2021 Speaker Series

As we stumble uncertainly towards a new reality marked by viral, political, and cultural changes, it becomes obvious that our future success depends on our being flexible and adaptable. Psychologists and physicists tell us resilience is the ability to bounce back or adapt after times of trauma or stress. It’s a process by which strength is built through learning from past experiences.

On the job, we have had to adapt to new work flows and communication tools, which have shaped how we work with colleagues and clients, gather data, shape our daily schedules, and relate to the people we live with. How these shifts have affected those using the products of our work is yet to be fully understood. It’s a process unfolding in front of us, a process we must learn from. Will we be able to bounce back to our former lives? Do we even want to? How will that affect our work, workplaces, clients, online interactions, and businesses? And how can we make our new world better?

As it enters the next decade, CHIFOO will explore the forces that are shaping our current situation with hopes to see the potential for growth for ourselves and our industry, opportunities to help our planet and it’s people heal, and ways to make our online interactions more equitable, more useful, more helpful, and more kind.

2021 Speakers and Events

Resilience: Building Online Experiences to Adapt and Thrive

2021 Speaker Series As we stumble uncertainly towards a new reality marked by viral, political, and cultural changes, it becomes obvious that our future success depends on our being flexible and adaptable. Psychologists and physicists tell us resilience is the ability to bounce back or adapt after times of trauma ...
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Remote Meetings That Get Us Back to Work
Kevin Hoffman, April 7, 2021

Companies around the world are adapting to business as usual in a distributed culture. For better or worse, that adaptation seems to have carried with it an increase in meetings. Having good remote meetings carries all of the challenges of in-person meetings plus additional layers of technology issues, distractions, and ...
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Rich Research At A Distance
Cyd Harrell, May 5, 2021

The remote research that's our best method during a global pandemic can seem restrictive, but never fear. Cyd will show you how to get all the depth of qualitative research methods while keeping yourself and your users safe. She’ll talk through what’s harder, what’s easier, and what’s just different, from ...
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Resilience & Remote Working
Kate Pincott, June 2, 2021

The shift in working habits under a new global remote paradigm comes with pros and cons. Communication norms are evolving and requires resilience. One key challenge I have found in a remote context is transparency, 'What is my team up to?’, 'Does anyone have any spare capacity to help me?' ...
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Together, Alone: The lessons and future of remote design teams
Dylan Wilbanks, July 7, 2021

The pandemic meant many designers dove into working remote for the first time. Other designers, though, have been designing in remote teams for years now. Dylan Wilbanks talks about plunging into the world of leading and managing a design team in a remote-only company, the lessons he learned, the horrible ...
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Inclusive Design for Teams and Products
Wendy Johansson, January 13, 2021

Please note, this session was originally scheduled for Jan. 6. As we kick off the year, refreshed and ready to be the change we seek, Wendy Johansson will discuss the importance of inclusive design in our new distributed work environments and the accelerated digital transformation that has taken place around ...
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Systems Thinking for Sustainability: Beyond Stuff Towards Resiliency
Rachel Egenhoefer, February 3, 2021

This talk presents sustainable design from an intersectional problem solving perspective and how you can use systems thinking to create impactful solutions ...
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Recognize Exclusion, Design for Inclusion
Bryce Johnson & John Porter, March 3, 2021

What unnecessary barriers do we all inadvertently create when we craft experiences, and who do we unintentionally exclude? These questions are core to inclusive design and served as the jumping off point for the Xbox Adaptive Controller when realizing that traditional controllers were excluding many people with motor impairments. John ...
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From Virtual Reality to Postcards & Back – A Guided Tour
Bill Buxton, March 24, 2021

A CHIFOO Special Event with Bill Buxton Somehow, during my CHIFOO talk last year, I mentioned how important Portland was to the evolution of AR/VR technology and adoption.  This seemed to give rise to a certain degree of curiosity.  Hence I promised to come back and explain.  So this talk ...
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