Head Organizer Noora Ustav: We keep innovating with Refresh
Refresh, the biggest product and UX design conference in Estonia, is taking place in Tartu for the second time on April 11-12, 2024 after making a successful comeback last January. We talked to Noora Ustav, Head Organizer of Refresh 2024, about the upcoming event and more.
What can we expect from Refresh 2024? Who should definitely attend the event?
This year, the Refresh team is bringing together a powerful community once again in Tartu to spark insightful discussions. We have a great lineup of speakers prepared to inspire and share their experiences and best practices to ignite interesting conversations and give insight into alternative perspectives.In addition to the stage program on two stages, we will have fascinating practical and theoretical seminars to give attendees real-life tips and tricks to take with them to their everyday lives. Also, I need to mention our buzzing demo area where attendees can meet with various companies and get to know them better. Lastly, on April 11, the day will end with an afterparty where the networking continues in a vibrant and fun setting.
We encourage professionals, researchers, educators, founders, and enthusiasts passionate about revolutionizing the product and UX design landscape to join us in April. Last year was a great success with 500+ attendees, and we are very excited to bring them all to Tartu again. We are ready to inspire and refresh everyone’s minds after a long, dark Estonian winter!
How will Refresh be different this time?
We were pleased that last year went well, and we are happy that not a lot needed to be changed. However, we took the feedback on board and made slight changes to make this event even better and more enjoyable.One change that can be expected is that this year, we concentrated on product management and UX design in the program.
Front-end topics can be found at our software conference Digit, which will take place this autumn also in Tartu. That enables us to go deeper into each of these topics.
Another change we made is that we are selling conference day and seminar tickets separately. This ensures that everyone interested will get a chance to go and hear about the topics most interesting to them. Make sure to get your conference main day ticket first to get a discount on the seminar tickets.
In general, Refresh will still be a place to connect with the product and design community and gain insight and best practices from the best in the field.
You were involved in event organization already before joining Refresh. How did that experience prepare you for your current role?
My first steps in the event-organizing world started as a volunteer at various hackathons. A few years in, I started organizing hackathons, makeathons, and entrepreneurship programs as a project manager, and that has taken me here today, organizing Refresh.What I have taken from my previous experiences is that I really enjoy organizing events, which for me is more about organizing an experience for the community and creating true value. My experience has given me confidence in what I do – like they say, practice makes perfect, which applies here. I still have a lot to learn, and I’m excited to work with my amazing team to create something great and long-lasting.
What are some of the interesting things you have done in life?
One interesting thing maybe is that I’ve lived in three other countries apart from Estonia – England, Turkey and Sweden. So, I’ve lived abroad for most of my adult life. Also, I used to bake quite a bit during secondary school and earned some pocket money. I still enjoy baking but have kept it more as a hobby.What is your favorite way of recharging?
My favorite way of recharging is a long walk in the woods/bog, enjoying coffee with a good book, or doing something creative like drawing, pottery, etc.The product and UX design conference Refresh will take place on April 11-12, 2024 in Tartu. Find out more about the event at https://refresh.rocks.
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