[Sigia-l] Charlotte IA Cocktail Hour TONIGHT

[Samantha Bailey]

Hi folks,

A reminder that the November meeting of the Charlotte (& Beyond) IA/UE
Cocktail Hour is tonight.

What: the "serious" meeting (as opposed to the "schmoozing" meeting)
When: Wednesday, November 13, 2002  7 pm - 9 pm
Where: Vialogix 119 East 8th Street, Charlotte NC 28202 (119 East 8th
Street) Note: BYOB
Discussion topic: Maintaining sanity & advancing your IA/UE career in a
down-economy
Contact info: Samantha Bailey, samantha at baileysorts.com, 704.715.3759 (day)

We're in an emerging, "niche" discipline in an post-bubble industry during a
down-economy-most of us have felt the squeeze, whether via lay-offs, hiring
freezes, compressed budgets or the general malaise that accompanies gloomy
predictions month after month. Simultaneously, there's a lot of agreement
that we're tired of moping, hearing doom & gloom proclamations and miss the
energy and enthusiasm we had for the field before the bubble burst. This
session will be devoted to:
*Re-energizing & reminding ourselves why we're in the field and why it's a
great place to be &
*Strategizing ways to foster learning in the slow-periods and, conversely,
stay sane when resource restrictions leave you over-worked.

We've adopted an "every other month" approach and will now meet one month
for a purely shmoozy/networking cocktail hour in a local bar/restaurant and
the next for a more focused exploration of issues facing the IA/UE fields in
an office or conference room setting. This month is our focused discussion
and Vialogix in Charlotte has generously offered to host us.
http://www.vialogix.com/

(As always, advanced preparation is *not* required.)

Please pass this message along to anyone you know in the area who is
interested in and/or practicing information architecture, interaction design
or user-centered web design.

We now have a yahoo group:
Listserv: ncia at yahoogroups.com
Site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ncia
To Join: ncia-subscribe at yahoogroups.com (note: this is a low-traffic list)



Samantha Bailey
samantha at baileysorts.com | http://baileysorts.com

"Do you know what that trick is? Magicians would call it the redirection.
A theologian would note that it parallels a theme found in all religions:
the paradox of turning away from the goal to achieve the goal."
-Karl Fast