Telephone Seminars

A telephone seminar is much like a large conference call where the speaker makes his or her presentation over the phone. You then sit back and listen to the presentations, follow along with the comprehensive handouts, and join in the lively Q&A discussion.

The following is a description of an upcoming telephone seminar. As the Southwestern Ontario Chapter offers more telephone seminars to its members, the details will be announced in an e-mail and will be posted on our Website at http://www.stc-soc.org.

September 10: Paper Prototyping

Are you weary of explaining hard-to-use interfaces? Have you ever itched to rewrite a cryptic error message? Would you trade your favourite dictionary to be on equal footing with other members of the development team? Once considered a fringe usability technique, paper prototyping is now an accepted practice at many mainstream companies.

In paper prototyping, representative users interact with a paper version of an interface that is manipulated by a person "playing computer." By drafting rough interfaces on paper-even hand-drawing them-you can conduct quick but effective usability tests before implementation begins. Apply your communication skills where they'll do the most good-right in the interface. And for those issues that still require help or documentation, you'll discover what information users need.

You'll learn the following:

What a paper prototype is, including case studies and examples
What kinds of issues paper prototypes will (and won't) help you uncover
Situations where paper prototypes are most likely to save you time and aggravation
How to include documentation and help in paper prototype tests
How paper prototyping can change your relationship with the development team (Hint: You'll hear the word "proactive" a lot.)
Tips for introducing paper prototyping into your organization

When?

Wednesday, September 10, 2003 12:00-3:00 PM EDT

Where?

Waterloo Recreation Complex, 101 Father David Bauer Drive, Waterloo (see the white board in the front lobby for room number).

Speaker Information

Carolyn Snyder spent the first ten years of her career developing hard-to-use software, first as a software engineer and then as a project manager. After her epiphany that real people actually had to use what she designed, she became a usability consultant, specializing in usability testing and paper prototyping. She spent six years at User Interface Engineering and then started her own company, Snyder Consulting, in 1999. For the past decade she has helped development teams create more usable interfaces. Carolyn has conducted several hundred usability tests, including more than 100 using paper prototypes. Her book, Paper Prototyping, was published by Morgan Kaufmann in April 2003.

Cost?

There is no cost for members and a charge of $35 for non-members. You can bring a cheque with you on Wednesday, payable to STC Southwestern Ontario Chapter. A light snack, refreshments, and handouts are included in the price.

RSVP and/or Questions

Please RSVP to Ted Edwins at pastpresident@stc-soc.org by Tuesday, September 9, 2003. In your e-mail message, please state the names of attendees and membership status.