Munich Day 2 and 3

Slipping up here. We did not get back to the hotel until midnight last night so no blogging.

We did go to a museum yesterday morning. It's about "modern" items, but we focused on the industrial design and architecture sections. And the bookstore.

We did some wandering around the Marienplatz then went back to the hotel to change for the reception. UPA does a nice job with good food and a drink coupon for one drink. We finally left the reception at 9 and headed out to dinner at the Ratskeller. We decided to eat outside and they turned the lights out at 11, but still no pressure to leave. The young waiter did a yeoman's job of dealing with 3 pairs who were not sitting together and a single. They will split the bill, but it's a bit of a hassle. I'm beginning to get tired of the Bavarian food and have a salad.

The first day of the conference is interesting. The keynote speaker strikes me as a bit naive, but she makes some interesting points. The session on stories is fun. I can't find Kath or Elisa, but I do connect with Susan Dray and a couple of others. and we have a nice lunch at the Augustiner - mushroom ravioli.

The afternoon is hectic. The sessions are only 30 minutes and there is only a 5 min. break between sessions. I attend one session on complex forms - I should just buy her book. Another on UX and Agile development and a third on "intentionally biasing users" - in other words, persuasion. The last long session I went to was Pieter Desmet on Designing for Happiness. I had read some of Pieter's work when we were looking at rating some web sites for their emotional impact about 18 months ago. The first half of his talk is about that research, but he has been extending his thinking and research and is actually working on some products that are of interest to me.

We finally round up the group. I call Michael at the hotel and we go back to the place I had lunch for dinner. Much earlier than last night.

Sorry this got lost in the shuffle.