UXcampAMS is a one day nonprofit event. We bring together a community of UXers from Amsterdam and beyond for a day of knowledge sharing, learning, and discussions on User Experience and related disciplines. Whether your focus is on Information architecture, interaction and visual design, service design, content strategy, user psychology or UX research, UXcampAMS is an event you cannot afford to miss.

What is a BAR CAMP?

UXcampAMS is based on a BarCamp format where participants set the agenda and create the content.

All participants are offered a chance to give a talk, run a discussion or workshop. The session lasts 25 min. If you're willing to run a workshop and need more time please let us know, we can merge 2 or 3 sessions.

As a speaker / facilitator, you will pitch your session in the morning during the “Madness Session”. These pitches should be clear and to the point, lasting no more than 30 seconds. We can get pretty strict on that. Last year we even had a gong….so you’ve been warned!

Right after your pitch, the audience will 'vote' on your proposal by raising their hands to show interest, allowing the organisers to make a schedule for the day by assigning time slots and rooms for the sessions.

After the schedules are finalised, breakout sessions will commence. There will be 3 rounds of sessions before the lunch break scheduled for 12:30. After lunch, there will be a further 6 rounds of sessions. The day will end with a few closing words from the organisers and an after party to have a drink or two with your fellow participants.

NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS

The key themes of UXcampAMS are involvement, inclusion, community and learning. Everyone is a participant and even if you are not presenting, your contribution to the sessions and assisting us with the organisation of the event is greatly appreciated.

During sessions, we encourage participation and engagement. This could include asking relevant and smart questions to presenters, sharing your experiences and insights on the topic, active participation in a discussion or assisting workshop leaders to set up their sessions.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Share your UX story in a session!

In the past, we have seen several successful formats:

• Presentations give a well-informed overview of a sub field of UX, and help attendees put their knowledge in context.
  As the presenter, you may wish to bring a slide deck that you have prepared in advance. Interactive elements during the session are encouraged, and please leave time for a Q&A.

• Case studies show how UX knowledge was applied, what worked and what didn't work, and what lessons were learned.
  Again, bringing illustrations of the work that you did and descriptions of the problem, process, and outcomes in the shape of slides will help you tell your story. Expect questions about applying the lessons learned in other contexts.

• Workshops are hands-on sessions where attendees apply and hone a specific set of skills, by solving a simplified problem with the guidance of an expert. If your workshop requires handouts, templates, or other materials, please remember that the number of attendees is basically unpredictable given the nature of the event. The organisers are able to supply basic materials such as blank sheets of paper, post-it notes, and pens but that is it; you should bring anything else that you may need.

• Structured discussions focus on a specific topic, and are aimed at sharing knowledge and helping all attendees along in their discovery. We would like to stress the "structured" part of this session format: simply asking people to discuss a topic may lead to unproductive outcomes. It helps if you have gathered and present some background materials to create a shared frame of reference, and formulate statements or questions that stimulate and guide the discussions. Also consider asking a volunteer to take notes or at least document interesting ideas and resources that come up.

If you have an idea for a different format (that doesn't require preparation by the audience), please suggest it!

Help with the event logistics!

In case you have no presentation or workshop ready at the moment, you can help us with the general logistics of the event. We will ask you a few questions during the registration process for the ticket. There you can let us know how and where you would like to participate!

This could be as simple as moving chairs after the madness session, cleaning up after the event, assisting with registrations or directing attendees to the after party!

Sponsor the event!

You can also convince you company to sponsor UX Camp and ensure we have amazing food, drinks and so on. Have a look on our sponsoring page for more details.