Just The One (JT1) Summer BBQ A Tasty Success!
Yesterday evening I was in great company at the Just The One (JT1) Summer BBQ, chiefly organised by Ian Jindal, at Flow Interactive’s offices in Clerkenwell, EC1.
Along with exchanging views on the UK retailing industry and the usability market, I was down in London speaking to E-consultancy about potential collaboration between them and PRWD. More on this in due course.
I must firstly compliment head chef for the evening Ian Worley, Director of User Experience at Flow, for providing a superb feast from the BBQ (the Beef Skirt marinated in Chimichurri sauce was devine!) along with a couple of others from Flow.
Moving on to the conversations, Ian Jindal’s influence in bringing together the likes of the MD of Bazaarvoice, the Head of E-commerce at Otto and the Head of Web Services at WPP allowed for some really stimulating conversations. Coupled with the fact the hosts Flow are usability advocates and dedicated to User Centered Design, it was no surprise that user experience was one of the primary topics being discussed, which naturally meant I had plenty to say indeed!
My only regret from the evening was not having the time to speak to all the attendees, although I’m sure at the next event this can be addressed. For the people I did spend time chatting to, a few follow up comments from me..
Theresa, we should definitely talk more soon on me potentially becoming part of the Customer Engagement Unit. The Q&A session I mentioned which will be of interest was on Findability for Web Design and Marketing over on Dave Chaffey’s website.
Rob, to confirm I would be very interested in exploring collaboration opportunities between cScape and PRWD in areas of user centered design and customer experience. Lets talk some more.
Gavin, it was great to chat with you about some of the usability and accessibility challenges you are faced with when managing the WPP website, and the move towards Sharepoint 2007 at some point in the future sounds like one meaty challenge! Oh and on a lighter note, Buzz Quiz TV should definitely be added to your roster of interactive and engaging PS3 games – it will give some of your fingers a rest from Guitar Hero!
Camilla, thanks for your kind words about me having the drive and ambition to build my own business, and it was great to share stories on different areas of buying psychology. And keep seeking that killer idea that will allow you to develop your own business!
Geke, it was great chatting to you about product and user research, and thanks for your keen interest you had in our usability methods and our business model, not to mention our recruitment strategy centered around psychometric profiling. Our recruitment partner in this is Psycuity.
Lee, sorry we didn’t get too much time together before you headed off, and once you’re back from your extended holiday we should definitely get together to further discuss collaboration opportunities – I also need to take you through our business model for UCDcommerce, our blue chip retailing capability and e-commerce platform.
Joris, after seeing your name many times on Fred Hopper literature during my days at Shop Direct Group, it was great to chat with you and share views on the state of the blue chip retailing sector, and the penetration (or lack of) of highly experienced usability experts within the UK and European market. We most certainly need to explore collaboration opportunities!
John, its great to hear the scale of demand you have for UCD services at Flow, and I’ll look forward to exploring opportunities for PRWD to provide additional consultancy and UCD resource for your business. As I mentioned the Manchester based agency we provide these types of services for is Fast Web Media, recent winner at the NMA awards in the Consumer Products and Services category for their work with Coors.
Chris, it was great to finally meet you in person, and it was interesting to compare the challenges faced by Otto Group and Shop Direct Group in attracting the younger, more web savvy shoppers through the likes of your Oli brand. Congratulations on the launch of your new Freemans website also – following my user experience review of House of Fraser which Ian found extremely useful, if time permits I will look at doing a UX review of your new site!
Carol-Ann, it was great to catch up with you and reminisce on our Shop Direct days, and best of luck with your involvement in the re-platforming of the Otto group retailing sites – a necessary evil I’m sure!
Last but not least is Ian himself! Once again Ian it was unfortunate that my train back up north trimmed my evening (don’t mentioned the 1.5 hour delay I ended up with!) but I was intrigued with your explanation of how P-XML is one of your new passions. Oh and not to mention your totally merited trupet blowing (and live demo) for the new viral iPhone game for Carling!
And that’s a wrap. Just seeing the length of this post its probably for the best that I didn’t speak to everyone!
So to all you attendees, feel free to add your comments on how you felt the evening went…
Tags: e-consultancy, event, retailing, User Centered Design, User Experience
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5:37 pm
25th July 2008
Hi Paul – good seeing you last night and thanks for the kind words.
I hadn’t realised there’d been so much work talked about (!) but – in between my mouthsful of the chimichurri beef I would have been talking about attention profiling markup language and more generally (and drunkenly) about ‘the attention economy’. See you at the next one
5:08 pm
27th July 2008
I agree, Paul, it was a great event with really interesting people and conversation. Big thanks to Ian J. for organizing, John for hosting, and Ian W. for the best BBQ I’ve had outside of Texas! That chimichurri beef and the spicy sausage will tide me over ’til my next trip to Austin in August.
In the midst of the shop-talk (Ian, when you assemble so many people passionate about their jobs, asking them not to discuss work is a bit like asking proud parents not to mention their children!) I learned Americans are ruining the European service economy with our excessive tipping and I received some great advice for my upcoming trip to Russia.
Paul–shame we didn’t get a chance to chat more at the event. Would love to meet up the next time you’re in London.
Ian–looking forward to the next JT1 gathering!
8:26 am
28th July 2008
Ian – thanks for clarifying on the attention profiling markup language, my mistake! I’ll let you know when I’m in London again and we can meet up.
Justin – likewise its a shame we didn’t get to chat more, and I’ll certainly give you a call the next time I’m planning a trip down. I’m very interested to find out more on the Bazaarvoice business model and how our own UCDcommerce platform could be a possible partner system.