1. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
www.ctupa.org
NEWSLETTER
Our February Meeting 2009
A One-hour crash course to BOOST your effectiveness & success by Membership Drive!
instantly CONNECTING with a# kinds of people. We have great news for our
members! We have made paying
your yearly dues simple and
painless (i.e. now you have no
excuses). Our Connecticut
Chapter now has a PayPal
“It’s easy to communicate with
account, and all you have to do to
people who think like you; those remit your 2009 dues is go to
who don’t represent the challenge. PayPal and email $25.00 ($10.00
for students) to
Learn to communicate effectively
ctusability@gmail.com. What
with all kinds of people – even those could be easier? If you're not
very different from you – and familiar with this method of
sending money (I certainly
managing & influencing will be a
wasn't) all the assistance you
snap.”
might need is right on the PayPal
site.
The next Chapter meeting will A heightened awareness of the
be held on Wednesday, February 25, differences among people, and By the way, if you are not
2009 at Synapse Group in Stamford, exactly how to move them toward familiar with PayPal, please note
CT. This technique is invaluable yes with small adjustments to your you don’t even need a PayPal
during two key phases of user communication style. account to use their service. You
experience design. For example, can still pay your dues right from
• Clues for SpeedReading – how
when developing personas - the PayPal web site by using your
to quickly understand people’s values
understanding what personality types Visa, Master Card, Discover or
and motivations, and preferred
of the user you interview and profile American Express. Be assured
communication styles.
ensures that you understand the that the transaction is secure -
• Tips for SpeedReaching –
“emotional drives” and “motivations”. PayPal has a spotless reputation
specific advise on how to
for protecting customer data and
Even more exciting, during 1:1 communicate successfully with ALL
employing the very strongest
usability testing cycles, types of people.
encryption and data transmission
SpeedReadingPeople ensuring test
• A one-page desk reference tool technology.
facilitators understand how to
for instantly employing
extract the most compelling - Paul Linton
SpeedReading & SpeedReaching
information from the users during Treasurer, CT UPA
skills with prospects, clients and
“think aloud protocol”. paul.linton@pb.com
colleagues.
SpeedReading People will deliver
the following in this mini-workshop:
http://www.ctupa.org
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2. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
February Meeting location:
Synapse Group, 225 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT.
As is our custom, light refreshments will be available at 6:30, and
informal networking will ensue until the meeting commences at 7:00.
http://www.synapsegroupinc.com/
Upcoming Meeting: Mad*Pow!
Ride Share Program
In 2009, we are going to
We are please to announce that Mad*Pow, a experience design agency be reaching out to our growing
will be presenting at our March meeting -- which will be hosted at The membership for more
Hartford will be in Hartford, CT on their main campus. Please mark participation. One thought is
your calendars! We are working out the details of the Mad*Pow to “ride share” to our monthly
presentation -- but expect it to be an amazing evening. Mad*Pow has meetings. It is a great way to
emerged as one of the most exciting experience design firms in the meet fellow usability
country -- with major Fortune 500 clients. professionals -- and cut down
on the expense of traveling to
a chapter meeting.
If you are interested in
learning more about the
program -- please send me a
note, or introduce yourself to
me at the next meeting.
- Herb Wexler,
Vice President CT UPA
herbwexler@optonline.net
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www.madpow.com

3. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
FEBRUARY 16, 2009
INTERFACE TOOL TIPS...
Zoho – A boon to Zmall Ofices
Home Ofices
The future of applications is online delivery and
access. Zoho, is a major player in this space but there
are many other players in this arena including
Coghead, DabbleDB, QuickBase (Intuit), WebOffice
(WebEx). To date, Zoho has
launched 19 different
applications — from word
processing and spreadsheets
to CRM, email, Wikis and
databases. They reached the
1 million users mark in
August of 2008. I chose
Zoho for three reasons-the
number of applications
available, the ease of use of
the individual applications
and I think Zoho will still be
around in a few years.
Personally I spend most
of my time with Zoho
Creator. This is their
database application builder.
I have completed
applications for companies in Great Britain, Canada, The target market for Zoho is small businesses
North Carolina, Texas and Connecticut-all from the and most of the applications are free until you
comfort of my home office. reach a set number of users. Completed
applications can easily be incorporated into existing
The time to build an application is greatly
web sites.
reduced partly because the tools are easy to use but
more importantly communication barriers between The screen shot above shows the applications
the developer and the application owner are reduced. that Zoho offers. As you can see they cover all of
As soon as the programmer makes a change it is the information needs of a small office. You can
immediately available to the user. find more information at www.ZOHO.com or
contact me.
This enhanced communication improves the
usability of the application.
- Herb Wexler,
Vice President CT UPA
herbwexler@optonline.net
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