ARTICLE

  by Laurie Kantner & Kara Coyne,
  UPA 2001 Conference Co-Chairs

If you haven't already received it, you should shortly receive the Call for Participation in next year's UPA Conference. Next year's conference—which marks UPA's Tenth Anniversary—will take place June 25-29, at the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort. The conference's theme is "Usability: A Winning Experience." As we all recognize, usability helps everyone win—users, companies, clients, and usability professionals.

The evaluations from the 2000 conference are in. Those comments will help us make the 2001 event even better. For example, next year's conference should offer a larger number of advanced topics than previous conferences have. If you have a suggestion for an advanced topic, we'd like to hear it!  We'll also be identifying tracks and audience levels in the program; providing speakers' kits and a speaker-ready room; adding a closing plenary at the end of the last day, and making other improvements. We'll continue to provide updates in The Voice.

For those who think of Las Vegas as synonymous with neon, one-armed bandits, and all things tawdry, note that the conference site, the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort is 17 miles from the Vegas strip, on 21 acres of lakefront property. The resort offers lake and mountains views, swimming, sailing, fishing, kayaking, and other activities. The conference venue is 10 miles from the Hoover Dam; Death Valley, Zion National Park, the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon National Park are all within an easy day's drive.