Due to unprecendented demand, we have a new venue:
The new location is: YHA - Castlefield (Potato Wharf, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4NB)
We're looking forward to seeing all of you at the UK UPA inaugural meeting this Wednesday. We've had a huge response.
It looks like it's going to be a great meeting, with a diverse audience and interesting programme. The audience includes members of major commercial players, designers, academic institutions, consultancies, and freelancers.
All details are the same as before, except the location. We have moved to the YHA in Castlefield, which has a larger room to handle the large number of people who have responded.
he agenda will be:
1. MEET AND GREET. A chance to meet your colleagues across the North of England
2. EYETRACKING DEMO. A detailed demonstration of the newest eyetracking technologies.
3. USABILITY DISCUSSION. Dave Hawdale will lead a discussion on the case for usability.
4. "SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION". A section for you to introduce yourselves to the group. Within the time available, everyone is welcome to give a 90-second pitch (timing carefully enforced) saying whatever they want to promote themselves, their research, or their companies. This is intended to be a light-hearted way to help people meet each other, and hopefully to avoid having the rest of the meeting turn into a thinly veiled attempt at publicising themselves.
5. FUTURE PLANS. Discussing next steps for UK-UPA North.
6. MINGLE, EAT, DRINK.
A few words of thanks. Thanks to UK UPA for their initial support, both spiritual and financial, and for the hard work they've done to increase visibility for usability in the UK. Thanks to Serco Usability Services for matching the UPA grant to cover expenses related to the increased size of the meeting, which enabled us to secure a larger facility and more food and drinks. And special thanks to Graduate Prospects who kindly offered us their facilities, and were so gracious when we had to go elsewhere when the meeting grew so large. Thanks also to my partner in planning, Dave Hawdale of Hawdale Associates.