Event Planning Tools

Hello Event Organizers,

Thanks so much for supporting World Usability Day 2008. Your energy and time is much appreciated and valued as your hard work is what makes World Usability Day a global success. 

We have some tools and instructions for you to enhance and support your events and allow people around the world to participate from anywhere. These include:
Directions for streaming your event live
Setting up laptops for the Global Transport Challenge at your event
Poster and website banner access
Submission of event highlights, photos and videos
Press Release Template and tips on getting local media coverage
Signing our Charter
Using social media outlets to encourage participation in World Usability Day

Directions for Streaming Your Event Live
This year, for the first time, you will be able to stream your event live and share it with everyone around the world, for free. It's easy but we will need to get you set up.  We hope to have live broadcasts throughout World Usability Day.  We need to know if you are doing this so we can pull the feed through our system and your event can be viewed on our site. We have a complete listing of all events streamed on the home page running throughout the day.

Getting Started - Streaming Video
 
World Usability Day is partnering with Ustream.tv <http://Ustream.tv>  to provide live streaming video from World Usability Day events.
Ustream.tv quickly and easily allows anyone with a camera to broadcast to the world.  All you need to stream is a computer, internet connection, a microphone and a camera.  Ustream.tv's software handles the camera connection and streaming.  Your event site should have an upstream connection of 1Mbps or greater to ensure high quality video. You can also record the video stream to save it for later broadcast using Ustream.tv
 
If you are interested in stream your event we recommend the following steps:
 

1. Test out the Ustream.

World Usability Day is partnering with Ustream.tv to provide live streaming video from World Usability Day events.
Ustream.tv quickly and easily allows anyone with a camera to broadcast to the world.  All you need to stream is a computer, internet connection, a microphone and a camera.  Ustream.tv’s software handles the camera connection and streaming.  Your event site should have an upstream connection of 1Mbps or greater to ensure high quality video. You can also record the video stream to save it for later broadcast using Ustream.tv

If you are interested in stream your event we recommend the following steps:

1. Test out the Ustream.tv software and website with the video camera you will be using for the event.
2. Verify that your site has enough bandwidth ( 1Mbps or higher) to support good quality
3. Let us know that you will be streaming the event so we can show your event on the World Usability Day site. caryn@worldusabilityday.org

For more details on how to setup and start streaming video visit the Ustream.tv help center at:
 
http://www.ustream.tv/helpcenter/helpcenter
 
 

Click here to download our 2008 Press Release Template to promote your local event.

• 180 events, 175 cities, 41 countries
• 40,000 people at events worldwide
• Thousands of online participants
• Extensive worldwide media coverage

• How do humans interact with the following aspects of transportation:
  • Modes – automobiles, planes, trains and subways, boats, trucks, busses, bikes, animals, and more.
  • Infrastructure – roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, and more.
  • Technologies and resources supporting transportation – online travel advisory and ticketing, maps and more.
  • Security
  • Signage
• How do the modes interact with each other?
• How is our environment impacted by transportation modes and issues?
• How have accessibility issues and challenges been addressed by transportation? 

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Congratulations! Being a local event leader for World Usability Day 2008 is an exciting and terrific opportunity to show your commitment to and leadership of a highly visible, impactful global initiative. World Usability Day 2008 will take place on November 13, 2008. The focus this year is Transportation.

You don’t need to be a professional event planner to develop a successful event. However, there are some great “tips of the trade” that can help make the process smooth and not too stressful.

We are here to help you. The World Usability Day 2008 team is here to help you. Just call or email us – we have many resources to share with you. The earlier you register yourself as an event leader, the sooner we will be sending you materials, updates and important deadlines. Our World Usability Day 2008 Registration System is available as of June 17, 2008. You do not need to know all the details of your event to register, just the basics – the event leader contact info. Once registered, we can work with you to develop and promote your event. Registration of your event on the World Usability Day website is FREE in 2008, so please register as soon as possible. www.worldusabilityday.org.

Event planning ideas. World Usability Day 2008 is focused on Transportation. Our goal this year is to have the events address the theme. We have determined six topic areas and some broader questions that we hope you will be able to incorporate into your event. These questions and topics include:

How has transportation impacted our culture and society? What are the opportunities and constraints for our society?

• How do humans interact with the following aspects of transportation:

  • Modes – automobiles, planes, trains and subways, boats, trucks, busses, bikes, animals, and more.

  • Infrastructure – roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, and more.

  • Technologies and resources supporting transportation – online travel advisory and ticketing, maps and more.

Creating Buzz for World Usability Day 2008 – November 13, 2008

        World Usability Day 2008 (WUD) is focused on TRANSPORTATION. This year’s theme could not be timelier and we are positioned to attract press coverage worldwide. With the challenge of rising gas prices, security issues, aging infrastructures and much more, globally, the transportation industry is facing ongoing change. With those changes come many usability opportunities and challenges.

World Usability Day 2008 will feature over 225 events occurring simultaneously in over 175 cities worldwide. Our goal is to have media coverage of each of these events. UPA and the WUD Planning Committee in collaboration with PR firms worldwide will be working on achieving this goal. As part of our team, we need your help on the ground to ensure strong coverage of World Usability Day and create awareness of the importance of user-centered design and engineering and our right to have things that works better!

In order to accomplish this, we need all local event organizers and participants to reach out to their local media and inform them of their scheduled WUD events and activities as far in advance as possible. We hope your events this year will be related to our theme and that it is front and center in your communications.

We’ve created some helpful tips and hope that you share your best practices with the WUD 2008 team.

Strategies for Developing Media Coverage

Start at home.
Be sure to have news items in your own organizations’ newsletters, intranet, website and other channels of communication. This includes the newsletters of your employer, as well as professional chapters.

Go for calendar listings.
Chances are, if you are a regular reader of a calendar of events, your information will be useful to its editor.

World Usability Day 2008 Sponsorship Opportunities

The fourth annual World Usability Day (WUD) will be celebrated globally on November 13, 2008. More than 200 programs will be organized worldwide to increase the public's awareness of the need to make the services and products important to human life easier to access and simpler to use. Sponsors of World Usability Day enjoy extensive worldwide press coverage and visibility as supporters of this important message – Making Life Easy! This year’s focus is Transportation.

Over 40,000 people participated in WUD 2006 and 2007 with 200 events in 180 cities in 41 countries. Worldwide media coverage was extensive. Your company can help make the world work better by sponsoring this important initiative of the Usability Professionals Organization. Become a World Usability Day 2008 sponsor at the following levels: