It’s supposed to be the first week of spring and whilst the temperature is still dancing around zero degrees the conference and networking season is starting to warm-up. There are plenty of events to pick from but we’ve put together a list of our favourites:
One Off Events:
Event: Digital 2013
Theme: Creating and measuring value from digital.
When: 25th April 2013, 9:30 – 19:30
Where: SECC, Glasgow
Price: £50 (Excluding booking fee and VAT) for attending the day; £0 for the webcast
Who’s it for? Anyone who works in Digital or who wants to find about designing their company’s digital presence
The Blurb: “Digital 2013 will explore the approaches of how leading organisations are “Designing their Digital Presence” and how they are generating a return on their investment – in terms of money, attention from customers, and value perceived by them. We will be exploring topics including responsive design, methods for analysing and making use of data, creation of compelling digital content, approaches to building profitable digital services and digital service definition.”
Format: Keynote speakers, panel debate, workshops and exhibits. Plus plenty of networking over lunch and drinks at the end of the day.
Guest speakers: John Oswald (Business Design Lead, Fjord); David Craik (Director, Bright Signals) and Andrew Burnett (Head of Social Media, Yard Digital) + more to be announced
Why we are going: It’s a great day out to learn how organisations are designing their digital propositions. This year we’re particularly interested in hearing how other companies measure the value of their digital presences. Also this event is always great for making new friends as well as catching up with old ones.
URL : http://digitalconnections.org.uk/
Twitter: @digiconx #digiconx
Event: MediaCom Engage
Theme: Connected Planning 9:00 – 13:30 (approx.)
When: 25th of April 2013
Where: Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries Complex, The Mound, Edinburgh
Price: £25 (Standard); £10 (IPA Member; Marketing Society Member)
Who’s it for? Anyone interesting in marketing, strategy and insight
The Blurb: “Our topic this time is Connected Planning with speakers discussing how best to exploit emerging cross-channel communications opportunities.”
Format: Keynote speakers and a Q&A session
Guest speakers: Neil Perkin (Founder of Only Dead Fish, Curator of Google UK Firestarters and ex Head of Marketing & Strategy at IPC Media); Derek Scobie ( Head of YouTube Propositions, North & Central Europe); Jem Lloyd Williams (Managing Partner, Head of Digital Strategy, MediaCom UK); Claire McAlpine (Associate Director, Real World Insight, MediaCom UK)
Why we are going: To learn more about successful cross-channel marketing campaigns and how they can be applied to the work that we do. Plus with that line-up of speakers how can you say no! As it’s on the same day as Digital 2013 we’ll be splitting the team up and going to both.
URL : No longer exists
Twitter: @MediaCom_EDI
Event: UX Scotland
Theme: Community-driven practical User Experience
When: 08:00 20th June 20- 16:30 21 June, 2013 (pre-conference workshops on the 19th of June 2013)
Where: Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Price: £342.00 Early-bird special until 30th of March 2013, more after
Who’s it for? UX Specialists, information architects, usability specialists
The Blurb: “The inaugural UX Scotland is a practical User Experience and Design conference that allows participants to connect and learn from their peers and leaders in the industry. The conference will have a strong practical focus allowing participants real opportunities to learn how to overcome challenges and make the most of opportunities. Come along to learn, share your own experiences & have fun.”
Format: TBA
Guest speakers: Jeff Gothelf (Neo NYC and author of ‘Lean UX’) ; Giles Colborne (Managing Director of cxpartners and author of ‘Simple and Usable’); + more tba
Why we are going: A UX event in our back yard is just too good to be true. We can’t wait to meet more of the local community and we’re particularly looking forward to getting our hands dirty in the practical workshops. A local event that certainly shouldn’t be missed! Grab your ticket before the 3oth of March to get the cheapest ticket possible.
URL : http://uxscotland.net/
Twitter: @UXScotland
Event: UX day
Theme: A mini conference all about user experience
When: 30th of March 2013
Where: Say Media, San Francisco, US
Price: $65 + fee
Who’s it for? Designers, developers, start-ups and researchers who want to learn more about user experience design, research and testing.
The Blurb: “Whether you are a designer, developer or you have an amazing idea for a startup, you’ll benefit by learning how to organize information, conduct product tests, apply lean startup methodologies, prototype, build easy-to-use products and more!”
Format: 5 sessions of talks
Guest speakers: Nick Myers (Managing Director of Visual Design & Branding at Cooper), Jennifer McCormick (Founder of User Lens and Mentor at 500 Startups), Jonathan Smiley (Co-founder, Partner and Design Lead at Zurb), Megan ORorke (Product Researcher, Senior UX Designer Designer in Resident at General Assembly) and Mary Lukanuski (Director of User Experience at Blurb.com)
Why we are going: Ok we’re not due to prior commitments and geography but we really wish that we were. The programme looks like a comprehensive tour of the tools and methodologies need for any successful user-centred project. Plus the speakers are some of the best in the industry. If you can’t make it we’d definitely recommend you keep an eye out for the post-conference videos and slides.
URL : http://uxday.eventbrite.com/
Twitter: @cascadesf #uxday
Networking and regular meet-ups:
Event: BIMA Thirstday Edinburgh
Theme: Networking for digital people
When: 1st Thursday of every month around 6.00pm. Sign up for the LinkedIn Group to get details about events.
Where: various locations
Price: Free
Who’s it for? Open to anyone from any sector who works in Digital.
The Blurb: “BIMA ThirstDays bring together the big players in digital, once a month under one roof. But you don’t have to be one of the big boys to join us. There is no joining fee for these events however the British Interactive Media Association is an industry body which offers great benefits to it’s members so would also encourage you to consider joining”
Format: Informal networking
Why we go: It’s a great night out to catch up with digital folk and have a couple of drinks (and quite often amazing cake!). `you’ll get to meet new people and find out what else is happening in digital in Scotland. The relaxed atmosphere means it’s perfect to pop in for a quick drink or spend a whole night chatting with a plethora of interesting people.
URL : http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Thirstday-Scotland-4498694/about
http://www.bima.co.uk/events/335/bima-thirstdays—london-/
Twitter: @BIMA #ThirstdayEdin
Event: Girl Geeks Scotland Dinner
Theme: Little/Big Business
When: Next dinner 4th of April 2013
Where: Informatics Forum, Crichton Street, Edinburgh
Price: £12 (Full Price) £6 (Students)
Who’s it for? Women and girls interested in technology, creativity and computing, although men are welcome too!
The Blurb: “Girl Geek Scotland is enjoying a vigorous rejuvenation and re-launches hosted events with a dinner in Edinburgh in April. The theme is ‘Little/Big Business’ and invites women from the tech, business and creative sectors to join us for an evening of guest speakers and rollicking good networking with like-minded folks.”
Format: Dinner, keynote speakers and informal networking
Speakers: Alison Kenny (IT and Operations Director at The Sugar Refinery); Cassie Anderson, (Marketing Manager at miiCard).
Why we go: Inspirational speakers, good food and a chance to network with like-minded women who are truly passionate about all things techie. Unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to miss this one as I can’t be in two places at once but I’d highly recommend grabbing one of the last tickets available.
URL : http://girlgeekscotland.co.uk/
Twitter: @girlgeekscot
What are your Spring event highlights?
We’d love to hear what you are up to over the next quarter and if you can suggest any other digital strategy, user experience and networking events this Spring. Leave us a comment or tweet us @BCM_Tweets.