Empathy is in the Details: Creating Sensitive Content with Kate Kiefer-Lee at An Event Apart Boston

Many of us work on sensitive content types every day, including error messages, alerts, legal content, financial information, and warnings. These messages are meant to help users pay bills and check their account status, to reassure them when things go wrong, and get them back on the path to a successful interaction. Yet many times, without meaning to, we create messages that make a bad situation worse for the people who rely on our websites and applications.

After all, our users are human. They have their own preferences, experiences, senses of humor, and perspectives—and they bring all of that to the table when they interact with our content. We can't see our users, and we don't know what's going on in their lives, so we can't always create experiences with their feelings in mind. Certain topics are likely to make them feel uncomfortable or frustrated. What to do?

In her talk “Touchy Subjects: Creating Content for Sensitive Situations” at An Event Apart Boston 2015, Kate Kiefer Lee will show how to address touchy subjects, anticipate the reader's emotional state, and write from a place of empathy—so users are helped and reassured at even their most difficult moments.

Kate Kiefer Lee is a writer and editor at MailChimp, where she works across departments to manage the company's content, with a focus on voice and tone. To that end, she created Voice & Tone, a guide that teaches MailChimp's contributors how to write with the reader's feelings in mind. Kate has written about web content for publications like A List Apart, Forbes, UX Magazine, and STET, and she speaks at conferences around the world. Before moving to the tech world, Kate was an editor at a music and entertainment magazine.

Kate is just one of twelve extraordinary presenters appearing at An Event Apart Boston 2015. See them all! Following the two-day conference of twelve great sessions comes A Day Apart: Everything You Wanted to Know About Responsive Design…And Less!, led by Brad Frost (Atomic Design). You can register just for the two-day conference, just for A Day Apart, or save $100 when you sign up for all three days. Check the schedule for details, and save an additional $100 if you register now through March 16.