2020 Year in ReviewLooking back on changes, growth and success  The founders of UX Research and Strategy: Jen Blatz, Lorie Whitaker and Lauren Singer, look back at 2020 with all smiles. The goal for UX Research and Strategy has always been to be there for the UX community. 2020 has been a tough year for many people in a variety of ways, but in times of adversity, your community can help you through some rough patches. Our 2020 meetings have focused on providing opportunities for our community to upskill, make connections, expand their education, and make new friends. We hope our events have provided a way for our community members to make 2020 a bit more palatable. Our events would not have been possible without everyone who supported us in 2020:
When thinking about UXRS in 2020, three words come to mind:
Adaptive Prior to the pandemic, UX Research and Strategy was primarily a local organization, hosting our events in Dallas, Texas USA. As some organizations pivoted to online engagements in the face of the pandemic, UXRS decided, for the safety of our attendees, to shift all of our events online. In doing so, UXRS expanded around the globe in a matter of a few short months. Our first online event was the UXR Portfolio Review in February. Lorie Whitaker, co-founder and Treasurer, pivoted the already fully scheduled event from occurring in a local corporate office to an online-only event. After this successful event, and the unimpeded spread of COVID 19 around the globe, the founders decided to take all events online for the remainder of 2020. The founders discussed the logistics and started planning to move all of the remaining events to an online platform. Zoom was purchased, social media accounts were put into place, and UXRS moved online for the future, keeping our mission at the forefront: Our goal is to make topics related to User Experience research and strategy both approachable and actionable by ensuring our community members come away with concrete examples of how to implement research and strategy methods. Community Moving our events virtually allowed us to reach a much broader audience. Our online events have enabled us to provide the opportunity to create a broader global network with people who share a similar interest: UX Research and Strategy. We’ve had attendees from countries around the world: Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Japan, India, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa - just to name a few.  Growth
Moving online allowed us to increase our meeting attendance from approximately 75 people in person to over 500 for online meetings! And it’s not just our attendance that’s grown. Our social media influence has exploded, going from virtually zero followers on LinkedIn to over 22,000. We’ve seen 5-fold increases in followers on our other channels - YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. The UXRS Slack space has grown from just hosting the three founders to being a dynamic place for over 1,100 people to share their thoughts, help each other, and ask for feedback. This growth allows us to bring our mission to a wider audience, enabling our community members to help each other and make meaningful connections during these trying times. We have brought in some pretty fantastic speakers like:
Our fabulous speakers talked about tons of interesting topics like:
As you can see, 2020 has been a very busy year for us. And we are not stopping there! We are in the process of planning some pretty amazing events in 2021 too. Let me just take one more moment to thank all of those who have supported us in 2020.
Looking forward Our founders are hard at work planning our 2021 events. We hope they will bring our community more educational experiences and chances to connect with each other. We are truly grateful for your support. You give us your most valuable asset, your time and attention, and we don’t take that for granted. Thank you again for your support and we look forward to seeing you in 2021 and beyond.
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 Giving Day is Coming, Now's the time to show how much you appreciate how UXRS has helped you learn and grow -> Jump to the chase: Support UX Research and Strategy Now! <- UX Research & Strategy (UXRS) is participating in North Texas Giving Day for the first time. We recently celebrated our 1st birthday, and your support will help us grow and continue to thrive. If you’ve benefited from our educational sessions and networking opportunities, mentoring and career series, or our Slack channel, we invite you to show your support for UXRS by giving during North Texas Giving Day. About North Texas Giving Day Since 2009, North Texas Giving Day has become an annual event to mobilize nonprofits and givers and engage people in supporting local nonprofits, and create lasting impact in their communities. Hosted by the Community Foundation of Texas, North Texas Giving Day is the largest community-wide giving event in the United States. But North Texas Giving Day is for everyone, no matter if you live in north Texas or beyond! Our goal is to raise $5,000 between September 1 and September 17, 2020. We invite you to be a part of the event and share in this experience, with us.
 We appreciate our donors. And, we want to say thank you!
By donating at least $25, you will be eligible for prizes. Check them out: $25 gift
And, there’s more. We’ll be giving raffle tickets to donors who give at least $25. We have some great prizes for our givers. Stay tuned for more details! * You are subsidizing the cost of a ticket for someone else Ready to give? Visit our UX Research & Strategy profile page to learn more. 4 ways to give
 Support UXRS First HandJoin us in our biggest fundraiser of the year! Build a FREE page and win a ticket to our exclusive event this fall.tl;dr Support UXRS by creating a free and easy “FUNdraising page” to help us raise funds to keep our events free and global, going into 2021.
Thank you for your ongoing support of UX Research and Strategy! Your generous support makes a meaningful difference to our mission of providing accessible educational resources focused on UX research and UX strategy to people around the world. North Texas Giving Day gives us a chance to introduce our organization to a new audience and raise funds to expand our mission. This year we are asking you to join us by creating a FUNdraising page on UX Research and Strategy’s behalf to share with your networks about why our organization is important to you. These are personalized giving pages housed on the North Texas Giving Day website and connected to our profile. For 2020, we have a goal of raising $5000 during North Texas Giving Day. Will you help us reach that goal? Creating a FUNdraising page is quick, easy, and can make a HUGE impact on our organization. This video on how to create a FUNdraising page will tell you all you need to know. 
When you create your page, share a compelling personal story why UXRS is important to you. Tell others why you are passionate about our mission to educate people!
Once your page is created, make sure to share the URL of your page with your family and friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, email. etc. You never know who shares your passion for UX! Don’t forget to tag us and use the hashtags #NTxGivingDay and #WhyIGive Throughout the campaign, it’s important to share updates with your supporters and encourage them to invite family and friends to join you in support. And anytime someone contributes to your campaign, it’s important to thank them! We are looking forward to making a bigger difference in 2021 and we hope you will join us!  Support UXRS's mission andtake part in North Texas GivingDay on September 17UX Research & Strategy is participating, for the first time, in North Texas Giving Day! Since 2009, this region-wide movement of giving has been a staple for growing North Texas nonprofits. We just celebrated our 1st birthday, and your help and participation in North Texas Giving Day will help us grow out of our infancy and thrive. North Texas Giving Day is an event that lifts giving and engages the entire North Texas region to support local nonprofits, celebrating the important role they play in strengthening our communities. While our founders make our homes in North Texas, the event is for everyone, no matter the size of your gift - or if you live in North Texas or beyond! 4 ways to support UX Research and Strategy
People have great things to say about UX Research and Strategy's events. Check out this quote from a regular attendee, Chris Ferrell, UX Researcher:  Go to the North Texas Giving Day website to pledge your support and help us continue to bring you more fabulous events in 2021 and beyond.   Join our Slack ChannelGet more involved in the UXRS UX community buy joining us on SlackDo you have questions about UX research or strategy?
Do you want to help out your UX community by answering questions and providing your expertise? Do you want to network and meet others who have the same interest in UX research and strategy as you do? If you answered yes to any of these, then we have the place for you. We have a small, but mighty UX Research and Strategy Slack community. Please join us and become a valued member of our ever growing network and friends and professionals. Just take a moment to fill our our "Join the URXS Slack Community" form to get your special invitation today. See you in Slack soon!  Gold Sponsor: Mural AppWe are excited to announce our partnership with the famed online whiteboard solutionUX Research and Strategy is excited to announce our latest Gold Sponsor, Mural. What is Mural? It is an online tool which allows teams to collaborate in a virtual whiteboard-type setting. Why is Mural so great?
 We even had the head of Customer Experience, Jim Kalbach, speak at one of our events, teaching us all about "Jobs to be Done." If you missed it, you can watch the Jobs to be Done video on our YouTube Channel.
 Master Your UX Job InterviewPurchase life-time access to this webinar and be ready for your next job interviewWhat are people saying about The UX Research and Strategy "Master Your UX Job Interview" event? Check it out:  Plus, for one attendee, this webinar was very timely. Because she watched our webinar, she felt more prepared for her upcoming job interview and had her answers prepared in advance – all based on what she heard at this webinar.  --> Buy the "Master Your UX Job Interview" webinar on Vimeo <--
This webinar walks you through some of the most common questions asked in a UX job interview. Due to requests from the UX Research and Strategy community, we made our "Master Your UX Job Interview " available for purchase on Vimeo. We have a lot of requests for access to watch this webinar from those who did not get the chance to see it live. We want you to be ready for your UX job interview, and we know that this webinar is jammed pack full of useful tips and tricks on how to prepare your interview answers in advance. Plus, you'll learn how to create a well- crafted, short and catered elevator pitch so you can tell your interviewer YOUR summary in a snap. Pop on over to our Vimeo page and buy this on-demand webinar today. You will have access to it as long as the platform exists. This webinar is ideal for people who just starting out in the field of UX Design, Research or Strategy. It's also great for those who are trying to transition over in to user experience. --> Buy the "Master Your UX Job Interview" webinar on Vimeo <--  UX Research Portfolio Webinar on DemandNow you can buy unlimited access to our "Create an Awesome UX Research Portfolio that Tells YOUR Story" webinar on Vimeo--> Buy the UX Research Portfolio webinar on Vimeo <--
Due to popular demand, we have made our "Create an Awesome UX Research Portfolio that Tells YOUR Story" webinar available for purchase. We have received a lot of feedback, including from our most recent webinar, that people are interested in watching this UX Research Portfolio webinar. We want YOU to be job ready for your UX research job interview, and we know that this webinar is jammed pack full of useful tips and tricks on how to put together an awesome research portfolio or case study. Some of the tips this webinar includes are:
For those who just starting out in the field of UX Research, or those who are trying to transition over, you need to have a UX Research Portfolio to get your foot in the door and get that job interview. This webinar walks you through how to get that portfolio ready. --> Buy the UX Research Portfolio webinar on Vimeo <--  Portfolio workshopParticipants provided a number of great feedback points for the event itself, as well as to the montors who volunteered their time.Guidance on how best to present one's UX experience in a portfolio is hard to find; the feedback from my "workshop partner" was invaluable, as it's based on his actual experience. [She] gave me so many invaluable tips on how to structure a professional research portfolio. As a UX design student, I found it enormously helpful. [He] has an extensive design background and does not hesitate to shares genuine, constructive critique and direction of the UX design business. Receiving critical feedback from a trusted source. I saw A.G. speak at the meet-up on facilitation and knew I was in good hands once I was randomly assigned to her. Getting honest upfront feedback without the pressure of trying to hire for a job was great.  Sponsor UXRS in 2020UX Research and Strategy is a 501(c)3, so your donations are tax deductibleUX Research and Strategy is a registered 501(c)(3) org, and was founded by three former co-workers who saw a gap in the local UX market. Based on community feedback, we formed a group that is dedicated to teaching topics in UX research and strategy. Our goal is to make these topics both approachable and actionable by ensuring our attendees come away with concrete examples of how to to confidently implement user experience research and strategy methods in their day-to-day projects and work.  Sponsorship Advantages for You • Global reach to thousands of members on social media channels • Affiliation with fastest growing meetup group in North Texas • Increase your brand recognition amongst industry professionals • Build your recruiting database • Identify additional partnerships with other companies and supporters • Showcase your technical and UX expertise to the community • Donations to our 501(c)3 organization are tax-deductible under U.S. law Interested in helping out and making your mark in the UX community? Contact us now and let's make it happen.  --> View the Sponsorship kit <-- |
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