Raising the tent:
A peek behind the scenes at crafting the Interaction experience
The last few years have upended business planning and revenue models across sectors — and conference planning is no exception. It would be easy to point to the pandemic, the ensuing global supply chain havoc, and current market fluctuations as culprits. But the reality is that when your core business is an evolving practice space — improving the human condition by advancing the discipline of Interaction Design — very little about planning the Interaction conference experience is fixed.
Interaction’s values
Since 2008, our first gathering in Savannah, iterating on the Interaction experience has been the approach we take to delivering the conference each year.
I hadn’t yet discovered IxDA in 2008, but when I first joined the discussion list in 2009, people were STILL talking about how exceptional Interaction 08 had been. It was clear that the energy from this first experience had carried forward into the community. Part of that was, and remains, by design.
If you’ve connected with IxDA since the early days, you’ll know this better than me. The community came together in 2003, borne of a discussion list — one made with the intent of creating a space for sharing and learning together. Challis Hodge described it this way:
“We are here to build a home for interaction designers — what kind of home that will be, we do not yet know. Whether we find or build our home, though, it must address the issues and challenges that many of us face in our jobs.”
The notion of ‘home’ is a red thread that connects IxDA and how we approach planning Interaction to this day. As a distributed organization, Interaction creates an imprint of ‘home’ for the community — a room you can walk into without having to explain what you do. It is a space where you know you will be respected: cared for by people who want you to grow and flourish, treated to great conversation, delicious food, and a lot of fun.
A unique element that Interaction has is the experience of ‘home’ has different attributes in different parts of the world. So as we move around the globe, returning attendees learn what hospitality looks and feels like when designed by different members of the IxDA community. I’ve learned that coffee is a great metric to suss out details — when you drink it, what you put in it, and what serving size you consider ‘standard’ are all things that come under scrutiny when the Interaction team is planning the attendee experience.
Curating the conversation
Why is creating a sense of ‘home’ core to the Interaction experience? A key reason is that it lays the foundation for conversations — on stage and between attendees — about the nature of Interaction Design practice and the forces shaping what we do. There’s no denying the spaces we’re asked to address are becoming increasingly complex — whether you’re a solo practitioner or leading a team.
And as our community embraces IxDA’s global reach, we hold ourselves accountable to curating a platform for all voices and to measure representation — in person and content. If you’ve presented at Interaction before, we have an unwritten rule that you don’t get to take the stage two years in a row. That means when you raise your hand to host Interaction, you’re also raising your hand to curate a conversation inclusive of multiple points of view, often put forth by speakers who may not have taken the stage before.
We invite keynotes to frame each day and intentionally look for diversity in practice background and geography, along with a range of points of view. Recently, we’ve had an informal practice of inviting back some of Interaction’s earliest keynotes, so they may reflect on how their journeys have evolved with the ever-changing shape of what we do.
When we open the Call for Submissions, we know that not everyone who we think has something to say might see themselves as an Interaction speaker. And though the community is increasingly global, some people are doing great work but may not have IxDA on their radar. The conference team seeks out and collaborates with design communities organized to address racialized and marginalized peoples’ concerns, like the DxD Coalition and Queer Design Club, to both educate ourselves and amplify these voices for our broader community.
So when you come to Interaction, you’ll find both ‘big names’ and people who are shaping emerging themes. There will be people working in spaces where we feel our community can learn together. You’ll find people where you may first ask yourself, ‘how is this related to Interaction Design?’ And they’ll all be connected by a story arc curated by IxDA community members seeking to answer the question: ‘what do we see as important as Interaction Designers now?’
Diversity, inclusion, and parity
Beyond the program, the conference team works hard to translate IxDA’s core values — diversity, inclusion, and parity — through how Interaction is crafted.
But what about that ticket price?
While it’s fair to say, ‘wait a second, a $1500 ticket is only accessible by a certain number of people!’, it might surprise you to know that each year, most conference tickets are sold at discounted prices.
When we gather in Zürich, of the 1000+ people you’ll get to network with, about 250 of those will be speakers, IxDA volunteers who lead our global programs, and community members who’ve contributed to Interaction Week planning. Another 50–75 will be the on-site conference volunteers who trade time for a free conference ticket. And last but also important, about 100 ticket holders will come from sponsors who’ve assigned tickets to their teams.
Ticket discounts range from Super Early Bird (85% off), Early Bird (40% off) to Local Leader (50% off), and Education and Non-Profit discounts (20% off). To make sure that price isn’t a barrier, if you really want to join us and can’t afford a ticket, since 2020 we’ve been running a community and sponsor-supported 1:1 Ticket Matching program. Through ticket matching, we’ve enabled more than 200 people to attend Interaction in the last two years. Our 2023 1:1 program is supported by YouTube.
This year, we’re also tackling the challenge of creating the first hybrid Interaction experience—blending in-person and online attendees and speakers—to make space for more people to participate.
Access and inclusion
But access isn’t just about price. Inclusion is incorporated throughout the conference experience. You’ll find live captioning (done by humans and not AI) for in-person sessions and translation support for speakers so that they can present in their language of choice. When the conference sessions are published on our Vimeo channel, we also translate the keynotes into Spanish and Portuguese.
Making the conference videos publicly available with no paywall has been happening since the beginning of Interaction — and Interaction Latin America. Along with Interaction Awards and World Interaction Design Day videos, there is a living library of more than 1000 sessions online.
As much as the conference is about convening the community, it is also about creating content that lives beyond the event — a publicly accessible learning resource for anyone interested in Interaction Design.
Designing the space
Interaction’s physical space doesn’t escape consideration. We strive for accessible venues and to accommodate service companions — both human and service animals — on request.
Other ways the venue is designed include a ‘chill’ space to get away from the noise and the crowds, a designated room if you’re nursing, and on-site childcare so you can travel with your family.
Let’s not forget the food. When you register for Interaction, we ask a lot of questions! That’s because we cater to accommodate nine major allergies in the conference menu, along with considerations for vegetarian, gluten-free, and halal meals on request.
Health and Safety
Creating safe spaces is about more than the physical attributes of our venue and menu specifics.
It’s been more than a few years since we’ve had to debate whether a conference should have a Code of Conduct. IxDA’s Code of Conduct covers not just Interaction but all online and in-person interactions. It extends to our speakers, volunteers, attendees, and vendors. It was prototyped in 2015 with the IxDA Local Groups, and in 2020 we updated the policy to add specifics about handling a Code of Conduct complaint.
Adding Covid guidelines to our Health & Safety practices has been a learn-by-doing experience. I can look back now at the communications we put in place for Interaction 20 and wonder at how little we knew about what lay ahead for us all. Backed by a crisis plan (that we — fortunately — didn’t have to activate), it is a good reminder that conference planning includes planning for the unknown.
For Interaction 23, our Covid guidelines have evolved. They continue to be reviewed weekly as we countdown to everyone coming together in Zürich. We do get questions about why maintain a requirement for vaccines if you are attending in person when many, if not most, have dropped the requirement. The IxDA Board has reiterated our accountability is to everyone participating in the conference and our broader community—being vaccinated and following good masking practices minimizes your own risk and reduces it for those in our community who may be more vulnerable to infection and severe outcomes.
What about getting around?
The overall conference footprint is part of the city selection process. We look at the relationship between the main venue, available hotels, and social venues. The ideal is for attendees to be able to walk from the main conference hotel to the venue.
But when the weather is cool, walking can be a chilly undertaking, so how do you get around? This year, we’re lucky to have Zürich Tourism as our transportation partner, allowing us to offer all attendees the option of a transportation pass to get around the city.
Conference redux
Finally, even after Interaction wraps, you can bring the conference experience to your city. IxDA Local Groups will curate highlights from the conference and invite local speakers and attendees to share their experiences with their local community.
If you’d like to organize an Interaction 23 Redux, let us know and we’ll share the planning toolkit!
Share your feedback
I said at the beginning that Interaction is an iterative process. We set intentions but know there is always more that can be done to create an inclusive space. The philosophy of ‘designed by the community, for the community’ is how we’ve incorporated many of the design principles that go into Interaction today. It’s also how we learn about real and perceived barriers that keep interested community members from participating.
Add your voice to how we can keep Interaction evolving. Get in touch with us directly, or start a thread on the IxDA Slack to bring others into the conversation.
Most of all, plan to join us for Interaction 23. You’ll find all the details at 23.ixda.org
