Designing for User Experiences
Designing for User Experiences conferences bring together practitioners of multiple disciplines to explore factors which contribute to the creation of successful or unsuccessful user experiences. Real-world case studies are compared and contrasted to look at all facets of the product/service development lifecycle and at other facets of business as decisions are made that affect the user experience. Special insight is provided via invited plenary speakers and session chairs, as well as studio tours and tutorials, and social events facilitate networking across disciplines.
Richard was a Program Chair for the first DUX conference (DUX 2003), held in San Francisco. Development and management of the case study submission and evaluation process, selection of submissions for the conference, and design of the conference program were among the responsibilities he shared with his co-chair. Richard also produced the opening and closing plenary sessions, comprised of his interviews of invited dignitaries. The closing plenary contribution of interviewee Sara Little Turnbull and the entire novel conference program prompted a standing ovation at conference end, with the much of the sold-out house reporting that they had finally found a multidisciplinary conference home.
Richard was a Conference Chair for the second conference (DUX 2005). This time, conference planning, personnel, operations, and budget were among the foci of the many responsibilities he shared with his co-chair. Richard also kept people informed of what was happening with the conference via the conference blog. 
Special highlights of this sold-out conference, held at San Francisco's historic Fort Mason cultural center, included Tony Award winning Bill Irwin's dazzling performance and insights from years on the stage about the language of the body and the important lessons which improv offers to designers for user experiences.
BayCHI
Richard helped form BayCHI, the San Francisco Bay Area Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction, serving as its first elected Chair. He was also its Program Chair for a full 12 years, developing BayCHI monthly programs into rich experiences shared by an average of more than 200 attendees.
This program series featured an amazing array of experts and topics, and a variety of styles and components. There were:
- multimedia presentations galore;
- interviews [e.g., Richard's conversations with Alan Kay (father of personal computing) & Douglas Engelbart (inventor of the mouse & groupware)];
- panels (e.g., on designing interactive applications for the web & on experience modeling);
- debates (e.g., on metaphor between Ted Nelson and Aaron Marcus);
- movies (e.g., an advance screening of "2001: HAL's Legacy");
- dance (e.g., by Scott Kim, Karl Schaffer, and Annette Williams, followed by a conversation about the relationship between dance choreography and user interface design);
- competitions (e.g., the great BayCHI'97 browse-off);
- workshops (e.g., Allison Druin's designing with children);
- live theatre (e.g., a play by the Ken Kahn Players on the role of pictures and animation in building software);
- free drawings (e.g., for copies of books newly-published by presenters);
- live music (e.g., a performance by Stanford University's A.K.A. Fellas);
- comedy (e.g., Karl & Carl with Tips on Travel through Cyberspace);
- award presentations (e.g., the Yari Leski award);
- opportunities for attendees to interact with the presenters.
A look at the list of 12 years of programs.
