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The following is a guest post from Amrita Chandra. Amrita attended Fluxible 2012 and is returning this year — and she thinks other marketers should, too. Amrita is co-founder of RocketScope, a company that helps startups turn their random acts of marketing into a streamlined operation that generates revenue. She is passionate about art and design, and sits on the board of Open Studio, Canada's leading printmaking centre.

It still surprises me to attend a UX event and find out that I am one of the lone marketers there. In some circles, user experience is seen as something that only designers need to care about, but I think marketers are missing out by not being informed about UX. A user’s experience with your product has a big impact on things that marketers care about — how and when they’ll decide to buy, whether or not they will actually use your product and their likelihood to recommend your product to their friends, family and peers. I would even go as far as to say that marketers need to be thinking about UX when it comes to building marketing communications and campaigns.

I went to Fluxible last year and liked it so much that not only am I going back again this year, but I’m hoping to attract a few more savvy marketers to join me.

If you still need convincing, here’s my take on three things marketers will get out of going to Fluxible:

  1. A better understanding of what UX folks do, and how you can work together with them to gather essential insights about your customers.

  2. Some practical skills in conducting interviews, sketching mockups and analyzing user data.

  3. Ideas for how to consider the user experience when designing marketing programs

The sessions I’m especially interested in as a marketer include:

Design that Drives Action: Bryan Zmijewski of ZURB takes a close look at how to drive our audiences to action with effective choices in visual design, content, and form elements.

Make Culture, Not War: The Secret of Great Teams & Organizations: Teresa Brazen of Cooper inspires us with curious, compelling ways that people from every role within organizations are creating inspired cultures — and how culture impacts design teams in particular.

Sharpie UX: Leah Buley of Intuit builds your skills with the secret weapon every UX practitioner needs in their toolbox: sketching. If the sight of a Sharpie or whiteboard marker gives you sweaty palms, fear no more.

Fluxible is big enough to attract an impressive speaker lineup, yet small enough that it’s easy to meet people. And for folks like me who are based in Toronto, it’s just a short drive away, which is an added bonus.

If you’re a marketer and you are thinking of attending, or still not sure, feel free to Tweet me @amritachandra. Hope to see you there!