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Designing tools for speech pathologists and audiologists — that work and augment their workflows and methodologies — is a specialized line of work that Rhoni Rakos tackles every day as a UX Designer for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association To help in these efforts, she's been using a combination of Axure and CrazyEgg to provide data driven prototypes for ASHA's clients. She stopped by the ModevPodcast recently to preview her upcoming ModevCon session on the same topic, and discuss: Why the combination of Axure and CrazyEgg? How designing for a niche audience like speech pathologists and audiologists differs from other UX examples she's seen in mainstream healthcare Challenges and opportunities inherent to designing for these professional groups Catch Rhoni's session at ModevCon Dec on Dec 11 and learn whether a CrazyEgg-Axure cocktail is right for your next mobile design project!

So you've built and published your app. Awesome. Now how do you get it out there? Part of the equation is getting the media to stand up and take notice. Before he started up his consulting firm, Novice No Longer, Dann Berg was a tech journalist for The Verge and other publications. So he has a unique perspective on what it takes to your app noticed by his fellow tech writers. He'll be covering this and providing more insight in his session — A Journalist's Mind: Launching Apps With a Bang, Not a Whimper — coming up at ModevCon Dec 11-12 in Arlington, VA. Spend 30 min with Dann and you'll walk away with  Dann previewed the session and some best practices on our podcast recently. In a nutshell, it's not news that you launched an app. You have to tell your story in a unique way to get noticed among the hundreds of other announcements sitting on a given tech journalist's virtual desk. Dann has some great resources over at Novice No Longer and will give you an extra-special, exclusive primer at ModevCon—that you have to show up to get.  

Robi Ganguly, CEO and Founder of Seattle-based Apptentive, is on a mission to help companies build a better app by helping them solicit feedback from customers from within the app. It's immediate, unfiltered, and an approach that helps customers better respond to customer feedback than the app store or other review sites. Robi is coming to ModevCon to lead a workshop and teach you how to re-think and maximize the Lifetime Value (LTV) of your customers—something that every company with an app floating around on smartphones and tablets should prioritize. He stopped by the Modev podcast to preview his talk and other topics including: Common mistakes companies make when developing an app and best practices to overcome those. The app as a standalone product vs. extension of a brand. In-app opportunities to create moments of delight. LTV propositions of Free vs. Freemium vs. Paid apps Give it a listen and join Robi for is session on Dec 11, as part of the full two days of awesome in Arlington, VA (Dec 11-12) at ModevCon 2014.

With a solid background in print design, UI Designer Margaret Haag, brings a unique perspective to the work she's currenty doing on Gannett's digital platform. She'll be leading a breakout session — Maybe Christopher Columbus was Wrong: The Value of Illustration in Mobile Interface Design — at ModevCon, December 11-12 in Arlington, VA. Margaret was kind enough to join us for the Modev podcast to discuss that and other topics including: Challenges and opportunities in designing for digital vs. print How has developing or a large media property like Gannett has changed her approach to design Flat vs. realism in digital design and UI Preview of the digital projects coming out soon from Gannett UX / UI trends she sees coming in 2015 UI / UX tool recommendations

Pebble has managed to gain a nice toe-hold in the wearables market - from its early beginnings as a $10M Kickstarter project inside the walls at Blackberry, to over 500k Pebble watches in circulation, sporting more than 4k apps.  Thomas Sarlandie leads a development team of 8 for Pebble, and they're tasked with a lot — from building relationships with developers to building Pebble's growing ecosystem of APIs and SDKs.  Pebble's on a mission to be the wearable device from which you control all of the smart devices in your life, and Thomas will be on hand to lead a training session on October 20—to teach you how to Connect Pebble to the World. He stopped by the Modev podcast to preview his talk and tell the Pebble story, including Current best sellers on the Pebble app market Pebble and the future of proximity awareness, BLE, and more Pebble philosophies and approaches to User Experience Resources for developers. This is an awesome opportunity to get face time with Pebble's key expert for developers like you. Join us at Wearables + Things Oct 19-21 to punch your golden ticket.

In this Modev podcast episode, Pete Erickson is joined by Scott Amyx, Founder / CEO of Amyx+McKinsey — a wearable technology strategy and development firm with its eyes on the long view the evolution of the Internet of Things. Scott will be giving the closing keynote he'll be giving at Wearables + Things on October 21, and he stopped by to preview that and chat about how the Internet of Things will eventually disrupt everything, including: The impact of tracking human emotions through wearable sensors  The shift from contextual data to emotion sensing at the core of marketing A long view of the IoT evolution—from sensing "things" to smart "things" to AI The future of innovation through the IoT (Hint: it'll come from anywhere, by anyone) Scott's written extensively on the future of IoT, including recent articles for Wired (Why the Internet of Things Will Disrupt Everything, How to Create the Next Billion Dollar Opportunity in Wearables, IoT), and InformationWeek (Internet of Things Needs Government Support) If each of us is going to be at the center of the IoT revolution, it's probably a good idea to get a road map from someone like Scott who has a clear eye on the future. Join us at Wearables + Things and get a front row seat for one of the great thought leaders of our time.

How is this for a stat: if you counted up all of the smart devices and accessories utilizing the Bluetooth LE chip and technology—and removed all of the smartphones, tablets, phablets, and computers from that mix, you'd still have over a billion devices using BLE.  Think about it. Bluetooth in your car, your fitness tracker, your TV, mobile appcessory, that enhanced fan experience at the ballpark. All BLE. It If the IoT is the next great technology revolution, Bluetooth development might be the gold rush at the center of the movement. And Steve Hegendefer, Director of Developer Programs for Bluetooth, is at the center of it all - helping entrepreneurs make the most of the Bluetooth platforms. Steve in passionate about Bluetooth, to say the least. He stopped by the Modev podcast to preview his W+T talks and the opportunities for businesses in developing Bluetooth-enabled products and service. Give it a listen below. Steve will be giving a keynote AND leading a BLE training session at Wearables + Things, October 19-21. It's an awesome opportunity to learn first hand from Bluetooth's #1 developer advocate. Check out Steve and the other 60+ industry experts confirmed to speak at Wearables + Things, to get you developing for the $300B Internet of Things economy. Use code BILLION to save 30% on your registration at modevwear.com.

Thanks to Apple, Bluetooth, and others, proximity / location aware technologies are showing up everywhere. When we think of iBeacon or similar proximity platforms, many people may immediately think of retail businesses pushing coupons and deals to our phones. Beacons, in fact, have an almost limitless uses. Retail, yes, but they're also enhancing fan experience at sports and entertainment venues. They used to create really cool interactive experiences at museums. They have serious and exciting applications in health, education, as an assistive technology, and much more. David Helms, Chief Product Officer for Radius Networks, knows beacons. Radius has achieved guru status among their peers for their work implementing unique Beacon solutions for businesses. David is giving a 60-minute, in-depth iBeacon training on October 21 at Wearables + Things and stopped by the Modev podcast to chat about Beacon futures and how the technology huge opportunity for developers. Give our chat a listen and come join David at Wearables + Things for expert Beacons training. He'll fill your brain in his worskhop and would love to talk with you outside of the session room. Save 20% on your registration with code DCTECH at modevwear.com.

As Editor in Chief for Digital Trends and a tech professional with nearly two decades of experience, Jeremy Kaplan makes a living out of staying ahead of the trends The intersection between wearables and healthcare is ripe with opportunity for the big tech players and disruptive startups alike. Jeremy will be moderating a 40-minute panel—The Future of Wearable and Digital Health—on Day 1 of our Wearables + Things conference Oct 20. The panel also features Caroline Pugh (CEO / Founder, virtualU), Kabir Kasargod (Director of Business Development, Qualcomm Life), and Dr. Yan Chow (Chief Innovation Officer, Longview Technologies, and formerly the same for Kaiser Permanente). Jeremy stopped by the Modev Podcast to preview what he has cooking for the panel and chat about other related topics, including: New and emerging wearable technologies, from the Fitbits to the more sophisticated sensors we're seing in devices from Basis and Atlas Wearables. Why consumers don't stick with their wearable tracker The role of wearables in fostering a better patient-provider relationship between patient and provider Opportunities for developers in wearable tech (Hint: There is A LOT) Potential impact of wearables in developing nations. The wearables data exhaust - what do we do about it? How much tracker data is accurate and believable?  BTW - if you haven't seen it, Jeremy just interviewed Mashery Founder / CEO Oren Michels. The article, with audio podcast is available here. Great read and listen well worth your time. Oren will also be keynoting at Wearables + Things. Check out the program and lineup of 60+ speakers, including Nike, Adidas, Google, Bluetooth, Intel, Sony, and more at modevwear.com. Save 20% on your seat with code DT14.

Peter Li, Founder / CEO of Atlas Wearables (http://atlaswearables.com) stopped by the Modev Podcast to preview his upcoming mainstage talk happening at our Wearables + Things Conference October 19-21 at the Artisphere in Arlington, VA. Peter has a deep background in biomedical research and is a long time fitness junkie, so the leap from the medical community to create a next-gen fitness app to rival the industry heavy Peter thinks there's a reason why many people try one fitness tracker or another and quickly abandon them—and it's all in making meaningful use of our personal data to build a better us. In this discussion, Peter chats with Modev General Manager, Jaimey Walking Bear on topics including: Peter's background and the Atlas Wearables story Peter's take on the wearables and fitness tracker markets - now and into the future The state of digital health and wearables What to do about the wearables / IoT data exhaust Peter's hitting our mainstage on Day Two of Wearables + Things to give the talk Harnessing Data for Smarter, Valuable Wearable Experiences—joining 55+ other experts from the Wearables and IoT spaces for two days of in-depth talks and training—plus a pre-conference hackathon, Wearables Fashion Show, product demos, Google-hosted reception, and more. Check out the full program and speaker list at http://modevwear.com and register today. Save 20% on your seat with code WTPOD14.

It's a pleasure to introduce you to our ModevUX Program Chairs, Alexis Finch and Glennette Clark. If you're intrigued or enthused by this year's speaker list and program—these two are the first ones you want to thank. It's been a blessing to have two seasoned design / UX professionals helping to shape our program this year. You might know Alexis as @agentFin around the interwebs. She's a West Coast based UX rock star and avid sketchnoter. And if you are involved with UX or design in / around the DC area, you probably know Glennette's name. She's also the Founder of UX camp and MobileUXCamp in DC. We had a chance to chat with them this week and (among other things) preview the ModevUX topics and speakers each of them are especially excited about. Give it a listen. Hopefully it'll inspire you to join us onsite, or help you plan your personal schedule. Hope to see you May 19-20! Save 25% on your seat with code MODEV.  

Cory Hudson is a seasoned dude. He has been a Sr. Creative Director for AOL for the past 8 years, managing the company's digital advertising platforms and development. He also serves as the HTML5 Chair of the IAB's Digital Advertising Initative. In his time at AOL, Cory's seen best practices and standards within the digitial ad landscape change quite a bit. While Flash used to be the standard-bearer for animations used in digital ads, the shift has now been toward using a cocktail of HTML5, Javascript, and other open web technologies. Cory's a strong and knowledgable advocate for cross-platform technologies, which he'll dive into in his ModevUX session on May 19 — Performance is Everything: Creating Slick & Smart HTML5 Animations. We caught up with Cory to preview his session and talk about a few other tidbits, including: Weathering the transition from Flash as the previous backbone to digital advertising to open web technologies The evolution of designers into "hybrid coders"  Cory's tried and true bag of web performance pptimization tips The web vs. native and his experience rebuilding Nike apps with HTML5, jQuery, and other open web tools It's hard to believe he'll pack in as much content into his upcoming 30 minute session at ModevUX, but you'll have to sit in on his session to find out. Join us at the Hilton Tysons Corner in McLean, VA May 19-20! Save 25% on your seat with code MODEV.  

We are deep in talented speakers at ModevUX this year, and Brandon Harris—Sr. UX Designer for Personify—is no exception. Brandon has a lengthy resume of leading projects for some heavy industry hitters—including USA Today, Microsoft, the YMCA, and the NY Jets and Giants NFL teams. Brandon's leading a 30 minute session on May 19 at ModevUX—The Art of the First Date: Designing for New Users—and stopped by to preview that and talk about some other tidbits, including: The role of the "fixer" in UX The art of moving large nonprofit and enterprise organizations toward adopting UX principles and methodologies Best practices for bridging the gap between the qualitative and quantitative tribes in your organization Future focus on the union of UX and brand Come see us at ModevUX in McLean, VA May 19-20 and use code MODEV at registration to save 25% on your seat!  

In this latest ModevUX program preview, we were grateful to have Mariana Lopez—UX Lead for AgilityFeat—join us to preview her upcoming workshop happening on May 19: Design in the 4th Dimension: Interaction Design for Real Time Applications   AgilityFeat—a full stack web and mobile app development firm—is doing some awesome, awesome work in the area of real-time collaborative apps. Think apps that allow you to create music or play games collaboratively, in real time.  Attend Mariana's session at ModevUX, and you'll get a grat insider's look at how to best go about building a collaborative app of your own! We chatted about that, and more on the podcast, including: Best practices for transitioning from web to mobile in a real-time collaborative environment Best practices for incorporating real time data and communications into collaborative environment apps This session is good for designers, devs, and product managers alike, and is a really unique addition to our ModevUX program this year. Mariana has deep knowledge of this real-time application space and a ton of passion for the subject—and will be around all conference to chat with you about it! Join us May 19-20 in DC for this year's ModevUX and save 20% on your seat with code MODEV. PS - fun fact - Mariana is often a visiting Professor of Interaction Design at Costa Rica's Universidad Veritas and Universidad de Costa Rica. We'll be working with her soon to bring some thoughts and writings about cross-cultural perspective in mobile UX to the Modev blog and podcast soon!    

3Pillar Global - an awesome DC firm that specializes in end-to-end product lifecycle and software development - is also a good friend of Modev, recently rocking a pair of talks for us back in December, around their involvement in building PBS's online video platform. They're back for more at ModevUX on May 19, and we were grateful to have Jessica Hall (Director of Innovate Practice) and Erik Isaksen (Sr. UX Engineer) join the Modev podcast to preview a 60 minute session they'll be leading - Prototyping for Business Outcomes. This session will be a great hands-on, interactive crash course on product development, lean and agile, and provide you with SUPER valuable takeaways you can apply to your own business right away. What's more, they stuck around to chat a bit about the future of the mobile devs and design, including: Breaking down the boundaries of mobile UX and design through standardized technologies The future of cross platform dev technologies vs. native Convincing a client to adopt (or readopt) a mobile first attitude using Lean and Agile methodologies AngularJS 2.0 This is a great holistic session for anyone in your company banging away on your latest software product rollout or optimization.  Join us May 19-20 in DC and be sure to catch Erik and Jessica's session! Save 20% on your seat with code MODEV at http://modevux.com  

Mariya Bouraima, Founder / CEO of Aveya Creative in Washington, D.C. loves entrepreneurs. Her creative agency works almost exclusively with helping get startups' and entrepreneurs' ideas off the ground. You can tell within a few moments of talking to Mariya, how much enthusiasm she has for this niche of the branding and UX spectrum. Mariya's joining us at ModevUX May 19-20 to lead a workshop—Brand [U]X: Building a Self Promoting Product on Day 1 of the conference. She was awesome enough to join us in this latest edition of the Modev podcast, to preview her session, talk about what it's like to work so closely with the startup community, and share some branding and experience tips and practices, including: How to get people to fall in love with your brand in the fast moving, crowded startup community How to provide a genuine user experience and what the heck we mean by avoiding 'over-newisizing' your product Easy testing and optimization tips you can put to use today Differentiating between who will have the best use of your product vs. who you think you want to be selling to Principles for building a great, creative entrepreneurial team If you're a startup or entrepreneur looking to fine tune your product strategy, Mariya's session is not to be missed! Join us May 19-20 at the Hilton Tysons Corner in McLean, VA - just a stone's throw from Downtown D.C. Check out the full program and list of 50+ speakers, and reserve your seat at http://modevux.com. Save 20% extra with code MODEV.  

  Wren Lanier is a design pro with more than 15 years' experience working in and around the web and mobile space. She's currently with Neo, a global consultancy firm that works directly with startups and entrepreneurs, often using Lean / Agile methodologies to help entrepre Wren's giving a mainstage talk at ModevUX on May 20 about Designing for the Z-Axis —that is, how we address and re-think design from a 3-dimensional point of view of user to screen interaction and interfaces of information. She recently published this article on A List Apart about the Z-Axis. Give it a read! Wren chatted with us about her upcoming talk, as well as: The 'preciousness of ideas' in startups and entrepreneurs Agile teams and Build-Measure-Learn as a mirror for good Haves vs. Have Nots within design teams and providing more designers within the opportunity to design for mobile Give it a listen and let us know what you think at hello@gomodev.com. And come hear Wren speak on May 20 at ModevUX in McLean, VA. Check out the program at http://modevux.com and save 20% on your registration with code MODEV.    

It's always awesome to get to chat with Josh Clark.  You might know him from his top selling book, Tapworthy, but Josh is also a veteran lecturer and the driving force behind Global Moxie—a creative agency working with some of today's biggest industry innovators. Josh stopped by the Modev podcast for a great chat—that started out about his two upcoming talks happening at ModevUX May 19-20, but quickly turned into a great conversation about the Internet of Things and more, including: Josh's work redesigning for media giants like Time, AOL, eBay, Entertainment Weekly, and TechCrunch What we mean by passive vs. intentional interaction in design How we eventually, more intuitively manipulate smart objects from a distance (HINT: it's about the object, not simply bolting on technology) Who some of the leaders are in the digital-meets-physical revolution The ongoing evolution of device-to-device technologies, designing for good, and privacy concerns What we mean by 'software is political.' Give it a listen and let us know what you think! You can get us anytime at hello@gomodev.com Josh will be leading a 3-hour workshop - Designing for Touch - on May 19 at ModevUX and will be back on May 20 to deliver our closing keynote. Join us at the Hilton Tysons Corner in McLean, VA! Save 20% on your registration with code MODEV.

We are lucky enough to lure Chicago's own Carolyn Chandler away from the Windy City to speak at ModevUX next month in D.C. Carolyn is heads up the UX team at Manifest Digital, is an author of two successful UX design books (A Project Guide to UX Design; Adventures in Experience Design), and has a 15 year legacy of teaching and expertise in user experience design. Carolyn stopped by the Modev podcast for a short chat, to preview her upcoming 3-hour ModevUX workshop happening on May 19, and other topics including: Being named to Crain's 'Top Tech 50' list in Chicago Why more businesses are seeing user experience as a necessary, horizontal core competency The importance of incorporating unexpected 'elements of delight' into  The art of urning users' personal behaviors on mobile into moments of delight that build trust Carolyn's workshop, which she'll co-present with Brian Henkel, Associate Director of UX at Manifest. Dive right in with Carolyn and Brian on May 19 and get ready for a fun, interactive 3-hour workshop, including real-time group exercises and analysis of your real-world projects. Come be part of the conversation. What's your take on best practices for creating moments of delight in our mobile experiences - that build trust with our customers and communities?

In our latest preview of the ModevUX 2014 program, Cate Huston—Software Engineer extraordinare for Google—joined us from across the pond in home in London to chat for a little while, includig Learning to be enterprising and creative in her pre-Google developer days Teaching in Shanghai & Hong Kong, being in China when the government shut down internet access from the West, and what it takes to visit North Korea Cate's views on three important trends emerging in mobile user experiences What we mean by 'distractedly intimate' when it comes to designing for mobile vs. web Cate will be diving into this last point in her talk happening on May 20 at ModevUX—'Distractedly Intimate: Your Users on Mobile' Later that day, Cate will lend her expert opinions to an awesome panel discussion we have planned - also featuring rock stars from Salesforce, AT&T, Home Shopping Network, and Etsy. Cate joins more than 45 industry experts taking the stage at ModevUX, May 19-20 in McLean, VA. Hope you can join us! Save 20% on your seat with code MODEV.