Join UXnet as a Local Ambassador

Would you like to be a local ambassador for UXnet? Excellent! Here are the steps to get you started.

Learn

  1. Read the Local Ambassador FAQ to make sure you are really interested and able to be a Local Ambassador (LA). It can be challenging, but it is worth it. If you are not interested in being a Local Ambassador but just want to stay in touch with LAs (and others interested in UXnet), then join our Facebook group.
  2. Check out the existing locales to figure out if your part of the world is already covered by another Local Ambassador. If there is already one or more LAs for your area, contact them to see how you can help. Also, if there are LAs near you (but in other locales), you may want to contact the neighboring ambassadors to introduce yourself and hear first-hand experiences on what it is like being a Local Ambassador in your part of the world.

Join

  1. Register for an account on our web site. You can use any account name you want (but later we will want you to use your full name for display on the site). You will get an email with an initial password: you may have to check your spam folder to locate it. Next, sign in (you can use the Site admin link in the footer), change your password and add profile information. You can put simple HTML into the “biography” field of your account, so you can include links to your company’s site, your personal blog, and/or contact information.
  2. Contact us if you want to be the Local Ambassador for a new locale. In the message area, tell us what locale you are interested in being the local ambassador for. After you contact us, we will set up a few things on the back end and then you will be able to get started.
  3. After we give you additional permissions for the web site, you will be able to create your first blog entry to announce yourself and welcome people to your locale.
    • You create content by “writing a post”.
    • Title your first post “Welcome to XYZ” (with “XYZ” being your locale) or something similar so that people know this is an introduction to the user experience landscape for this locale.
    • In the body of the post, describe what makes your locale special, what local UX-related groups are active, what general schedule of events are happening, and any other news you may have. Add links to local chapters or other sites by UX groups in your locale. Be sure to include a short description of who you are and what your goals are as the Local Ambassador.
    • Use the “category” section on the right to assign your post to your locale. The list of locales is alphabetical by city. You do not need to check “Locales” or “News” or anything else - just checking your city is enough for this post.
    • That is it - you can ignore the other fields for the time being.
    • You can “save” your post to make draft versions while you are writing it. When you are done, be sure to press the “publish” button. Your post should now be the top entry on the Locales page and your locale should appear on the right of that page. If you notice a typo after publishing, just edit your post.
  4. Sign up for our local ambassador mailing list. You can just enter in your email address and press the “Subscribe” button to get started.
  5. Send an email to the Local Ambassador mailing list, introducing yourself to the other LAs. Include a URL for your locale in the email so it is easy for the other LAs to read what you have posted.

Participate

  1. Take part in the mailing list, where you will learn what other LAs are doing, get ideas for your locale, and collaborate with other UXnet volunteers. There is also a (private) LinkedIn group to help you network with other UXnetters.
  2. About once a month (but this varies a lot by locale), add a blog entry of UX news for your locale, such as previews of upcoming events or reports on past events.
    • The process for creating additional blog postings will be the same as your first “Welcome” post. Select “write a post” / Title it / Add content / Tag it to your locale / Publish it.
  3. Add local events into the calendar as often as needed. Adding events is similar to normal postings, but there are a few additional things to do:
    • For the title of the post, start with the title of the event. Add the actual location of the event in parentheses (this may be slightly different than the name of your locale). For example, for an event in Southfield, Michigan (a suburb of Detroit), put “(Southfield, MI, USA)” at the end of the post title. You would still check “Detroit, MI, USA” as the locale.
    • To get the event to appear in the calendar, you have to specify the time and date. This part of the form is hard to find - it is way down at the bottom and labeled “Event Editor”. You may have to select the “+” to open it up. Press another “+” to add in a date range. When you specify a time and date, the posting will automatically be checked “Calendar” - you do not have to do anything else to get it to appear.
    • We have more calendar guidelines.
  4. If there is a separate web site for the user experience professionals in your locale, then we can use an RSS feed from that site to populate your locale on UXnet.org. Contact us if you want to do this.

Lead

This instructions above will get you started on the UXnet.org part of being a Local Ambassador. You will also want to contact the local groups in your area to look for opportunities for collaboration and cooperation. You will need to take a leadership role in your local UX community, but exactly how you do that will depend on a lot of factors. The Local Ambassador FAQ has some ideas and you can talk with the other Local Ambassadors to hear what has worked for them.

Welcome aboard, and thanks for volunteering your time for UXnet. We look forward to working with you!

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