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LOCAL CHAPTERS

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 San Francisco Bay
Chapter Goes Live

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The Bay Area chapter was founded in July 2000 to serve the growing number of usability professionals in the San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley areas. The chapter provides a forum in which usability professionals can help each other understand new tools and methodologies, to network, and enjoy fellowship. The group complements the BayCHI groups established in the area. Meetings are held bi-monthly, so they do not conflict with BayCHI’s usability group meetings.

As many usability professionals are independent contractors (or the only human-factors representative in their company) the Bay Area Chapter of UPA should also help create a sense of community among usability professionals. The chapter also hopes to have two-three social events each year at area venues where usability folk can get to know each other and have fun!


Seven Steps to Starting a UPA Chapter in <your town here>

  1. Contact the UPA office or a member of the UPA Chapters Committee and you will be assigned a chapter sponsor. Your chapter sponsor will send you the chapter guidelines and other information you need to start a local chapter. They will also continue to help you create your chapter bylaws and guide you through the process of getting approval from the UPA Board of directors for chapter status.
  2. Round up three to five volunteers in your area who are interested in starting a local chapter. This is the core team that will help you prepare the constituting meeting. It may also be smart to arrange one or more informal sessions prior to the constituting one, to see if there is enough local interest to start a local chapter, and how many UPA members there are in the region. (You need at least 10 members to petition for chapter status).
  3. Write a tentative plan for future meetings and other chapter activities to present at the constituting meeting.
  4. Create a petition to form a local UPA chapter. Also include the suggested chapter name, chapter boundaries and interim chapter officers. The list of officers includes president, secretary, treasurer (or secretary/treasurer), and additional officers as approved by the chapter.
  5. Find volunteers who will help develop the chapter bylaws in accordance with the suggested guidelines in the UPA Chapter Guidelines, or decide to adopt the template Bylaws for Chapters. Submit the bylaws to the chapter council, chapter sponsor and chapter membership for review.
  6. Organize a constituting meeting with at least 10 people who are, or prepared to become, UPA members and to support the local chapter. The petition should be signed at the meeting (with each name printed or typed next to the signature) by at least 10 members requesting to be recognized as a local chapter of UPA. Have the president sign the charter.
  7. Submit the petition, the chapter charter, proposed chapter bylaws and boundaries to the UPA Chapters Committee and UPA Board of Directors for approval.

To learn more about local chapters please contact:

Martin Rantzer (Martin.Rantzer@swipnet.se) or

Janice James (janice@simplyusable.com).