Triangle UXPA upcoming events

UX Y’all Conference 2026 (24 Sep 2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

UX Y’all 2026

September 24-25 • Raleigh NC

About UX Y’all

UX Y’all is a user experience conference that blends the latest UX trends with Southern hospitality, creating an unforgettable experience for attendees. The event celebrates the vibrant and diverse design and tech scene of the North Carolina Triangle area, showcasing the talent and expertise of local UX practitioners.

The conference will take place on September 24–25, featuring local UX speakers and keynote presentations sharing their knowledge and experience.

For the latest updates, subscribe to our newsletter or visit uxyall.org

Location

Marbles Kids Museum

201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC 27601, United States

While this is primarily an in-person event, we also plan to support attendees with access to all conference recordings. If you have any questions about conference options, feel free to contact us at info@uxyall.org

Keynote Speakers

Jeff Sauro, Founder and CEO of MeasuringU
Jeff is a Six-Sigma trained statistical analyst and pioneer in quantifying the user experience. He specializes in making statistical concepts understandable and actionable. He is the author of seven books, including Benchmarking the User Experience, Customer Analytics for Dummies and Quantifying the User Experience.

Keynote: Who's Really in the Loop? AI vs. Humans in UX Research
In this talk, Jeff will walk through the claims being made about AI in UX research and summarize the published literature and MeasuringU's own experiments in a scorecard on what AI can and can't do well, and why you still need to be in the loop.

Jessa Parette, Head of Design, Byte by Yum!
Jessa Parette is a design and product executive specializing in AI-driven platforms, design systems at scale, and the organizational conditions that determine whether technology investment actually changes how people work. She is currently Head of Design at Byte by Yum!, where she leads experience strategy for the company’s proprietary, AI-driven platform used by millions globally — and has previously held senior leadership roles at Walmart and Capital One.

Keynote: What Happens when the Interface Disappears?
Through live demonstrations and a practical framework for invisible interfaces, this session challenges decades of design assumptions and introduces a potential new way of thinking about trust, timing, emotion, and conversation in the age of AI.

Kate Moran, AI Strategist + Researcher, Ex-NN/G
Kate Moran has spent the past 16 years working in UX—11 of those years at Nielsen Norman Group, most recently as SVP of Research and Content. She now works as an independent consultant specializing in research-backed AI strategy. She's also a local, born and raised in Raleigh.

Keynote: Outgrowing the UX Greenhouse: Evolve to Thrive in AI era
For a decade, UX grew in a greenhouse. Business investment in design kept the field warm, watered, and growing. Now the watering has stopped, and UX is withering on the vine just as AI changes what counts as a "user interface"—and even a "user." Kate Moran thinks this is our chance to outgrow the greenhouse by pruning away what no longer works and focusing on what always did—the core philosophy we're rooted in.

Session Speakers

Ruchira Biswas - Senior Product Designer @ SMRT Systems
Eric Blumberg - Vice President, User Experience Research @ Fidelity Investments
Jackson Bostian - Assistant Professor of User Experience Design
John Carr - Senior UX Designer @ Red Hat
Krysta Chauncey - Founder, Action Potential Acumen, LLC
Stephany Dunstan – Research @ Lenovo
Lizzie Edwards - Founder, GiveLoveStudio
Bethany Faulkner - Staff Product Designer @ Pocket Prep
Mark Ferencik - Senior Director of User Experience @ Optum/United Health Group
James Gartrell - Co-founder & Principal UX Design Strategist, Purpose UX
Shubham Jumde - Product & Marketing Designer @ SMRT Systems, Inc.
Jonathan Kalinowski - Founder, convivial — small, by design.
Catherine Louis - Founder, Global Agile Consulting, CLL-Group, LLC
Tianhao Liu - Member of Technical Staff @ OpenAI
Kat Martinuzzi - Senior UX Researcher @ Lenovo
Elizabeth McRae - UX Researcher @ UNC Health
Gregor Mittersinker - Founder, LOFT.design
Olha Novikova - UX Designer @ Airlines Reporting Corporation
Sangeeta Parakala - Product Design | AI & Complex Systems | 0-->1 Designer
Juliana Ponton Viñuela - Senior UX Researcher & Impact Assessment Lead @ Lenovo
Tanya Shearon - Senior Content Strategist @ Red Hat
Kendall Standifer - Sr. UX Designer @ Airlines Reporting Corporation
Rajeev Subramanian - Founder, Shift UX | Product Design Leader | Georgetown Adjunct Faculty
Ingrid Towey - The Write UX! Principal Technical Editor & Writing Coach, Red Hat
Russ Unger - Chief Experience Officer @ Agile Defense
Sara Weir - Advisory UX Innovation Researcher @ Lenovo
Yu Yuan - Senior UX Researcher @ Lenovo

For more schedule information visit uxyall.org.

Refunds

You can request a refund until Friday, September 12 (one week before the conference). Refunds requested after 9/12 will only be honored if we are able to fill the seat from our waitlist.

You may also choose to:

Transfer your ticket to someone else
Donate your ticket

To request a refund or ask questions about the process, please email info@uxyall.org

If you have questions or issues with your registration, please reach out to info@uxyall.org.

The Power of While: Using Purposeful Constraints to Reveal Hidden Connections (24 Sep 2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Yes, And AI: Boost UX Ideation with Improv and Gen-AI

Pre-Conference Workshop • September 24

Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh

Registration Required

[This workshop is available for in-person UX Y’all 2026 ticket holders only.]

Workshop Description:

Many design challenges ask us to optimize for a single outcome, yet innovation often happens at the intersection of goals, not in the optimization of just one.

In this playful workshop participants will practice "The Power of While." Working in small teams and using a creative "while" constraint, we will explore how connecting unrelated goals can reveal hidden opportunities. Along the way we will practice making connections that are often considered separately, uncovering overlooked stakeholders and generating unexpected ideas, transforming ordinary design challenges into opportunities for more creative human-centered solutions.

Participants will learn a technique they can immediately apply to UX challenges, product or service design, innovation workshops, and everyday problem-solving.

Speaker Information:

Catherine Louis

Founder, cll-group.com: Helping organizations deliver value while strengthening human connection

Catherine Louis is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Reinvention Professional, independent Agile coach, founder of CLL-Group.com, leader of AgileRTP and co-founder of PoDojo.com. Her focus is on Product Strategy, Lean Innovation, Business Agility: nurturing an innovation culture with teams who can rapidly sense and respond. As a product coach, trainer, facilitator, and speaker, she designs playful, hands-on experiences that help teams tackle complex challenges, uncover hidden opportunities, and create meaningful outcomes. Catherine is passionate about using connection, curiosity, and experimentation to help people solve problems in new ways. She is also a volunteer with over 20 years as a SAR II and K9 trainer and handler with Wake Canine Search and Rescue.

Waitlist

If the event fills up, you can join the waitlist. Two days before the event if there are spots available, we'll notify those on the waitlist. Any available spots will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Location

Marbles Kids Museum

201 E Hargett St, Raleigh, NC 27601, United States

If you have questions or issues with your registration, please reach out to info@uxyall.org.

September Board Game Night (24 Sep 2026)

Thu, 24 Sep 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Mix and mingle while playing board games together! Bring your favorite games or play one of ours.

Food and drinks available for purchase.

No registration necessary!

Send a slack to Meg Beauregard or Email Meg.e.beauregard@gmail.com with any questions.

October Board Game Night (29 Oct 2026)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT

Mix and mingle while playing board games together! Bring your favorite games or play one of ours.

Food and drinks available for purchase.

No registration necessary!

Send a slack to Meg Beauregard or Email Meg.e.beauregard@gmail.com with any questions.