The Covid crisis may not be far from over but some organisations are plotting a return to normality, not least tech conference organiser UXDX, which is planning to hold an in-person event later this year.
UXDX, which has been running a conference in Dublin annually since 2016, is returning to the RDS in early October for a three-day event, although capacity will be capped at 600 attendees.
The event will also be livestreamed for those unable to make the in-person gathering.
UXDX stands for User Experience (UX), Experience Design (XD), and Developer Experience (DX). The annual conference typically gathers more than 2,000 chief technology officers, chief information officers, product managers, UX researchers, designers and developers to share best practices on how teams adopt and change to improve product delivery in organisations.
Founders Rory and Catherine Madden recently announced plans to follow in the footsteps of other locally founded events such as Web Summit and SaaStock, by expanding overseas.
The first UXDX Asia Pacific-focused event is to take place in March. It will be held virtually although plans are afoot to hold an in-person event in Sydney, Australia next year.
Rebuilding
The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) is rebuilding the Irish events industry by holding smaller events in the venue with the promise of accommodating large-scale audiences of up to 40,000 in 2022.
"By working with events like UXDX, the RDS will bring life back to our halls next year, which will have a positive economic impact for the immediate Ballsbridge area, but also the wider city of Dublin," said Michele Griffin, deputy chief executive, commercial.
“2020 has been an extremely challenging year for all in the events industry, but we are delighted to recommence planning for 2021 in a safe and responsible manner, with our customers and the end users at the heart of our considerations,” she added.
Tickets for the in-person event have just gone on sale with a starting price of €525 per person.
“We are delighted to work with the RDS to bring our community a live conference this year, said Ms Madden, UXDX chief executive.
“In all of our six years, 2020 was the first year we could not welcome attendees, old friends and long-time ticket-holders to Dublin,” she added.
UXDX has previously include speakers from well-known companies that include Buzzfeed, Verizon, GitHub, Conde Nast, Reddit, Deliveroo and HubSpot.
