UX Scotland 2024 – My first lightning talk and my learning experience
In 2022 I started volunteering on the event teams of conferences. In March 2024 it was again time to head to the Dynamic Earth for UX Scotland. In this post, I share how my first speaking experience went and my favourite sessions.
What this blog post is about
- Information about UX Scotland
- My first lightning talk and five things I learned
- Sessions supporting my learning experience
- The next steps of my conference journey
About UX Scotland
UX Scotland is an annual international conference for UX professionals, service designers and other digital specialists.
The UX Scotland welcome sign on the conference reception desk
UX Scotland was a three-day event with talks, workshops and case studies.
My first lightning talk at UX Scotland 2024
When I started volunteering at conferences the thought of going on stage and delivering a talk terrified me. Over time I have gained more confidence through the event team involvement. Conferences have become a familiar environment.
UX Scotland and its very supportive community seemed to provide the perfect opportunity for my first lightning talk.
My topic was professional development through volunteering. I prepared slides but no additional notes. I wanted to speak freely without just reading out the text on the slides. I practised my talk numerous times so that the content became second nature.
Five things I learned from preparing a lightning talk and from other speakers
- Start drafting your presentation early. The more you interact with the content the more ideas you will get – and often when you do not expect it and do something completely different.
- Practise your talk frequently. The slides will get more familiar, and you do not need to rely on them. Once the presentation becomes second nature it also calms the nerves.
- Many speakers are nervous. Have somebody in the audience or event team who can provide eye contact and non-verbal encouragement during your talk.
- Technology can be temperamental. Do not rely on just one copy of the presentation on your laptop (for example, have an email with the file at hand that you could access from a different source, send it to the organiser).
- Enjoy the interaction with your audience. Be available to connect with them after the talk.
Room for improvement
For the lightning talks at UX Scotland speakers used microphones at the lectern. Due to this I was always in front of the laptop.
It would be good to get the experience of using a handheld microphone at a future event. This whould allow me to step back from the laptop, to move on the stage and to interact more with my audience.
More of the same, please
I was blown away by the reactions, positive comments and discussions after my talk. It was a great experience and a confidence booster. To my surprise, it was also fun to be more involved in the conference.
I will definitely prepare further lightning talks to gain more experience.
My favourite sessions contributing to my learning experience
Rachel Abbott – The product box: Making research tangible
Rachel gave us an overview of user research methods for data collections – from attitudinal to behavioural methods and from qualitative to quantitative methods. These included methods (to name just a few) like:
- interviews
- eyetracking
- card sorting
- A/B testing
She then introduced us to ‘product box’ workshops which can be used to engage with groups of challenging or vulnerable participants.
How it works:
- Provide just enough information to help participants to get orientated and to start thinking what their box could be (‘Imagine that you are designing a …’). To create the box a concept like a project, initiative or service is ‘transformed’ into a tangible product with a name, logo and key selling points that could be sold in a department store.
- Hand out materials (for example, a cardboard box for the ‘product’, blank cards for ‘features’, pens and other design materials).
- Give participants/groups a certain amount of time (30 minutes or more) to create a box for their idea. They can work individually or in groups.
- Offer everybody a chance to ‘sell’ their boxes to the group. Discuss approaches and choices. Allow time for follow-up questions.
- Reflect on the outputs and consider the creation of alternative versions of the boxes.
Rachel’s team used this research approach in a prison setting. But it is possible to adapt the technique to different settings by using:
- paper copies
- a digital version
- in-person workshops
- other creative methods
Advantages of the ‘product box’ are it:
- captures insights from larger groups of participants
- is suitable in case of resourcing and environmental restrictions
- is less formal and participant-led which helps to level out a power imbalance
- gives participants the chance to creatively engage with the subject
Rachel encouraged us to get creative when it comes to user research. We are familiar and comfortable with our standard methods, but they might not always give us the best insights or ideas.
Snigdha Ramkumar – Cognitive disabilities, neurodiversity, and accessibility, WCAG and beyond
Snigdha provided useful insights into cognitive disabilities and the challenges users with these disabilities face on a regular basis. She highlighted that:
- 10% of people have some kind of cognitive disability
- 15 to 20% of the global population are neurodivergent
Difficulties experienced by these groups include:
- CAPTCHA requirements that can be completely inaccessible
- cluttered content
- cognitive overload
- timeouts for certain tasks
Organisations work to follow WCAG guidelines for accessibility compliance, but Snigdha recommended to go even further to create good content by:
- using consistent layouts and a logical information structure
- presenting the most important details first
- ideally offering customisable fonts and font sizes or the OpenDyslexic font
- left-align text and using white space
- using colour to emphasise important information
- applying ‘zebra stripes’ to tables (applying shading to alternate rows or columns to improve the readability)
- providing a contact for assistance
Snigdha gave us a printed checklist with 22 points for neuro-inclusive designs. It will come in handy. Every single improvement we put in place will make it less daunting for users with a cognitive disability to interact with our content.
The conference journey continues
Since the conference, I was also a member of the event team for SDinGov (Service Design in Government) 2024 and Lean Agile Scotland 2024. Both conferences took place at the University’s John McIntyre Conference Centre.
I am enjoying my volunteering journey so much that I am already signed up as event team volunteer and host for SDinGov Virtual in March 2025. I will also be part of the event team at UX Scotland 2025 and Lean Agile Scotland 2025.
Volunteering at conferences is demanding and can be exhausting due to long and busy days. But it is very rewarding to be involved in such events and to be in demand for volunteering opportunities of this kind.
Read more about our team’s conference experiences
We regularly contribute to events and conferences. Watch out for more insights shared by members of the Prospective Student Web Team.
Read our other conference blog posts
If you are interested in volunteering at conferences and would like to talk to me about my experiences, just get in touch.
