UX in the Age of Immediacy

User expectations are changing fast and real-time interactions on social media and Amazon Prime have helped fuel those shifts. In practice we have to demonstrate value in less than a second — or at best prove usefulness on first use. As UX practitioners we need to understand how we can address and meet those expectations of immediacy in what we’re working on today. Every talk at the 2019 conference will be presented through the lens of immediacy in UX.

This year UX Burlington is considering submissions for a two-track event, with group talks focused on sharing information beneficial across the field to all attendees and tracked workshops centered on (track 1) UX for Developers and (track 2) UX Best Practices (e.g. research, strategy, journey, design, testing).

The list below is a mix of suggested and desired topics. If you have an idea that extends beyond, consider us interested as long as it pertains to UX in the Age of Immediacy.

1. The Rise of UX without Interface [use tag Interface]
   
   Good UX eliminates friction points and voice is eliminating the use of hands—or even a screen—to accomplish tasks. Voice assistants such as a Cortana and Alexa are now found in more than 30 million households and Amazon keeps adding this functionality to everything from microwaves to subwoofers. How are people interacting with interface-free technology? What are their expectations? Where is interface-free UX headed?


2. Designing for Short Attention Spans [use tag Attention]
   
   First impressions matter and intuition rules. How do we design for short attention spans? How can design help reduce barriers for users in apps and on websites?


3. Visual Cues for Immediacy [use tag Visual Cues]
   
   User interfaces are packed with visuals meant to aid user tasks. Where are visual cues helpful in UI? When are they not helpful, confusing, or superfluous?


4. AI Chatbots [use tag AI Chatbots]
   
   An increasing number of businesses rely on chatbots to help answer questions for visitors and customers. Programming these chatbots to be efficient and useful in the moment is crucial and so is building logic to connect the user with a real human on the other end to solve complex problems before frustration sets in. When do chatbots improve UX? How can we avoid making chatbots a barrier to user needs?


5. Coding for Immediacy [use tag Coding]
   
   How can developers anticipate and accommodate user expectations of immediacy? What are ways teams can be more responsive to user requests, bugs, and smoothing user flow from a UX perspective?


6. Website Performance and User Experience [use tag Performance]
   
   47% of consumers expect a website to load in 2 seconds and 40% of people abandon websites that take more than 3 seconds to load[*](https://neilpatel.com/blog/loading-time/). How can we as developers optimize code (and server setups) to create fast loading websites?


7. Rapid Usability Testing [use tag Rapid Testing]
   
   How can usability testing play a role and make a positive impact for teams with limited time and resources? What techniques can be employed for rapid yet impactful usability testing before launch or on an existing website?


8. Testing for Immediacy [use tag Testing Immediacy]
   
   Can automated testing reveal areas of our products that could benefit from a performance tune up? Could analysis of test execution times play a part in offering a more responsive solution? What are strategies to speed up automated test execution times?


9. Immediacy as a Disruptor [use tag Disruptor]
   
   Over the last decade we’ve witnessed entire industries overturned by startups offering new models powered by immediacy. Think Uber, Airbnb, dating apps, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. What can we learn from those companies? How do we think outside the confines of our own industry or company’s trappings and use immediacy to drive revolutionary change?


10. Writing for Immediacy [use tag Writing]
    
    Microcopy, shedding content, and using clear language, typography and whitespace can reduce barriers and improve usability. What are the most efficient ways to gain clarity and reach immediacy through words on the screen?

The main selection criteria are:

• Quality of content. We’re looking for innovative information supported by real examples that will help attendees advance with their own UX.
• Originality. While we don’t prohibit talks that have been presented elsewhere, we do value showcasing presentations that will bring new information to the audience.
• Usefulness. It’s important to attendees that presentations give them a leg up by helping them do their job better: remove roadblocks, minimize or ease steps, accomplish their goals.

Note: Content and outlines that are sales pitches will not be accepted.

The selection process:

CFP proposals will be anonymized during the first round of judging. Speakers will be reviewed and nominated by a volunteer Selection Panel, with final selection decisions by UX Burlington organizers. All selected speakers will receive free registration to the conference. Please reach out to the UX Burlington team if you have any questions at info@uxburlington.com.