We’ve been building UXCON26 around one question:
What conversations do UX professionals need to be having right now?
On October 7–8, we’re bringing those conversations to Silver Spring, through practical workshops, candid leadership discussions, cross-functional perspectives, career conversations, and plenty of opportunities to connect with the people shaping the future of UX.
And now, the full program is taking shape.
Two days. A lot to take back to work.
October 7 — Expert Workshops
We’re starting UXCON26 with a dedicated workshop day for people who want to go beyond inspiration and actually build new skills.
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST
Build an AI Strategy for Faster and Deeper Insights with Leo Hoar
Explore how to think more strategically about AI in the research process — and how to use it to accelerate work without sacrificing the depth and judgment great research requires.
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Building with AI Beyond the Conversation with Jake Dibatista
Move beyond simply chatting with AI and explore what it means to actually build with it.
Great news: If you have an On-Site + Expert Workshop Pass, you can attend both workshops.
October 8 — The Main Conference
We then bring the whole UX community together.
The day starts with coffee, conversations and networking before moving into a lineup built around leadership, careers, collaboration and the future of our industry.
Opening Keynote: Becoming the leader your organization needs
Calvin Robertson opens the speaker program with:
“Becoming the Leader They’ve Been Waiting For: Leading Change When Design Isn’t Enough.”
Because doing great UX work is only part of the job. Creating change often requires influence, relationships and leadership far beyond the design file.
Podcast-Style Convo: A conversation with Don Norman
We’re especially excited to welcome Don Norman for a podcast-style conversation with Yao Adantor.
Rather than another traditional keynote, this will be a deeper conversation around design, the industry and the ideas shaping where UX goes next.
And later in the afternoon, Don returns for something even more interactive:
Don Norman Q&A
An entire hour dedicated to an open Q&A with Don and the UXCON community.
Bring your questions.
What does building a UX career look like now?
Our Cross-Sectional Career Panel brings together UX professionals with experience across organizations including Netflix, Amazon, Skylight and UXR Institute.
Instead of presenting one prescribed path into or through UX, we’ll explore the different ways careers actually develop, the decisions, pivots and opportunities that rarely fit neatly into a career roadmap.
Questions Are How We Find Each Other
Amanda Gelb, Founder & Principal at Aha, takes the stage for a mini-keynote on why better questions lead to better conversations.
Drawing from nearly two decades of design research and 145 dinners with strangers, Amanda explores why the most useful answers often come not from the questions we planned — but from what we ask next.
Later, our Industry Panel brings together voices from organizations including The New York Times, Target, User Interviews and more to examine what is happening across the wider UX and product landscape.
These are conversations designed to help you understand not only where UX is today, but where your own place within it could be heading.
We’re leaving room for connection.
UXCON26 isn’t designed to be eight hours of sitting quietly in a chair.
Throughout the day, you’ll have opportunities to meet other researchers, designers, product professionals and UX leaders during breaks, lunch and networking sessions.
And once the formal program ends?
Live Music & Networking & Happy Hour
Sometimes the conversation you have after the talk is just as valuable as the talk itself.
An Offer on Your UXCON26 ticket!!!
To celebrate the UXCON26 program reveal, we’re giving you 72 hours to save $$$ on your UXCON26 ticket.
Get your on-site pass for $225 instead of $265.
Offer ends Friday, August 21 at 11:59 PM ET.
Thinking about bringing your team?
UXCON26 isn’t only for individual attendees.
If your UX, research, design or product team is navigating questions around AI, career development, cross-functional collaboration, leadership or the changing role of UX, this year’s program gives you plenty to experience, and unpack together afterward.
Group ticket options are available for organizations looking to bring multiple team members to UXCON26.
Bring your team, learn together, meet other professionals across the industry, and leave with conversations you can continue back at work.
This is the room we’re building.
A room where you can hear from Don Norman.
A room where you can learn how other UX professionals are navigating AI, leadership, career growth and organizational influence.
A room where researchers, designers, product people and industry leaders can actually meet each other — not through another LinkedIn connection request, but face-to-face.
And on October 8, we want you in it.
If you’ve been waiting to decide whether to attend, the program is now one more reason to say yes.
See you in Silver Spring.