Top UX Conferences to attend in 2026

Updated for 2026 — stay ahead of the UX calendar and pick the right event for your growth and networking.

As the UX & product design landscape evolves rapidly — with AI, service design, product-ops and cross-discipline collaboration becoming ever more central — attending a top conference can boost your skills, expand your network, and refresh your mindset. Below are some of the most notable UX / UX-adjacent events planned for 2026. (As always, check the event website for the latest details.)

Top UX Conferences to attend in 2026

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1. prompt:UX Berlin 2026

Dates: 21 January 2026 (conference) + 22 January 2026 (workshop)
Venue: AMANO Grand Central, Berlin, Germany
Focus: This conference is pitched at the intersection of UX and AI (“the Conference dedicated to the intersection between AI and UX Design”) and offers a full-day workshop option. 
Why consider it: If you’re particularly interested in how AI is affecting UX design, this offers early-year inspiration and deep-dive workshop potential.
Link: prompt:UX Berlin 2026 

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2. ACM IUI 2026 (31st Annual Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces)

Dates: 23-26 March 2026 
Venue: Paphos, Cyprus
Description: This conference sits at the intersection of user interfaces, intelligent systems and human-computer interaction. For UX researchers exploring user-interfaces backed by AI, adaptive systems or intelligent UX, this event offers cutting-edge research and design practice insights.
Link: https://iui.acm.org/2026/

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3. ACM CHI 2026

Dates: 13-17 April 2026
Venue: Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB), Barcelona, Spain sigchi.org+1
Description: The premier international conference on human–computer interaction (HCI). A must-attend if you’re doing UX research or want to keep current with HCI theory, methods and academic-industry intersections.
Link: https://chi2026.acm.org/

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4. UX Nordic 2026

Dates: 15-16 April 2026
Venue: Aarhus, Denmark 
Focus: A “deep-dive” UX conference set in Scandinavia, designed for designers and UX professionals who want high quality sessions and workshops rather than broad trade-show style. 
Why consider it: European, focused, compact; useful for folks looking to sharpen UX design craft.
Link: UX Nordic 2026 

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5. UXinsight Festival 2026

Dates: 20-22 April 2026 
Venue: Stadsgehoorzaal, Leiden, Netherlands (hybrid: in-person & online)
Focus: A conference specifically for UX research (“more than a conference – a collaborative lab for UX research”) 
Why consider it: If you focus on UX research, user insights, methods and case-studies, this is ideal.
Link: UXinsight Festival 2026 

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6. UXLx: User Experience Lisbon 2026

Dates: 12-15 May 2026 
Venue: FIL Meeting Centre, Rua do Bojador, Parque das Nações, Lisbon, Portugal
Focus: Europe’s UX conference covering leadership, strategy, hands-on learning. 
Why consider it: Spring timing, great location, strong reputation.
Link: UXLx 2026 

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7. UXDX USA 2026

Dates: 11-13 May 2026
Venue: New York (and Online)
Focus: A conference that “breaks down the barriers between Product, UX, Design and Dev” — good for cross-functional teams. 
Why consider it: If you’re in Product/UX/Dev and looking to collaborate better — this offers that angle.
Link: UXDX USA 2026 

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8. Figma Config 2026

Dates: 23-25 June 2026
Venue: Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, United States (in-person + virtual
Focus: While tool-centric (the Figma ecosystem), this event addresses product design, collaboration and UX practitioners who build products.
Why consider it: If your workflow heavily involves Figma and you want to stay on top of tool & process innovations.
Link: Figma Config 2026

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9. IDC 2026 (Interaction Design and Children)

Dates: 22-25 June 2026
Venue: Brighton, United Kingdom sigchi.org
Description: A specialized HCI conference focused on design, interaction and technology for children. If your UX domain overlaps children/education/inclusive design, this is highly relevant.

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10. HCII 2026 (HCI International)

Dates: 26-31 July 2026
Venue: Montreal Convention Centre, Montreal, Canada hci.international+1
Description: A broad multi-theme HCI conference (with many affiliated tracks such as AI-HCI, VAMR, universal access). Great for practitioners wanting a deep dive into HCI research that influences UX practice.

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11. Future Product Days 2026

Dates: 22-24 September 2026 
Venue: Denmark 
Focus: A large-scale event for product creation (including UX/design) with workshops, strategy, AI, engineering.
Why consider it: Good later-in-year choice, especially if you are involved in product leadership, strategy or cross-discipline domains.
Link: Future Product Days 2026 

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12. India HCI 2026

Dates: TBD
Venue: India
Description: This Indian conference series brings together both academic and practitioner tracks in HCI/UX, spanning topics like accessibility, user modelling, interactive systems and emerging technologies. If you are based in India (or willing to travel), this is a regionally-important forum for UX research and design practice.
Link: TBD

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13. IEEE VR 2026

Dates: 2026 (exact dates to be confirmed)
Venue: Daegu, Korea
Description: The IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality & 3D User Interfaces is a major event for UX professionals working in VR/AR/MR and 3D interface design — bridging technology, interaction design and user experience. If your UX practice involves immersive systems, this is a strong choice.
Link: https://ieeevr.org/2026/

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✅ How to Pick the Right Conference for You

• Define your goal: Are you looking to up-skill (design/UX craft), broaden your network, explore research methods, or connect with product/tech cross-functions?

• Budget & travel: Consider timing, location and cost (Europe vs US, travel vs hybrid/online options).

• Format & size: Some are large scale with thousands, others are smaller, more intimate — decide what works for you.

• Specific focus: Research-centric, tool-centric, or broadly UX/design/product?

• Timing within your year: Early-year boosts vs late-year strategy resets.

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🔍 Final Thoughts

2026 looks packed with high-quality opportunities for UX professionals, whether you’re focused on research, design craft, product strategy, or bridging with development. Mark your calendar early, secure early-bird tickets where available, and consider how each event aligns with your professional goals for the year.

For more UX Conference & events please visit UX Events at UXness. 

Connect with us to partner, promote or list UX events at UXNESS and reach 35K+ UX folks across the globe. Write us at team@uxness.in 

Finnovex Middle East 2025 - Middle East’s Fintech Metamorphosis: Digital, Decentralized & Disruptive

Published on 1 Oct, 2025

Finnovex Middle East 2025

Middle East’s Fintech Metamorphosis: Digital, Decentralized & Disruptive

Date: November 11th–12th, 2025

Location: Dubai, UAE

Website: https://me.finnovex.com/

Exibex is proud to announce the 33rd global edition of Finnovex Middle East, returning on November 11–12, 2025, in Dubai, the innovation capital of the Middle East. Under the theme “Middle East’s Fintech Metamorphosis: Digital, Decentralized & Disruptive,” this leading summit will convene over 300 banking and fintech leaders, policymakers, regulators, and technology innovators to explore the region’s transformative financial journey.

As the Middle East redefines global financial dynamics through AI-powered ecosystems, blockchain, open finance, and decentralized models, Finnovex Middle East 2025 offers a unique platform to unlock the potential of next-gen banking and digital finance. With Dubai at the forefront of fintech innovation, the summit will host dynamic conversations, strategic collaborations, and immersive showcases of cutting-edge solutions driving financial evolution across the region.

Key Thematic Tracks Include:

• Fintech Decentralised: Unlocking Innovation & Inclusion
• Explore how AI, DeFi, and digital banks are empowering real-time, personalized, and inclusive financial services in a decentralized world.
• Intelligent Finance: Building Smart, Agile & Inclusive Banks
• Unpack strategies to embrace AI, cloud-native agility, and customer-centricity to build resilient and future-ready banks.
• Regulatory Innovation & CBDCs
• Delve into how progressive regulators are reimagining monetary policy with CBDCs, innovation hubs, and a rebalanced compliance framework.

Why Attend Finnovex Middle East 2025?

Finnovex Middle East 2025 is not just another fintech conference—it is a holistic experience designed to equip financial leaders with actionable insights, transformational partnerships, and innovation roadmaps tailored to the region’s evolving landscape. From cross-border payments and ESG financing to GenAI in CX and super-app ecosystems, this summit covers the full spectrum of financial innovation.

Finnovex Saudi Arabia 2025 – Post-Show Highlights

Published on 20 Sep 2025

The curtains have just come down on another remarkable edition of Finnovex Saudi Arabia 2025, and  the energy from Riyadh is still reverberating. Over the course of two dynamic days, industry leaders,  innovators, regulators, and disruptors came together to chart the future of banking and financial services  in the Kingdom. 

The summit wasn’t just about sharing ideas – it was about sparking real conversations. From thought- provoking keynotes to interactive panel sessions, delegates immersed themselves in discussions on how  next-gen technologies, regulatory frameworks, and customer-centric innovation are shaping the region’s  financial ecosystem. 

One of the standout moments of the summit was the networking buzz. In just the first few hours,  delegates engaged in over 100 one-on-one meetings, unlocking collaborations and forging new  partnerships that are sure to carry forward the momentum long after the event. 

AI Is Coming for Your Job. Taste Is How You Fight Back !

Published on 20 July 2025 | Author: Bimal Rajappan, (Lead Designer)

The last few years have been transformative and beyond our wildest imagination. ChatGPT broke into the scene and everything changed forever. History will look back and say that was a fork in the road for humanity.

For Designers, it was not very impressive or threatening till we came to the Mid 2025s when Generative AI tools like Loveable, Claude, Figma Make etc are looking as potential threats to the way we design .

As generative AI revolutionizes design workflows — automating tasks, generating infinite variations, and accelerating production — the traditional markers of a good designer are being redefined. Technical skills, hustle, and even creativity are becoming easier to replicate. So what will truly set the next generation of designers apart in this AI-powered landscape?
Not tools. Not talent.

Challenges in Rethinking User Interface Design for Age of AI

Published on 28 June 2025 | Author Avi Singh, Principal Product Designer, Flextract

The history of User Interfaces has seen steady progression of interface patterns. From the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers) paradigm born at Xerox PARC to the touch first mobile UIs ushering in direct manipulation UIs. Every one of the changes has brought in fresh opportunities as well as fresh challenges. With the rise of Generative AI we are entering an era marked by minimalism, prompts, predictions and invisible reasoning. 

Designers are expected to design for building trust, allow learning prompts, understand reasoning and elevate existing workflows. And designers need to do this without the traditional visual interfaces. In this article I explore the important design challenges facing the design professionals and how we can begin to solve them.

Breaking of UX patterns 

Since the early days of GUI development at Xerox PARC in 1979 users have had access to carefully crafted user interface workflows. These GUIs use the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointers) paradigm that provides users control over computer interfaces. Current AI interfaces break this metaphor by presenting users a textbox and mostly empty page. Chat based systems fail to take advantage of the numerous tricks interface designers have created to communicate with users using GUIs.

Can designers think creatively and use any of the traditional patterns along with the new age prompt based user interfaces? Some of the patterns that can supercharge AI interfaces are:

• Use rich dynamically generated user interfaces like cards instead of bullet points.
• Render charts to allow users to comprehend trend information faster.

Finnovex South Africa 2025

Finnovex South Africa 2025 

South Africa's fintech frontier: scaling innovation expanding inclusion 

Date: July 22nd-23rd, 2025
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Website: https://sa.finnovex.com/ 

Johannesburg, South Africa  – Exibex is pleased to announce the upcoming Finnovex South Africa 2025 summit, set to take place on July 22nd-23rd, 2025, at the heart of South Africa’s rapidly evolving financial ecosystem Johannesburg. This premier summit will bring together top industry leaders, innovators, and key stakeholders in the financial services, fintech, and technology sectors.

The Finnovex  South Africa 2025 summit will serve as a crucial platform for discussing  South Africa’s transformation into a digitally-driven financial landscape. As the country sets its sights on  South Africa National Vision 2030, the role of fintech in modernizing financial services, enhancing digital literacy, and driving economic diversification has never been more critical. 

With a focus on shaping the future of  South Africa’s financial ecosystem, the event will delve into key topics such as:

• Fintech Unbound: Disrupting Limits, Driving Inclusion: South Africa is entering a new fintech era—where AI, blockchain, and embedded finance are creating seamless, inclusive services. This session explores the rise of digital-only banks, DeFi, and real-time payments, and how collaboration can scale innovation, navigate regulation, and drive financial access for all.
• Beyond Digital: Smart, Agile & Inclusive Banking: Banking is evolving from digital to intelligent. Discover how AI, agility, and customer-first strategies are powering smarter, faster, and more inclusive financial experiences—ensuring resilience in a rapidly changing world.
• Governance in Action: Paving the Way to a Cashless South Africa: As mobile banking, QR payments, and e-wallets reshape transactions, this session explores how policy, regulation, and cybersecurity are enabling a secure, inclusive shift to a digital payment economy.

Why Attend Finnovex  South Africa 2025?

Finnovex South Africa 2025 is the premier gathering of thought leaders, innovators, regulators, and financial trailblazers shaping the future of financial services across Southern Africa. As digital transformation redefines banking, payments, and financial inclusion, this event offers a powerful platform to stay ahead of the curve.

Whether you're a bank executive, fintech founder, policymaker, or tech provider, Finnovex South Africa is your gateway to fresh ideas, strategic partnerships, and actionable insights that will shape the next decade of financial innovation.

For more information, sponsorship opportunities, and registration details, please visit https://sa.finnovex.com/ 

About Finnovex:

Finnovex is a globally recognized platform committed to driving innovation and transformation within the financial technology sphere. Through its series of conferences and events, Finnovex brings together leading minds, visionaries, and stakeholders to explore and harness the potential of emerging technologies, fostering collaboration and driving industry progress.

Website: www.finnovex.com

Why Conducting Quality UXR is Critical to Business Success

Published on 31 May 2025 | Author Stevie Vanderwiel, Brand Marketing Manager at Dscout

For UX researchers and designers, getting business leaders to understand the value of their work may feel like half the battle. But even research with buy-in can easily become a box to check during the product development process.

Simply conducting research isn’t enough. The quality of those insights is a huge and often overlooked factor for product success.

For example, if you fill a study with 100 participants, use those findings and insights to eventually build and launch a new product, and it turns out that over 50% of those participants weren’t in your target audience (or maybe not even human!)…you’ve just spent a lot of time and money building a product that may be completely irrelevant to your audience.

Plus, now you have to allocate even more time and resources to course correcting and building the right thing.

In short, it pays to do research right the first time.

But what are the financial impacts of cutting corners? What makes research “quality”? And what is preventing companies from conducting quality research every time? At Dscout, we wanted to find out.

The financial impact of low-quality UX research

Our team at Dscout recently ran a study to uncover the financial repercussions of poor or misleading insights. We surveyed ~140 folks across research, design, and product and compiled data from Forrester, PWC, IBM, and more in our full report, The Business Case for Investing in Quality UX Research.

The report digs into four key areas where research quality directly affects the business. To quickly highlight them…

1. Reducing risk

73% of participants in our survey said that low-quality UX research leads to incorrect or misinformed product decisions. Using low-quality insights can lead to low-quality or misaligned products, and the repercussions of launching a product that doesn’t work for your end users directly impact support teams, conversion rates, churn, and more. High-quality UXR can help ensure you’re building products that customers will actually enjoy using.

2. Reducing development costs

87% of participants in our survey said low-quality UX research wastes time and resources on ineffective solutions. Allocating the time and resources to conducting quality UX research may seem costly up front, but failing to do so can cost exponentially more across design, development, marketing, and, of course, research rework.

Finnovex Qatar 2025: Building a Digital-First Financial Future: Fintech’s Role in Qatar’s Vision 2030

 

Finnovex Qatar 2025

Date:​ June 24, 2025

Location: ​Doha, Qatar

Website: https://qa.finnovex.com/ 

Exibex is pleased to announce the upcoming Finnovex Qatar 2025 summit, set to take place on June 24th, 2025, at the heart of Qatar’s rapidly evolving financial ecosystem Doha. This premier summit will bring together top industry leaders, innovators, and key stakeholders in the financial services, fintech, and technology sectors. 

The Finnovex Qatar 2025 summit will serve as a crucial platform for discussing Qatar’s transformation into a digitally-driven financial landscape. As the country sets its sights on Qatar National Vision 2030, the role of fintech in modernizing financial services, enhancing digital literacy, and driving economic diversification has never been more critical.  With a focus on shaping the future of Qatar’s financial ecosystem, the event will delve into key topics such as: 

• Driving Qatar’s Vision 2030 Through Digital Transformation: Explore how fintech solutions are at the heart of Qatar’s national strategy for creating a diversified, knowledge-based economy. Learn how digital-first approaches can help accelerate financial inclusion, enhance government services, and streamline financial operations, all while contributing to a more sustainable future. 
  
  
• Fintech Innovations Shaping the Future of Financial Services: Delve into the cutting-edge fintech trends and innovations that are transforming Qatar’s financial services landscape. From AI-powered banking to blockchain-enabled payments, discover how these technologies are reshaping financial institutions and driving operationalefficiency, cost reduction, and better customer outcomes. 
  
  
• Building a Resilient and Secure Digital Economy: With the rise of digital platforms, cybersecurity and data protection are more critical than ever. Gain insights into the latest strategies for securing digital assets, protecting personal information, and ensuring business continuity in a rapidly changing digital economy.