Founding and directing a sellout UX unconference

I've spent most of my life volunteering in some capacity and much of that time it's involved being part of large-scale events. From pop culture festivals to dance music events, major venues and sporting events, I've been to wider variety of events in a back-of-house role than as an attendee.

Cross that experience and love of 'how things work' with my passion for design and mentorship, and you end up with something that looks a lot like UXCamp.

According to Wikipedia, the knowledge holder of humanity, the BarCamp format started as a user-generated, open-source alternative to the O'Reilly Media's Foo Camp in the early 2000's. It wasn't long before UXCamp was born in Europe and made it's way to Australia with Perth founder Cornel Styne. After a couple of years, the call was put out to launch it in other cities and a group of eager beavers launched UXCamp Melbourne | Naarm in 2023.

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I, along with the rest of our amazing team, have been humbled by the response. We've sold out both of our events and have received overwhelmingly positive feedback about the community driven aspect, and the quality and variety of speakers we have. But the event is not without its challenges. From catering, to logistics arrangements, to trying to create a schedule without having any confirmed speakers, this event certainly pushes you in ways that you don't expect.

Many months of planning culminated in a brilliant day.It was all equal parts fun, tiring, energising and stressful! We had such a wonderful bunch of pitchers, speakers and attendees. Well done to everyone who stood up and gave it a go. It was great to see so many new and returning faces. And humbling to see all the fabulous feedback coming through. (Me on LinkedIn)

This year, it was also fabulous to be given a shoutout from my workplace on LinkedIn!

What I've loved most is watching our community grow and continue to challenge themselves and become thought leaders in their own right. Even after 2 years the progress has been amazing, so I can't wait to see where it goes from here. I've also met some of the most incredible people from across different companies and backgrounds. Without whom UXCamp simply wouldn't happen - looking at you Lauren! 

AND the AMAZING sponsors that I've worked directly with, alongside Mickey, to be able to fund this little thing and keep it going. Whilst we aim to keep it low cost and community driven, let me tell you, catering and venue hire is expensive. It's no wonder so many incredible events have struggled to come back after COVID.

UXCamp has enabled me to connect to so many more amazing design and industry leaders, which have been awsom to learn from and engage with. But I've also connected and reconnected with so many people outside the industry. People like Troy, who I worked with at Telstra, and who cam to our very first event wondering if people in the design field would be interested in psychology? Well, absolutely, and it made him our first Locknote speaker (most voted for talk)! Thanks for your vote of confidence, Troy.

When we started this journey, there were no expectations. No idea if we’d sell any tickets, if anyone would “get it”, if it would be successful, if we’d even make it far enough to turn this thing into an event. Yesterday, we proved to ourselves we could do it, and that the community valued something like this. (Quoting myself again)

Like with all small 'startups' the whole team is pretty flexible in getting things done. Bt we did define some roles, and it has proven necessary to ensure all the intricate planning and details work out. For me, it's been Program Director. This has involved being the lead on scheduling and talks, organising the keynote speaker, assisting with the creation of the run sheet, planning and creating the speaker schedules and other event day logistics. I generally act in the capacity of the 2IC, ensuring everything runs to schedule and we provide the greatest benefit to our community and sponsors. After the event, it's been me editing videos and content for socials, ensuring our impact can be broader and we can build more value.

As we head into another year and another UXCamp planning schedule, I hope to only grow and bring more benefit to our wonderful community and beyond.