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Based in the coastal city of Halifax, Canada, UX Salon Halifax<\/a> markets itself as a group that gathers to inspire and entertain one another. Meeting roughly every 2-3 months, the group aims to provide a forum for collaboration, networking, and expanding your knowledge on the burgeoning fields of UX and UI design.<\/p>\n To find out more about the group, we caught up with UX Salon Halifax organizer and CareerFoundry alumna Juliana on her journey from being a newcomer to the field to leading one of the biggest UX design events in her city.<\/p>\n After a 15-year career as a teacher, I felt it was time for a change\u2014so I started thinking about what other avenues I could go down. I was always interested in art and design, so graphic design seemed like an option. After doing some research, I came across UX design, which I initially assumed was similar to graphic design. After I dug a little deeper, I was surprised at how much UX design overlapped with teaching. Everything just seemed to fall into place. I enrolled in CareerFoundry\u2019s UX Design Program<\/a>, and also took the UI Design Program<\/a>\u00a0too. The rest is history.<\/p>\n I\u2019m now the sole UX\/UI designer at my office. I work for a platform that helps caregivers take care of their senior loved ones by allowing them to live more independently. I discovered the job through CareerFoundry\u2019s advice about networking, and so far, I absolutely love it! I\u2019m learning so much\u2014and was even recently promoted to a director level!<\/p>\n Having been a regular at the local UX meetups, I really enjoyed the sense of community that I would come away with. I felt inspired to start my own meetup and started to think about what kind of meetup I would want to create. I wanted a meetup where people could have their questions answered in a structured way.<\/p>\n I\u2019d signed up for UX Salon Halifax months earlier on the Meetup App, but no events were announced during that time. When a callout for a potential new organizer for the event popped up on the meetup app, I jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n The former organizer of the event reached out to me and explained, to my surprise, that UX Salon was a huge UX design event in Israel. I made contact with the event\u2019s founder, and he took me through all the logistics\u2014from how to plan the events, to how to promote them. Since then, I\u2019ve been the official organizer.<\/p>\n I wanted to create a community of people that could help each other. CareerFoundry was a great foundation, but I didn\u2019t want the learning to stop there. There are so many people in the community who have 15+ years of experience, and I wanted to create a forum where myself and other newcomers to the field could openly ask them for help and advice, and talk to them about their experiences. It\u2019s provided me with such a strong network and shown me that everyone can learn something from someone. There\u2019s also a lot of promotional value in it for the startups and companies that attend and speak at the events.<\/p>\n It started off as a fireside chat kind of thing, where we would discuss anything that I thought would be an educational talking-point for the community. Halifax is a new and emerging tech hub here in Canada, and it\u2019s a fast-growing city. Since we started UX Salon, so many more people have gained an understanding of what UX design is, and why it\u2019s so vital for business. It\u2019s not just UX and UI designers who come to the meetup now; we also have a lot of developers, company founders and marketing people walk through our doors.<\/p>\n We started off with a post-it wall where people could post about what they wanted to see or hear about at upcoming events, so I\u2019d use those topic suggestions as a jumping-off point for finding potential speakers. Sometimes I\u2019d ask our attendees to lead workshops, or for something more specific, I\u2019ll approach a company or startup. We\u2019ve had some fantastic presentations so far; ranging from how to navigate obstacles in UX design to creating a content strategy.<\/p>\n I feel that my name has gotten out into the industry\u2014which, of course, is fantastic. It\u2019s also given me such a strong network of people who I know I can call if I\u2019m ever feeling stuck or confused about something. For example, we recently interviewed someone from Digital Nova Scotia<\/a> who spoke about the new accessibility guidelines that will soon be coming into place in our province\u2014so it was great to get a heads up about that. Now it\u2019s on my radar, and I am working on my plan to make sure I am prepared for when those changes come into effect. These little insights stick with you and grow into big concepts. I\u2019m so lucky to have a great boss who always encourages me to explore other topics and take on external projects, as I\u2019ll bring those developed skills back into my role.<\/p>\n Just like when you\u2019re planning an app, I\u2019ve learned that it\u2019s so important to plan your event extremely well; don\u2019t make people guess or think too much, and make things straightforward. I plan out an itinerary minute by minute, and it\u2019s all there on the meetup page so that people know what to expect before they even arrive.<\/p>\n I used to co-organize the event with someone, but as they recently took on more responsibility in their job, it\u2019s now down to me to organize the events alone. I once tried sourcing help from the event attendees by sending out a call for help to set up ahead of the event, and it worked really well. From calling out for help, people have volunteered to take on more permanent roles to help with UX Salon Halifax in the areas of photography, food sponsorship, and social media.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve learned that the most important part of planning a UX event is setting goals for each meetup: what is it that I want to achieve during this event? What do I want the attendees to take away with them?<\/p>\n I like to meet the speaker for coffee beforehand so that I can get to know them and run through what they\u2019ll cover in the presentation or workshop. We do the events in a co-working space, and although I know a lot of meetups regularly change their venue, I\u2019ve found it such a huge help to host it in the same place every time. We also offer prizes and draws for attendees, such as UX design starter kits that include notebooks and pens for sketching. That\u2019s pretty much it!<\/p>\n Probably the most important piece of advice is to do the research first. Attend as many meetups as you can, and get a sense of what other organizers are doing. Stick to things that people like to pull a crowd in, such as healthy food and prizes.<\/p>\n I\u2019d also advise breaking everything up into 20-minute sections to avoid people getting bored. Break up the speakers too\u2014no one wants to hear one person waffling on for an hour! Overall, it\u2019s crucial to plan as much as you can, get reliable people to help you, and delegate clear responsibilities to those helpers so that you can avoid a \u201ctoo many cooks\u201d scenario. But remember: no one expects it to be perfect! Running a UX event is a learning curve, so don\u2019t put too much pressure on yourself.<\/p>\n I definitely want to keep growing UX Salon into next year. We\u2019ve already gone from 96 members to 439\u2014which is a huge achievement. Usually, most of the chairs at the events are filled up, so I know that the demand is there. I think that in 2020, I\u2019d like to explore doing more workshops, as I think learning-by-doing is a really fun avenue to explore. I can\u2019t wait to see where the next year takes us!<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like a step-by-step intro to find out if a career in design, development, data, or digital marketing is right for you\u2014sign up here for a free short course<\/a> in the field of your choice.<\/p>\nHi Juliana, thanks for joining us! Could you start off by telling us about how you got into UX design?<\/h4>\n
How did you discover UX Salon Halifax?<\/h4>\n
What\u2019s your vision with UX Salon?<\/h4>\n
How do you find speakers for the events?<\/h4>\n
How has leading UX Salon impacted your career?<\/h4>\n
Talk us through the planning of your event.<\/h4>\n
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own UX event in their city?<\/h4>\n
What\u2019s next for UX Salon?<\/h4>\n
What You Should Do Now<\/strong><\/h4>\n