First of all, thank you so much for considering being a guest on Saving UX. I think it could have a real impact on our community.
Here is a bit on what to expect.
Topics
While the concept came out of the notion that ux is on the decline, I want this to ultimately be a discussion that leads to action and positive change.
Here are some of the current questions that will frame the conversation:
- Tell us a bit about your journey. This will help listeners understand where you’re coming from.
- How would you describe the current state of UX? Maybe you think it is in decline, maybe not. Maybe your take is along a completely different axis.
- Why should we care about UX? I believe that one of the challenges has to do with communicating the value of what we do, so giving listeners a chance to hear how others do it may be very helpful.
- How has UX improved? What do you see being better now than it was before?
- Where is UX struggling? What are the challenges and what do you think is causing them?
- What actions do we take as individuals? Give some specific things we can all do to help make it better.
- How will we know it’s getting better? What outcomes, metrics, signs, feelings, celestial events, etc. will let us know we’re having an impact?
Depending on the conversation, these could change. I’d like this to be as informal and conversational as possible.
If there are questions you’d like to be asked, let me know. We’ll work it in.
If there are areas to avoid, let me know that as well and we’ll steer clear.
Timing
I’d like to keep the timing to between 30 & 60 minutes, although I’m happy to go longer if you’d like.
If you want to wrap it up, you can say something like, “This has been a great conversation. Thanks for hosting.”
If I start to wrap it up and you want to keep going, you can say something like, “Do you mind if I add one more thing?”
I tend to book 90m blocks for recording. This gives us time to set up and make sure the tech is working as well as wrap up and give the recordings a moment to upload. It also prevents us from feeling rushed. If 90m is too long to commit to, we can do a shorter conversation in an hour.
Recording
We can record the episode at any time. Perhaps in the future, we’ll do these live, but for now, we’ll start as a recording.
I’ll be using riverside.fm to record the audio and video. It’s browser-based, so nothing to install. Just make sure you have shut down most other apps/tabs so that all of your computer resources are free for the recording. It records locally and then uploads to the cloud so we will always get a high quality file that won’t depend on bandwidth consistency.
To avoid harsh S’s and pops from P’s and T’s, it can be helpful to not speak directly into your mic. Just keep it a bit to the side. Pop filters can also be a great option.
Gear
Good gear will make for a better recording. You’ll look better and sound better. Please use an external mic and headphones (to prevent echo) and try to be well lit for the video.
If you don’t have great gear and want to use this as an excuse to get some, let me know and I’ll offer some suggestions.
Miscellaneous
Have a glass of water handy. It’s easy for our mouths to get dry when we do a lot of talking. Don’t worry about how it looks or sounds. I’ll edit it out in post.
Publishing
The audio will be hosted by Anchor and syndicated to iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Audible, and many others. The video will be posted on YouTube.
Pre-Recording Info
Please fill out this brief form at least a day before we record so I have some of the basic info I’ll need during the recording and when preparing the show.