The Authentic UX Talent Show
Summary
Who’s got talent? The UX community, that’s who! And we’ve got the live acts to prove it! Join us for an express tour of the wild, weird, and wonderful of UX talents, carefully selected from the Enterprise Experience community by our eagle-eyed talent scout, Michelle Kaplan.
Key Insights
-
•
Integrating humor and music, as Matt Lawrence does, can effectively evangelize UX within engineering teams.
-
•
DT Dar’s Bhangra dance workshop emphasizes joy and cultural storytelling to engage participants actively.
-
•
Puppetry, showcased by Anna Maria Montero Barantez, can be a creative metaphor and tool to express UX research and communication.
-
•
Nate Osborne demonstrates that childhood-inspired creativity and multi-tasking skills can enhance UX-related thinking.
-
•
The session blends art forms and UX philosophies to emphasize that user experience should be fun, human-centric, and integral to product development.
-
•
Matt Lawrence’s UX anthem highlights ongoing challenges UX professionals face in gaining full team integration.
-
•
Community events blending talent and UX provide new ways to connect and inspire practitioners during social distancing.
-
•
Smiling is presented as a fundamental rule in DT's dance workshop, reinforcing positive user (and participant) experience.
-
•
Research and creative risk-taking are central to Anna’s puppet making, paralleling product design practices.
-
•
The playful banter and personal stories throughout make technical topics more relatable and memorable.
Notable Quotes
"The only rule is to maintain your smile and just to feel the being that have fun."
"For the right audience, if applied correctly, humor and music can move people in many ways."
"I am not throwing away your UX."
"We want to stay in the game no users cursing our name."
"With enough creativity and imagination, you can make anything interesting."
"Puppetry lets you communicate like, I don’t like what you said, how come you said that to me."
"Research in science fiction helps make research real and creative all the time."
"I believe there's really no such thing as a boring place at the state of mind."
"UX should be a critical dependency, not an afterthought or checkbox on the to-do list."
"We may not have tech prowess but our sticky notes, card sorts, and test reports are our real superpowers."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Publishing a position paper at IBM takes months of review to align all stakeholders and avoid any suggestion of greenwashing."
Chris HammondEmbedding sustainability into enterprise design and development: A journey towards "sustainability consciousness"
April 2, 2025
"If you’re not in our Slack channel, you’re missing out on so many big parts of the party."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
September 29, 2021
"The insights to action ratio tracks how many insights are acted upon, providing measurable impact."
Jen Cardello Dr. Shadi Janansefat Alex WrightCurating insight: Strategies for integrating knowledge across research functions
March 11, 2025
"I love that clients don’t actually care what I call myself as long as I’m helping them achieve great outcomes."
Rebecca BuckMission: Keep Talent in Research Roles!
March 10, 2021
"A lot of these tools bring more noise into people’s day to day lives. It’s really hard to stay involved and still find time to get your own job done."
Abby Covert Tomer SharonPanel: Collaboration Tools
November 6, 2017
"We should think of AI as something that amplifies what we already are: if we think research is about impact, AI will help us understand and track it."
Llewyn PaineCoexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
March 11, 2025
"We encourage you to continue engaging with Slack channels and offer your own thoughtful questions."
Uday GajendarTheme One Intro
June 6, 2023
"Maps stop you from getting lost in legacy complexity and keep everyone aligned on what’s important."
Meaghan Waters Fotina KoutropoulousLack of Product Thinking will Doom Your Legacy Modernization
June 9, 2021
"Process is neither necessary nor sufficient for great design."
Alastair SimpsonDebunking the Myths of Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration
October 24, 2019
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What roles can information architects and service designers play in the emerging field of AI context engineering?
How might activism in the tech industry evolve given today's power imbalances among AI corporations?
How can candidates identify their skill gaps and communicate growth areas during interviews?