On March 12, 2007 I will be moderating a panel for SXSW Interactive called How To Create A Kick-Ass In-House Design Team and I'm very excited about it. I have lined up some truly kick-ass panelists and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.
Having attended several SXSW Interactive conferences over the years, I noted that much of the conference tended to cater more to agency designers. I think that had a lot to do with the background of the presenters, because the audience for SXSW is fairly well distributed. I decided to address that imbalance by presenting a panel specifically for in-house designers.
The panel will address challenges faced by in-house design teams, large and small, and the unique opportunities that in-house design teams have to shape a company's products, brand, and strategy. My vision for the panel is for it to be heavy on practice and light on theory. For the panel, I wanted people who've really gotten their hands dirty building great in-house teams, and who continue to make great teams even better. The panelists:
- Lisa C. Anderson, Director of User Experience for the Small Business Division of Intuit
- Irene Au, Director of User Experience for Google
- Ed Garaña, Creative Services Manager for Hoover's
- Tjeerd Hoek, Director of User Experience for Windows at Microsoft
Given that line-up, I suppose I could have easily called the panel User Experience For Fun And Profit. Perhaps we'll host an after-panel.
If there is anything you think should specifically be addressed by the panelists, leave a comment. Otherwise, see you in March!
