by UX360 Research Summit 2024 – A Social Media Review
May 16th saw the kick-off of our very first in-person UX360 Research conference. Having very quickly grown into another well-established conference brand, we took the leap in 2024 to bring the virtual event into “real life” in Berlin. With 250 participants in attendance, the conference did not disappoint (except maybe those who wanted to get to lunch quickly and had to wait in line for a little bit).
Testament to this very energetic and engaged audience of UX researchers from all over the world (more than 30 countries were represented!) there has been a flurry of reporting on social media. Below is our “social media medley” with contributions from – amongst others – Marcos Nunes-Ueno – Meta, Clemens Wehr – Appinio, Akshay Verma – Duolingo, Anne-Sophie Guillou – Criteo and many more.
AI – The Elephant In The Room
AI was of course the elephant in the room. For Marcos Nunes-Ueno, Researcher at Meta it is not so much a question of how workflows will need to adapt to AI, but how the field of user research will need to adapt to a future in which there are no apps because we’re no longer interacting with individual apps, we’re delegating entire tasks to the AI. Akshay Verma, Head of User Research at Duolingo warns that while we should leverage AI to our advantage, we have to own our craft as an often-messy, people-oriented discipline. Great examples of leveraging AI: shaping discussion guides, writing survey questions, kickstarting synthesis, framing insights, and spicing up research reports.
Tying into the discussion about AI was the question about the future of UX research. Akshay sees the finish line farther than ever before but considers this a good thing “Our work has to go far beyond just delivering insights and inspiring our teams. We have to think like product and design strategists and, within the specific context of our organizations, drive product impact ourselves.” Insights professionals should be generalists and become fluent in different types of research: qual, quant, market research, experimentation and business metrics.
Sebastian Syperek, Director for UX Research at Kaiser X Labs also sees the industry evolve into a direction where leveraging data-driven insights is becoming increasingly crucial for creating user-centric designs that truly resonate. For him, quant UX plays a crucial role that enables the making of informed decisions with confidence and the identification of patterns and trends through large-scale data.
Summarising UX360 Research 2024
Having summarized talks from both days of UX360 Research, Anne-Sophie Guillou sees the democratisation of UX Research as here to stay. Reflecting on a presentation by Diana Lenz (Aviv) and Alexander Kurt (MediaMarktSaturn) ,she concludes that “defining the future of UXR is impossible, so be ready to embrace change when needed to value your expertise in new ways.”
UX Research is gaining traction and is increasingly visible at the board level. Always speak the language of the business, was one of Anne-Sophie’s takeaways. UX Researchers have to identify the culture of their organisations so they can adjust how to leverage their research findings – and consequently be trusted and impactful.
This is also highlighted by self-confessed “non-UX Researcher” Clemens Wehr from Appinio. For Clemens, finding internal champions for your ideas can help build momentum and drive them forward. In addition, taking full responsibility for a project from start to finish can significantly enhance the quality of the final product.
The 2024 UX360 Research conference featured over 25 sessions from keynotes to workshops, round-tables and panel discussions. Impromptu social sessions lead to anything from morning runs to evening beergarden visits. Overall, the first in-person conference was a resounding success and we cannot wait for the 2025 edition!
PS: If you have your own reporting to add, drop us a line and we will include it here. For more details on the upcoming UX360 conferences visit https://www.ux360summit.com/
