XR & the Role of User Research

On July 20th, UXPA Seattle is excited to partner with General Assembly to host a panel conversation on the topic of XR (VR/AR/MR) and the role of User Research, with a particular focus on themes beyond entertainment.

We will hear perspectives from local and influential professionals on:

• How User Research is pioneering the Virtuality Continuum

• What some of the unique challenges of research are when working with first-time users of an interface

• Examples where UX Research produced insights that influenced course-correction

• What they're most excited about for the next 2 years in immersive technologies.

Please join UXPA Seattle and General Assembly for an evening filled with learning, networking and socializing!

Agenda:

6:00 PM Registration, food, drinks and mingling

6:30 PM Panel Discussion

7:15 PM Q &A

7:45 PM Snacks, drinks, mingling/networking

8:30 PM Wrapping-up, clean-up

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Our special guests include:

Di Dang – Emerging Tech Lead – POP

Di Dang works as an experience design lead in emerging tech at digital agency POP. She advises clients from a variety of industries on how emerging tech will impact their business, and she leads VR/AR/MR (also known as XR) design thinking and education workshops around the country. Di also loves working the full XR product development cycle, and she has recently shipped XR experiences for a few of POP’s Fortune 100 clients. Outside of virtual reality, you can find her onstage doing improv. Di tweets passionately about emerging tech at dqpdang (https://twitter.com/dqpdang).

Angela Sharer – Lead User Researcher – HTC Creative Labs

Angela Sharer is the Lead User Researcher at HTC Creative Labs, managing a tiny team of VR hardware and software user researchers. Among other things, she works on the Viveport VR and Vive Video applications. She has a BS in Engineering from Olin College, and an MS in Human-Centered Design and Engineering from UW. Her favorite VR game is Longbow in Valve’s The Lab.

Vinay Narayan – Executive Director of VR – HTC VIVE

Vinay Narayan is the Executive Director of VR for HTC VIVE overseeing the commercialization and market growth strategies of VR. He’s also Board Member and Adviser to a host of VR and AR focused companies, associations, and institutions. As a frequent speaker and sounding board for the community, he’s always on the look out how to expand the ecosystem and equally as important, how to create a path of profitability for the industry.

Vinay’s advice for VR startups: It still takes good business fundamentals and a deep understanding of what good VR is to create something meaningful. Know the history and ecosystem of VR, but most importantly really define what your customer needs.

Boaz Ashkenazy – Co-Founder – Studio 216

Boaz Ashkenazy is co-founder of Studio 216, a digital agency and full service virtual and mixed reality production studio. Boaz led the development team that launched one of the first virtual reality residential sales centers in the United States and, in partnership with Skanska, developed the first holographic leasing center in the world using Microsoft HoloLens, which recently opened in downtown Seattle. Boaz leads the development team that creates mixed reality assets for Studio 216 and is in the process of building a new augmented reality platform for enterprise businesses. Studio 216 was founded in 2005 and has offices in Seattle, San Francisco and Shanghai.

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We are looking forward to seeing you at General Assembly!