Please join us for the Philadelphia region's fourth annual Design Slam. Contestants will participate in a fast-paced race to create the best design solution to a "made-up" real-world problem. Awards will be given to the victors!

Date: Friday, January 22nd, 2010

Time: 6:00pm to 8:30pm (We'll have our opening announcements starting at 6pm, and the competition will start promptly at 6:30, so please come early)

Location: Messagefirst - 230 N 2nd Street, Suite 2C, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (under the Ben Franklin Bridge)

Google map: http://tinyurl.com/yd3uyld

Parking Info: http://www.philapark.org/parkinglocator/parking_locator.aspx (Moderately priced parking is available in a garage located directly across 2nd Street from Messagefirst)

What's a "design slam"?

During the meeting, participants will be teamed and introduced to a full-fledged hypothetical project, including appropriate client-side deliverables. They'll then have an opportunity to interview key players on the client's team. The session will conclude with proposal presentations from each of the groups to the "clients" and the assembled audience.

Then the "clients" team will choose a winner. Members of the winning team will receive a plethora of praise from your peers and an award.

What's in it for me?

This is a chance for interested IAs, designers, usability practitioners, developers and marketing professionals to get their hands dirty working side by side with colleagues as they tackle tough business problems in a fun and sometimes crazy environment. Knowledge transfer, technique sharing, and a social atmosphere makes this session stand out from the garden-variety "Lecture-and-PowerPoint" presentation.

Please try to arrive on time. We'll have our opening announcements starting at 6pm, and the client team will introduce the design challenge promptly at 6:30pm.

If you do not want to participate because you won't be able to get to the meeting on time or a have severe case of social phobia, fear not! We would like to have an audience during this session to play the role of users, and help choose the winning team.

This idea is shamelessly stolen (with permission) from the IA Summit's IA Slam. 

For more information about the IA Slam, please visit: http://www.e-reiss.com/Seminars/IA%20Slam%20mini-site.aspx