So much about successful research work comes down to great communication. But, how often do you get the chance to level up this crucial skill?

Playing off the bestseller, 'The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts', watch as Vidhika outlines what she believes are the five key tenets to successful research communication and great stakeholder partnership.

Much of the research we do as UX researchers follows a fairly standard approach. Don't tell the user too much about what you're building so you don't bias them, do low fidelity research before testing engineered prototypes, etc. However, when you're working with expert users, that doesn't work anymore.

Expert users are a type of user that are often highly technical and know way more about your product than you do. To do research with them, there are some key changes you need to make to get the insights you're looking for.

In her talk, watch as Pacha outlines how she modified her research practice to do research with cyber security experts while working at TrendMicro.

Naturally, most of our research skills and efforts are put towards creating better products and services. However, those same skills can be put towards other, equally important initiatives as well.

Taylor Kim and Lisa Madokoro are two researchers who work on employee research, leveraging research methods to create a better and more productive work environment for employees at Shopify.

If you want to do this kind of research, you have to make some changes to your practice. Taylor and Lisa are here to tell us what those are.

Tactical research is important. Is it fun? Sometimes. Would we rather be doing strategic research 99% of the time? Heck yes.

The path to a place where your research function is doing strategic research is murky, but lucky for us, Colette is here to demystify it for us.

Researchers know they add value to the teams they're on. But tracking that value... can be tough. The impact of our work often doesn't show up in easily viewed metrics, but instead influence key decisions to move in one direction or another.

Victoria, Director of UX Research at Verizon, has developed her own approach to help her team track the impact of their work, tying it back directly to key decisions being made by stakeholders. For step-by-step instructions, take a listen to this amazing talk.

There's field research, and then there's field research. Lucky for us, Evelina is here to help us prepare for the latter.

Evelina leads UX at Chai One, an agency that does research and design work with companies in the energy sector. That means much of her research has her doing field research in some truly challenging places, like oil rigs and nuclear reactors.

Watch as Evelina outlines her checklist to prepare for research in the wild.

The role of the UX researcher is evolving. There's less clarity about what it takes to get to the next stage of your research career. What skills am I missing today?

In this talk, Dave outlines the key skills that make up the reserach role, how to map them out, and plan to acquire the ones you need next. It's an evidence-based approach that'll help you find clarity during the murkier stages of your career.

Our work as researchers is more than just a job. For many of us, it feels like a calling, work we were always supposed to be doing.

But, as with everyone, sometimes we lose that feeling. Falling into a rut is easy, and finding your way out can be much harder. In this talk, Satsuko introduces us to the Japanese concept of Ikigai, and outlines how to apply it to our own work to make sure our careers leave us feeling fulfilled.

Beta programs in product development are nothing new. Deploying new software or hardware features, and then talking to users about them, has been around for decades.

But, what if instead of product managers and leaders designing beta programs, we instead took it under our purview as researchers. How would we design these programs differently?

Join Abby, Director of Research at Later.com, to learn more about the magic of research-led betas.

Hardware research is infinitely more difficult to do than software research. You have a physical object to manage, that often has a digital component to it as well, which can break down and is very hard to update. But there's also another key consideration: how your hardware interacts with a diverse physical environment.

Vanessa leads research for iRobot, makers of the Roomba. In her talk, Vanessa outlines how using ethnographic methods was key to the development of the Roomba, and how getting onsite to see different styles of homes helped shape the product.