Hosting and organizing ThinkUX meetup

Meetup

Think UX Haarlem is the first design-oriented meetup in Haarlem, facilitating various gatherings for anyone interested in the UX design field. ThinkUX Haarlem had been dormant for a while due to time constraints and the impact of the pandemic, causing the meetup event to lose momentum. I have taken on the responsibility to start re-organizing the meetups, putting ThinkUX on the map again by hosting some awesome editions with speakers from Uber, Peaks and Flitsmeister.

Role and responsibilities

As the organizer of Think UX Haarlem meetups, my role is to ensure the success of each event. A big aspect of my responsibilities is about reaching out to potential speakers who can bring valuable insights and expertise to our community. This entails a thorough evaluation of their backgrounds, expertise, and experiences in the diverse domains of user experience. Moreover, beyond recruiting speakers, my task is to guide them throughout the process leading up to the event. This includes communication, providing support, and assisting in their preparation to ensure that they can deliver impactful presentations that resonate with our audience. Furthermore, I work on the promotion and marketing efforts for each meetup. This involves leveraging various channels to reach our target audience, and generating buzz around the event to maximize attendance and engagement. In addition to speaker recruitment and management, I also oversee all logistical aspects of the event. This entails coordinating venue logistics, ensuring technical requirements are met, and even arranging for timely delivery of refreshments, such as the essential pizzas that fuel our attendees. In essence, my role is not only to create the lineup of speakers but also to do coordination, expand collaboration, and drive the promotion of each Think UX Haarlem meetup, helping the design community.

My goal

My goal is promote inclusivity and diversity within our community by bringing together individuals from varied backgrounds and perspectives. While ThinkUX events have traditionally been conducted in Dutch, my aim is to internationalize them to appeal to a broader audience, thereby enriching the exchange of ideas and experiences. I am diversifying the scope of topics covered in our meetups to encompass a wider range of subjects beyond just User Experience design. This expansion includes delving into areas such as User Research, Behavioral Design, and User Experience Research. For instance, at our recent event, we hosted a speaker from Uber who led a discussion on User Experience Research, introducing attendees to a topic that many were not previously familiar with. This initiative ensures that our community remains dynamic and continuously exposed to new knowledge and insights. Recognizing the significant student presence at ThinkUX events, I make an effort to invite designers from unconventional sectors, such as healthcare, to showcase the breadth of opportunities available to aspiring designers. For instance, we recently welcomed a UX designer from the Utrecht Medical Center, whose presentation shed light on the challenges and considerations involved in designing for a healthcare setting—a contrast to the experiences typically encountered in a digital agency. This exposure left a lasting impression on our guests.

Future plans

Considering that Endeavour, the company I work for, boasts diverse expertise in-house, I am eager to expand our meetup offerings to encompass other areas of expertise, starting with software engineering. I am particularly interested in organizing events such as hackathons or live coding meetups, which would provide valuable networking and learning opportunities for our community. While I aspire to introduce new meetup themes and formats in the future, my current priority is to ensure the continued success of ThinkUX. Ultimately, my overarching goal is to cultivate a sense of community, facilitate knowledge sharing, and foster enjoyable experiences for all participants, often accompanied by a shared pizza. After all, bringing people together and sharing insights is what makes these gatherings truly rewarding for me.