1, 2, 3 and also here)
UXLx – Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (slides, sketchnotes) and Discover and Act on Insights About People (video, slides, sketchnotes, sketchnotes)
WebVisions Barcelona – Synthesis to Ideation – Making Research Real and Championing Contextual Research in Your Organization (slides)
WebVisions Chicago – Championing Contextual Research in Your Organization (slides)
2011
APDF Exchange – Spontaneous Invention – Improv Techniques for Brainstorming
Center for Design Research at the University of Kansas – Finding the Right People (slides)
CHI2011 – We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (slides)
Frontiers of Interaction – Successful Collaboration – Keep Your Clients Happy (slides, sketchnotes, summary video)
Lift – Discover and Act on Insights about People (slides and video)
Rosenfeld Media UX Workshops – Interviewing Users: Spinning Data into Gold (slides)
SXSW – Diving Deep – Best Practices For Interviewing Users (slides and audio)
UIE Virtual Seminar – User Research Analysis Techniques
UIE Web Apps Masters Tour – Design Fieldwork – Uncovering Innovation From The Outside In (notes)
Unfinished Business – Lecture – Culture, User Research & Design (slides and audio)
Unfinished Business – Workshop – Working with User Research Data (slides)
User Experience Hong Kong – Well, We’ve Done All This Research, Now What? (presentation slides, workshop slides)
User Interface 16 – Immersive Field Research Techniques Workshop; Culture – You’re Soaking In It
2010
Adobe HCI Breakfast – Reading Ahead – Considering The Book’s Future in the iPod Era
Amazon UX Team Workshop – Skill Building for Design Innovators
Austin Center for Design – Synthesizing User Research
CHI – Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?
CHIFOO – Skill Building for Design Innovators (slides and audio)
Formation Design Group – Enabling Research And Other Things We Never Talk About
HFES – When Not To Follow User-Centered Design Techniques (slides)
Interaction10 – Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?
IxDA Munich – Deep Dive Interviewing Secrets
PARC Forum – Ethnography as a Cultural Practice (video)
PDX IxDA Redux – Keynote presentation of “Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?”
Puget Sound SIGCHI – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Collaboration
SF Interaction’10 redUX – Well, We’ve Done All This Research…Now What?
Savannah College of Art and Design – Reading Ahead – Considering The Book’s Future in the iPod Era
SXSW – UX Process Improved – Integrating User Insight with Aviva Rosenstein (slides and audio)
UIE Virtual Seminar – Deep Dive Interviewing Secrets
University of Oregon Contemporary Design Seminar – Synthesizing User Research
User Research Friday – We’ve Done All This Research…Now What? (slides)
2009
Amsterdam UX Cocktail Hour – Understanding Cultural Context
BayCHI – We Did All This Research, Now What? (slides)
CCA Design MBA Program – An Introduction to User Research
EPIC – Moving from Data to Insights to Opportunities
Human Factors International – Understanding Cultural Context
IDSA Project Infusion – “Yes, And” for Better Design/Design Research
Istanbul Industrial Design Summit – Ethnographic Research for Inspiring and Informing Design
Istanbul Technical University – An Introduction to User Research/Turning Data Into Opportunities
Interaction 09 – Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?
IXDA-SF Interaction 09 Redux – Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?
IxDA Chicago – Understanding Cultural Context
IxDA New York – Yes, My Iguana Loves to Cha-Cha – Improv, Creativity and Collaboration (slides)
MEDEA Collaborative Media Initiative – Service Design – An Ethnographer’s Take
Nokia Design Speaker Series – Well, We Did All This Research…Now What?
Pratt Institute – An Introduction to User Research
SVA MFA in Interaction Design – Getting Generative – User Research Applied to Business Decisions
SVA MFA in Interaction Design – An Introduction to User Research
UC Berkeley Center for New Media and School of Information – Reading Ahead – Considering The Book’s Future in the iPod Era (video)
University of Oregon – Contemporary Design Seminar: Authenticity
Web 2.0 New York – We’ve Done All This Research – Now What?
2008
BBC Future Media & Technology – Understanding Cultural Context
Computer Market Analysis Group – The Listener’s Journey
Design Research Conference – Workshop – Did You See That? Tapping Into Your Super-noticing Power
Undisciplined! Design Research Society Conference – Opening Keynote
From Here to There Design Research Symposium at ASU – Plenary Speech about Cultural Context; Interviewing Techniques Workshop
IDSA Southern Conference – Improv and Ethnography Seminar
Lextant’s Design 40 – Design and Research Hacks
Nortel Technical Conference – Keynote on User-centered Innovation
San Jose State University (2005–2008) – Introduction to User Research
Silicon Valley American Marketing Association Morning Forum – International Market Research
Taiwan Design Center (2006–2008) – Introduction to User Research
User Research Friday – Design and Research: Ships in the Night? (slides, video)
2007
Connecting IDSA/ICSID World Design Congress – Connecting the Play of Improv with the Work of Ethnographic Research
Shift, IDSA Northeastern District Conference – Seventeen Ways to Not Suck at Research
UC Berkeley School of Information, Information Systems Clinic – Introduction to User Research
2006
Adaptive Path – The Overlaps within Cultures and Disciplines
ASTM E18 Sensory Evaluation – Observational Research Workshop
Core77/BusinessWeek – Design 2.0 – Context Is King (summary, audio)
DCamp – The Overlap – Design, Disciplines, Culture
Easy6 – Keynote at India’s National Conference on Software Usability
IDSA-SF – Keynote and Master-of-ceremonies for Bay Area’s Best Awards
MarCamp – Participation and Authenticity: The New Prosumer and User-Generated Content
Microsoft Research Bangalore – The Overlaps within Cultures and Disciplines
Overlap – Planning Team Member
San Jose State University – Culture + Artifacts
UX Week – Cross-Cultural Research (slides, audio)
2005
Institute of Design (2002–2005) – About, With, and For (slides)
Adobe Systems – The Challenges of Being a Creative in a Corporate Environment
Creative CanUX – Seminar on Ethnographic Methods
EPIC – Interpersonal Connections in Ethnographic Fieldwork
DUX05 – User Research Poster for the HP Home Cinema Digital Projector (PDF) and Tutorial on Innovation, Ethnography, and Improv
IDSA-SF – Panel on Design Entrepreneurship
2004
BayCHI – Kawaii – Adventures in a Parallel Universe
CHIFOO – Innovation, Ethnography and Improv
eBay – Global User Experience & Design Summit (review)
Fisher-Price – Design Summit
IDSA Western District Conference – Panel Design Stories and Radical Changes in Our World
IFL – Swedish Institute of Management (2003–2004) – Beyond Market Research
LIMA Licensing Trade Show – Panel on Trends
Masterfoods – R&D Excellence Week
PDMA-SoCal – Learning about Customers, Demystified
SF-AMA – International Ethnography
2003
Thought At Work at the Rochester Institute of Technology – Introduction to Design Research (review)
Institute of Design – International Ethnography
IBM Make IT Easy – Discovering Customer Value
Google – Designer Tea Time
FX/PAL – Beyond Market Research
DUX03 with Lynn Shade – International Ethnography (PDF)
Art Center College of Design – Introduction to Ethnographic Methods
1996–2002
Chemical Senses Day (2002) – Introduction to Ethnographic Methods
Shure (2000) – Ethnographic Methods Training
Stanford Design Program (1998—2000) – Lecture on Ethnographic Methods
BayCHI – Building Meaning Into Products (1998)
Stanford Graduate School of Business (1996) – Lecture on Building Usable Products