Video: Communication: Innovative techniques for making your voice heard [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Communication: Innovative techniques for making your voice heard [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

Wednesday, August 21, 2024 • Advancing Research Community

Shazia Ali

Qualitative Research Specialist

Bruce Gillespie

Associate Professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Wilfrid Laurier University

Joyce Lee

Lead Researcher, Salesforce

Andy Warr

Director of Portfolio Research & Insights, Dropbox

Summary

Insights wither and die when they gather dust on a shelf. Join us as we workshop innovative communication practices that ensure the voice of the user is recognized and acted upon at senior levels within the organization. In this session, our speakers explore strategies that extend beyond traditional tools like presentations, readouts, and workshops. Let’s work together to make insights meaningful and actionable! Attend all of our Advancing Research community workshops Each free virtual workshop is made up of panelists who will share short provocations on engaging ideas to discuss as a group, as well as a leader in our field to moderate. If you're looking for discussions that challenge the status quo and can truly advance research, look no further than our workshop series. (P.S. We’ll be drawing most of our Advancing Research 2025 conference speakers from those who present at upcoming workshops—so tune in for a sneak peek of what's to come from #AR2025!) July 24, 4-5pm EDT Watch Video Theme 1: Democratization Working with it, not against August 7, 11am-12pm EDT Watch Video Theme 2: Collaboration Learning from market research, data science, customer experience, and more September 4, 11am-12pm EDT Watch Video Theme 4: Methods Expanding the UXR toolkit beyond interviews September 18, 4-5pm EDT Watch Video Theme 5: Artificial Intelligence Passionate defenses, reasoned critiques, and practical application October 2, 11am-12pm EDT Watch Video Theme 6: Junctures for UXR Possible futures and the critical decisions to move us forward October 16, 4-5pm EDT Watch Video Theme 7: Open Call Propose ideas that don’t match our other workshops’ themes

Key Insights

•

Presenting key research findings upfront increases engagement and allows more meaningful discussion.
•

Creating themed presentations, like curated parties with metaphors, enhances memorability and connection.
•

Involving stakeholders early and throughout analysis fosters shared understanding and ownership.
•

Research operations can both enable and constrain innovation; building mutual respect is critical.
•

Using storytelling and humanizing user insights builds emotional connection and advocacy.
•

Drawing communication inspiration from journalism, art, and influencer culture broadens creativity.
•

Short-form, bite-sized content is more effective in today’s attention economy than lengthy reports.
•

Being transparent about communication risks encourages organizational buy-in and patience.
•

Offering flexible, just-in-time support is more effective than scheduled office hours for engagement.
•

Maintaining an ongoing 'inspiration log' helps practitioners access creative ideas under pressure.

Notable Quotes

"If there’s a community that’s already lesser heard, then it’s even harder and those voices are often drowned out."

"The journalism approach has always been tell people the new stuff, the interesting stuff, the important stuff right away."

"I liken that to a play: there’s acts, a cast of characters, and this inter-character drama."

"Doing the conventional way, you’ve got a script and know where it’s going; giving all findings at the start means more time for questions and conversation."

"If you take the audience on the journey right from the beginning, it becomes more of a conversation."

"We have a responsibility to present back the voice of the consumers and make sure it feeds into strategy."

"Often we intend to be a host, but act more like a butler by backing away during the conversation."

"Sometimes operations may have strong ideas on how things should be, which can create tension when innovating."

"People love when you end early — giving them back five minutes makes you the hero of the week."

"Reading unfamiliar news content helps you see structure and language more clearly than reading what you already care about."

Previous video

Surprise me

Next video

Ask the Rosenbot