I’m really pleased to be doing more speaking this summer and delighted to have been selected to speak at two major conferences happening in Edinburgh this year.

First off I’ll be speaking at UX Scotland 2013 towards the end of June. The line-up is still being finalised but is looking great – if I wasn’t speaking I can honestly say that I would be paying to go to this conference. My talk will be a follow-up to last years Refresh Edinburgh talk “I’m Not Really here”. I’ll be speaking about design research, looking for insight and problem-seeking – thinking about the ideas that when we always know what we’re doing, we always do the same things, and how we’re good at knowing how to design, but we’re not always so good at knowing what to design.

In September I’ll then be speaking at EuroIA 2013. This is a conference I’ve always wanted to go to and also has a great line-up – it’s also the first time it’s been to the UK so it’s a real privilege to be involved.  My talk is “Small Moments in Big Data” and I’ll be speaking about finding individual stories and the importance of focussing on touch-points that reflect the experiences of our customers. I’m going to be thinking about the issues of big data in both design and our lives as well as the role of design in helping us understand our most complex problems.

Last week I gave my first ever design talk at Refresh Edinburgh. I’ve done some public speaking and presenting before but nothing really in the ball park of a 40 minute design talk. I was also really privileged to speak alongside a great speaker and designer in Simon Collison – so the pressure was well and truly on.

In the couple of months before the talk I thought a lot about what I wanted to say. I discovered writing about design is even harder than I imagined. The talk that emerged centered around how we use research and look for insight to design for other people. In the end everything seem come together. I actually enjoyed giving the talk and found the process of sitting down to write really valuable. I might even do it again sometime – not something I was thinking a couple of weeks back.

The results have been filmed so you can watch the video here – you can also view my slides.

Orde Saunders has also kindly posted a good set of notes from the talk.

Many thanks to everyone that came along and gave feedback. Special thanks to Robbie for inviting me to speak and also Andy for organising the event.