Strategic Thinking in User Research with Drill Bit Labs

Join us to deepen your strategic thinking as a UX/UXR with Lawton and Thomas at Drill Bit Labs! They'll bring two talks to the table during this virtual event.

First up — Calculating ROI in UX Research: Quantifying the value of UX to business leaders
UX professionals are rarely trained in finance, but when we can quantify the impact of our work, we build stronger business cases for research and design. This talk demystifies return-on-investment (ROI) in the context of UX, showing practitioners how to estimate and communicate ROI for completed projects, proposed initiatives, and tooling decisions—even without a finance background.

Next — Matchmaking: A practical approach for identifying opportunities for AI and emerging tech
Emerging technologies like AI can struggle to find product-market fit when implemented indiscriminately. This talk introduces a 4-step UX framework called Matchmaking, which helps teams work backward from a new technology to identify real user needs and promising use cases. Based on research and case studies, practitioners will learn how to align technical capabilities with real-world problems -- ensuring that innovation stays grounded in user value.

After each talk, there will be time for questions and open discussion. Come prepared to learn lots and take away some strategic frameworks you can use for your teams!

Lawton Pybus, PhD and Thomas Stokes, PhD are the cofounders of Drill Bit Labs, a UX research consultancy on a mission to advance the practice of user experience research and its impact on the organizations they serve. You can find more about their work and services here.