SF - Designing UX with Award Winner: Apple, Samsung, PayPal, Intuit, eBay! (2-Day Workshop)

Workshop Summary
The need for user experience (UX) design continues to rapidly grow as organizations realize the importance of UX design for product success.
Learn how to design great UX from award-winning UX design leader, Willy Lai.  At this in-person workshop, participants will form small teams and learn through hands-on exercises, lectures, and class discussions:


How to design great UX across devices through hands-on team exercises


All phases of the UX design process and all layers of UX




The business value and ROI of UX design, including case studies and statistics




Design thinking, user-centered design, and industry-proven principles, concepts, and methodologies


Strategically align user desirability, business viability, and technology feasibility


Successful cross-functional collaboration, including leadership and influencing skills


UX career coaching, including growing your UX career, transitioning to a UX career, and finding your dream UX job


This fun and highly immersive 2-day workshop is intended for both designers and non-designers.  It draws extensively upon Willy's two decades of leading user experience designs at top tech companies in Silicon Valley such as Apple, Samsung, PayPal, Intuit, and eBay.  Drawing upon his UX design teaching and mentoring at universities such as UC Berkeley and Stanford, Willy breaks down industry-proven principles, concepts, and methodologies into easily digestible lessons in a classroom setting.  
Seats are limited and tickets may only be purchased through Eventbrite.  There are no prerequisites for this workshop.  Participants do not need previous UX design or software experience to be successful in this workshop.  All workshop participants will receive a certificate of completion upon completion of this course.


Topics Covered in this Workshop
This workshop covers essential principles, concepts, methodologies, and current trends in UX design, including: UX "sweet spot", user-centered design, product ideation, concept design, design thinking, UX layers, user interface (UI) design, interaction design, information architecture, sitemaps, card sorting, flow charts, task analysis, task flows, UI wireframes, navigation design, mobile design, responsive design, adaptive design, native design, visual design, flat design, material design, gestalt psychology, content, prototypes, strategy, business goals, ROI of UX, competitive analysis, usage metrics, scope, feature value analysis, minimum viable product (MVP), user needs, user research, ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, usability testing, personas, and heuristic evaluation.
This workshop also provides UX career development coaching and tips, including an overview of UX career paths, how to find a job in UX, how to transition into a career in UX, how to advance your career in UX, essential skills for becoming a successful UX practitioner, skills assessment, skills development, résumé writing, portfolio creation, and job interviewing tips.


Who Should Attend this Workshop
In this workshop, you'll not only learn directly from Willy Lai, but you'll network and learn from other participants as well.  Both designers and non-designers will learn valuable skills from this workshop.  Previous workshops have have been 50/50 designers to non-designers.
1. Designers and UX Specialists (Design Executives, Design Leaders, UX Designers, Interaction Designers, Visual Designers, Graphic Designers, Print Designers, Information Architects, User Researchers, Content Writers, Prototypers, etc.):


Novice:  Whether you're transitioning to UX design or are new to UX design, this workshop will provide you with a comprehensive overview of UX design, including UX essentials and current trends in UX.  You'll gain essential hands-on UX skills that you can apply immediately after the workshop.  You'll also learn about career paths, how to transition and grow into UX leveraging your design background, and how to become a successful UX practitioner.


Intermediate:  Hone your UX skills while learning advanced UX concepts and current trends in UX.  Develop strategic UX skills, including the business value of your work.  You'll gain data and statistics that you can share with your organization to help justify the ROI of UX design projects.  Develop your collaboration and communication skills with cross-functional colleagues.  Learn how to advance your career into a senior contributor or lead/managerial role.


Advanced (Senior UX Designer to Lead/Manager/Head of UX Design):  Hone your strategic UX skills, aligning your work or your team's work to the strategic interests of your organization.  Learn how to leverage UX design as a strategic business tool.  You'll gain data and statistics that you can share with your organization to help justify the ROI of UX design projects.  Learn advanced UX processes and methodologies, project management skills, management of UX teams, leadership and influencing skills.


  2. Non-Designers (Executives, Recruiters, Product Managers, Marketing Managers, Developers/Engineers, Business Development/Sales, QA, etc.):


Transitioning to UX:  If you're looking to transition into a UX role, this workshop will provide you a comprehensive overview of UX design, including UX essentials and current trends in UX.  You'll gain essential hands-on UX skills that you can apply immediately after the workshop.  You'll also learn about career paths, how to find a job in UX, how to transition into a UX career leveraging your non-design background, and how to become a successful UX practitioner.


Enriching your knowledge of UX:  If you're looking to enrich your knowledge of UX, this workshop will provide you a comprehensive overview of UX design, including UX essentials and current trends in UX.  Learn how to leverage UX design as a strategic business tool, improve management of UX teams, provide UX leadership, or collaborate more effectively with your UX colleagues with the knowledge you'll gain from this workshop. 




Workshop Agenda (September 26th - 27th, 2017)

Day 1 (Tuesday, September 26th, 2017, 8:30am-5pm)
8:30am:  Registration (continental breakfast provided)
9am:  Introduction to User Experience Design

Definitions of User Experience and Design
Good and Bad UX Examples
Business Value and ROI of UX
User-centered Design
User Research
Designing UX and Introduction of UX Layers
UX "Sweet Spot" (User Desirability, Business Viability, & Technology Feasibility)

10:30am:  Break (beverages provided)
10:45am:  UX Layer: Strategy (& group exercises)

Competitive Analysis
Usage Metrics
Business Goals
Ethnographic Research and Contextual Inquiry
User and Stakeholder Interviews
Personas
Heuristic Evaluation
Group Exercises:  Business Stakeholder & User Interviews

12pm:  Lunch (lunch provided)
1pm:  UX Layer:  Scope (& group exercise)

Product Ideation
Concept Design
Design Thinking
Ideation/Concept Design
Feature Value Analysis
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Design Rationale
Group Exercise:  Ideation/Concept Design

2:15pm:  UX Layer:  Structure (& group exercise)

Interaction Design
Task Analysis
Task Flows
Information Architecture
Sitemaps
Card Sort
Group Exercise:  Card Sort

3:30pm:  Break (snacks and beverages provided)
3:45pm:  UX Layers:  Skeleton and Surface

UI Wireframes
Navigation Design
Mobile Design
Responsive Design
Adaptive Design
Native Design
Visual Design
Gestalt Psychology
Usability Testing

5pm:  Day 1 Ends


Day 2 (Wednesday, September 27th, 2017, 9am-5pm)
9am:  Group Exercise:  Wireframes (continental breakfast provided)
10:30am:  Break (beverages provided)
10:45am:  Group Exercise:  Usability Testing
11:30am:  Wireframe revisions
12pm:  Lunch (lunch provided)
1pm:  Group Exercise:  Presentation Preparation
1:30pm:  Group Presentations & Business Stakeholder Feedback
3pm:  UX Career Development

UX Career Paths
Transitioning into a Career in UX (including steps to finding a UX job)
UX Career Progression
Skills Assessment
Skills Development
Résumé Writing
Portfolio Creation
Job Interviewing Tips

3:30pm:  Break (snacks and beverages provided)
3:45pm:  Group Q&A
4:30pm:  Individual Q&A
5pm:  Workshop Ends 


Workshop Venue and Ticket Information
Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel
609 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94102, United States
Conference Room:  Regimental
(415)673-6672
Dedicated as a living memorial to the U.S. Marines who served in the Pacific during World War II, Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel is a leader in San Francisco Union Square hotels. A landmark since 1946, the hotel is located close to a bustling theater district in the heart of the city. Blending traditional décor and modern comforts, our classic 1920’s California Spanish Revival hotel offers an inviting atmosphere that is rich with history, honor and pride.


Workshop Ticket Information
Early Bird Tickets (sales end July 31st, 2017, limited availability):

Early Bird - 1 Individual:  $1595 per person

General Admission Tickets (sales start August 1st, 2017):

1 Individual:  $1995 per person 
2 Individuals (Group Rate):  $1795 per person
3 or More Individuals (Group Rate):  $1595 per person

Student/Educational Tickets

A limited number of discounted tickets are available for existing full-time students, educational faculty and administrators.  Email [email protected] for details.

Seats for all ticket types are limited and subject to change based upon availability.  Ticket prices for all ticket types do not include overnight stay at hotel.  For best overnight hotel rates, please contact the hotel directly.  Tickets are not refundable, but ticket buyers may designate a delegate to attend by emailing [email protected].


Testimonials
"Willy Lai's UX Design Workshop greatly exceeded my expectations. As someone new to UX, I would highly recommend his workshop not only to current UX Designers, but anyone interested in UX!  It seemed like there was about a 50/50 split of UX Designers and non-designers. Some looking for the experienced advice and proven techniques that Willy has implemented over his impressive career, and others trying to wrap their heads around what exactly a UX Designer is and does.  I had recently attended a Nielsen-Norman Group conference in San Francisco and found Willy's Workshop to be much more valuable, not to mention way more fun, engaging and interactive!" - Steve Eliopoulos, Front-end Developer/Designer
"I had a great experience in Willy Lai’s Los Angeles UX Workshop. At first, I was surprised at how much he was covering. It’s truly a great end-to-end run through of the entire UX process. Tons of insight and lots of dot-connecting. Even with my decade of UX design experience, Willy answered a lot of my questions about the process as well as the many career path options we have in the field. I have managed in the past and was wondering if that might be my next step in the not too distant future. Just being in the workshop reminded me how many unique career paths there are in UX and what it means to be a contributor. It’s an open field and there is so much to learn. I left feeling totally recharged. One of the most fun parts was the hands on project. We all worked very quickly and in groups. It wasn’t just UXers who participated which made it better. There were developers, marketing, and managers, and everyone was engaged. Great insights. It was a lot of fun and the time flew by." - Thomas Hallgren, Sr. UX Designer at Comtech Telecommunications Corp. 
"Willy's Designing UX workshop was awesome. As a person transitioning to the UX design world, the workshop helped me understand the full UX design process from user research through presentation to the client. As attendees broke into teams and worked on a UX project, Willy coached us throughout. He made sure we focused on the objective of each step. I came out of the workshop feeling confident, not only about what UX design is about, but that it is right for me. The workshop also helped me to start building my network of UX design practioners—a big plus." - Davythe Dicochea, MBA, Digital Marketing, Design
"I loved taking Willy's course on Designing UX/User Centered Design. The class was broad enough that non-designers and designers alike could take something away. He explained the value of good UX from a business strategy standpoint, and then broke down various techniques to help accomplish those goals. I am currently a UX designer, but I learned a lot of new methodology that I look forward to incorporating into my design flows and sharing with the designers and product owners on my team. Willy is a thoughtful, patient, and empathetic teacher, and it really shows in the time he takes to answer questions and help his students grasp user centered design. Highly recommend!" - Emily Smith, UX Designer at Ticketmaster
"I'm very pleased to have had the opportunity to participate in Willy's UX training workshop. I had a great time and I learned so much about the importance of UX, not just in the work I do but in everything around us. I have to say I look at the world through a different lens now. It was a very informative, hands-on workshop that takes you through all the key concepts of User Experience. I was able to work with some of our team members in putting into practice everything we were being taught. Willy is an excellent and extremely knowledgeable instructor who clearly has a passion for User Experience and teaching and it truly shows in how he presents. He makes learning fun and easy. He not only defines and explains the concepts but he puts them into the context of real world scenarios. I highly recommend his workshops to any team or company looking into learning and applying User Experience. It's such an invaluable field of study for all people and Willy is the perfect person to teach it." - Angelo Vergara, Sr. Visual Designer at Citrix
"As a traditional qualitative researcher who has gone from the world of CPG to tech, I found this course to be extremely useful. I consider myself to be a translator of consumer needs to the product and engineering teams. It is difficult for me to do that at full capacity unless I know the language of both. Through this course, I was able to understand terms and concepts of UX design and information architecture that will help me be more successful in my career." - Raniele Jago, Qualitative Consumer Insights Leader at 23andMe
"I was fortunate to attend the UX Design workshop in Google Campus Warsaw. Willy knows his job better than most I ever seen. He is a great instructor who shows the real side of skills needed in daily basis work. The main asset of workshop was work on real cases. As UX designer I gained extraordinary benefit from this event and I can recommend for sure." - Patrycja Walencik, UX Designer at Polska Press Grupa
"Meeting Willy was an absolute pleasure and attending his workshop was such a positive experience. I was impressed with how accessible, personal and hands-on Willy was, but even more impressed by the depth of material we were able to cover, his keen insights and relevant examples from his own personal experiences. I left the workshop not only feeling empowered to deliver better user experiences, but inspired to share my knowledge with my team." - Liz Marie, Director of Brand Strategy at MBC Strategic
"It is an absolute joy to learn the principles of UX design from Willy. To anyone with an interest in the field, I highly recommend attending his two day workshop. You will learn many new and useful things, gain valuable business insights, and have fun in the process. Most importantly, you get to interact with Willy and benefit from his immense expertise and wisdom." - Gene Polhamus, Information Architect at Makers & Muses
"I found Willy to be a thoughtful UX practitioner with deep domain expertise. I was highly impressed with Willy's ability to cover a wide breadth of applied design principles in such a short period of time...I'd recommend his courses if you are both a design leader looking to bring back fresh new perspectives to your team and/or if you are a non-designer simply looking to broaden your understanding of experience design to better communicate with your counterparts." - Ruben Santa, UX Designer at Google
"I highly recommend Willy Lai's UX Design Workshop...his training highlighted many essential UX principles, examples and engagement to reinforce and apply them. He was very open to taking questions and discussion. I really enjoyed the guidance with the hands-on project, which really drove the concepts home - it was very fulfilling to apply the principles and see how the UX and design process can be so beneficial to building for websites and devices. Willy's critiques were very useful as well. The UX Design workshop was an essential addition to my professional career. Highly recommended for you or your team!" - Alexis Morgenstern, Interactive Web Marketing Manager at Hewlett Packard
"I took Willy's UX workshop in Los Angeles. To cut to the chase, the information presented was both informative and entertaining. What took the UX workshop to a level that is paramount for anyone's career is how Willy crafted each segment of the UX process into digestible bits and he explained how this path is the methodology to find both design and business success.  I highly recommend his workshop." - Erik Bjarnason, UX Designer at The Proactiv Company
"Willy is an exceptional UX instructor... Concise, thoughtful, well-spoken, and even a little humorous...his presentation was silky and easily digested.  I look forward to enrolling in other future courses led by Willy." - Travis Lum, Art Director at Razorfish
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