Austin – Page 3 – Llewyn Paine, Ph.D. | Strategic customer research

This is the third in a series of posts analyzing event attendance in the Austin design community. You can jump to any post using the links below.

Also, be sure to read the caveats for this analysis.

Yesterday’s post outlined the general profile of the Austin design community. Today, we begin exploring the draw of certain types of events. In most respects, event-favoring subgroups resemble others in the community, but some differences do emerge. These are outlined below.

Lunches (42 respondents)

Lunches seem to be especially popular among those who are not constrained to a 9-to-5 schedule, such as independent contractors, founders, and sole proprietors. “Lunch people” may also be more likely than others to pursue professional development as part of a side business (perhaps making them less available for afternoon and evening events?). They’re more likely than others to yearn for public recognition for their work, and for better visual design to complement their UX work.

Happy Hours (51 respondents)

The happy hour crowd appears to be a bit more junior, and seems to view events as a way to socialize and get away from work. They have a higher-than-average preference for evenings and bars as venues, and a higher aversion to being at offices after hours. They’re likely to miss events because they don’t keep track of them, which means you want to give plenty of reminders when organizing this type of event.

Workshops (73 respondents)

People who are interested in workshops appear to differ most notably from other Austin design professionals on motivational factors. They show greater interest in learning about research and critiquing and are more likely to report that their workplaces do not provide them with adequate user research, contact with end-users, and iterative development. In a nutshell, these people are all about interacting with others, be they designers or users.

These types of events are tough to hold in bars, which may be why we see a greater interest in offices and coffee shops.

Continue to Part 4: Presentations & panels