Los Angeles
August 18-21, 2024
Join the premier international conference on ethnography in business & organizations. Learn More
A community of researchers, designers, creators, and innovators.
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Venue
Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center
We’re thrilled to partner with ID—a global pioneer in systems- and human-centered design. Learn about our EPIC2023 venues and re-imagine the neighborhoods of Chicago through the lens of friction.
EPIC People
“The challenges facing our organizations call for innovation rooted in deep cultural understanding of the people we serve. EPIC is the conference that has helped me the most in learning about the approaches, methods, and frameworks to achieve that understanding.”
“Human-centered, systems-based problem solving for global challenges? Yes, please and thank you! My first EPIC conference and I think I have found my people. So much inspiring and thought-provoking work.”
“Always insightful, immediately applicable, and delightfully provocative, EPIC gives us the knowledge and networks we need to be strong voices for people most affected by future technology.”
More from EPIC
Year-Round Events
Join us for talks, courses, and other learning and networking events all year.
Articles & Video
Our library is a goldmine of leading expertise. Articles are free to read, download, and share.
Job Board
Permanent and contract opportunities posted by hiring managers looking for ethnographic expertise
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Conference Chairs
Marta Cuciurean-Zapan is a design researcher and Senior Director based in IDEO’s Chicago studio. She’s a six-time EPIC presenter and facilitator since 2014. As a co-lead of Research and Insights at IDEO in North America, she is focused on building innovative research approaches, futures perspectives, and the intersection of content, belonging, and culture in teamwork. Marta brings this lens across industries, including mobility and financial services. Her previous work includes user experience at Uptake, pioneering an industrial analytics platform, and Conifer Research. Marta also teaches human centered research and design at DePaul University. She has an MA in Cultural Anthropology from Temple University and a BA in Anthropology and Art Theory and Practice from Northwestern University. She enjoys hanging out, arts and crafts with her daughter, and running slowly through Chicago’s city streets and parks.
Evan Hanover is an anthropologist and Director at Conifer Research in Chicago. At Conifer, he is passionate about his teams bringing keen anthropological and semiotic lenses to their work. He has done this for clients on topics ranging from healthcare to boating to innovation ethics. He has been an EPIC regular since 2014—presenting, serving on the Pecha Kucha and Tutorials Committees, and occasionally just attending as a civilian. Evan has degrees in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and Cornell University and continues to be surprised and delighted daily that he is using them. In his less ethnographic moments, he tries to make his family laugh, does production photography for several Chicago storefront theaters, and practices the art of soup making.
Panel Members
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Overview
Tuesday October 4, 11–12:00 pm US Pacific Time / 8–9:00 pm CET
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Los Angeles
Chicago’s sensational skyline and cultural institutions, its river that famously was engineered to run backwards, and its iconic elevated trains are recognized around the world. But the lifeblood of the city flows from its neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have nurtured diverse people, social movements, economic eras, and arts such as Chicago blues, slam poetry, improv, storefront theater, and literature.
Our EPIC2023 home at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is Bronzeville, the center of Chicago’s African-American history on the city’s South Side. During the Great Migration, African Americans left the segregated American South for Chicago. But conditions in Chicago were still brutally segregated, and Bronzeville residents built a ‘Black Metropolis’: “a city within a city that provided all of the essentials for day-to-day living and put Black Chicago on the map. Commerce flourished, jobs were abundant, and innovations in music, literature, theater and beyond attracted people from across Chicago and defined America. They gave rise to a Black Arts Movement, created gospel and electrified blues, built hundreds of businesses, and created a political base that eventually would give birth to the nation’s first Black president.”
Chicago’s vibrant contemporary cultural scene was born of fundamental frictions. There have been betrayal, slaughter and removal of the Indigenous nations; wretched working conditions that led to the Haymarket Riots and the meat-packing industry exposé The Jungle; the notorious racism and segregation which continue to be a source of poverty and inequity; and the endemic and audacious political corruption that is often associated with our Windy City epithet.
Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center
Main Event August 18-21
Chicago’s sensational skyline and cultural institutions, its river that famously was engineered to run backwards, and its iconic elevated trains are recognized around the world. But the lifeblood of the city flows from its neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have nurtured diverse people, social movements, economic eras, and arts such as Chicago blues, slam poetry, improv, storefront theater, and literature.
Our EPIC2023 home at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is Bronzeville, the center of Chicago’s African-American history on the city’s South Side. During the Great Migration, African Americans left the segregated American South for Chicago. But conditions in Chicago were still brutally segregated, and Bronzeville residents built a ‘Black Metropolis’: “a city within a city that provided all of the essentials for day-to-day living and put Black Chicago on the map. Commerce flourished, jobs were abundant, and innovations in music, literature, theater and beyond attracted people from across Chicago and defined America. They gave rise to a Black Arts Movement, created gospel and electrified blues, built hundreds of businesses, and created a political base that eventually would give birth to the nation’s first Black president.”
Chicago’s vibrant contemporary cultural scene was born of fundamental frictions. There have been betrayal, slaughter and removal of the Indigenous nations; wretched working conditions that led to the Haymarket Riots and the meat-packing industry exposé The Jungle; the notorious racism and segregation which continue to be a source of poverty and inequity; and the endemic and audacious political corruption that is often associated with our Windy City epithet.
Chicago Cultural Center
Welcome Reception: Sunday, Oct 22
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Museum of Science & Industry
Conference Dinner, Tuesday, Oct. 24, $90
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Regular
Discounted*
Student**
Membership
If you’re not already an EPIC Member, you will purchase membership prior to conference registration.
$150
$150
$150
Main Program (Los Angeles)
Ticket Includes:
- Learning & Networking Week (online; tutorial fees extra)
- Main Program (Los Angeles)
- Welcome Reception, coffees, lunches
$950
$700
$300
Virtual Participation:
EPIC Members can participate in Learning & Networking Week and access a livestream from Los Angeles for FREE!
Free for EPIC Members
Free for EPIC Members
Free for EPIC Members
Conference Add-Ons
Tutorials
Learn from EPIC community experts during Learning & Networking Week. Price is per tutorial in addition to your registration fee.
$100
$100
$100
Conference Dinner
Only available for full registration.
$90
$90
$90
Sunday, Oct 22
8:30–9:00
Coffee (Kaplan)
_
9:00–12:30
Graduate Colloquium (Kaplan)
Workshops (Kaplan)
_
12:00–1:00
Lunch (Kaplan)
_
1:00–4:00
Panels (Hermann Hall)
_
5:00–7:30
Welcome Reception:
Chicago Cultural Center
Monday, Oct 23
8:30–9:00
Coffee
_
9:00–9:30
EPIC2023 Welcome & Kickoff
_
9:30–10:30
Keynote
_
11:00–12:30
Thematic Sessions
_
12:30–2:00
Lunch and Networking
_
2:00–5:30
Thematic Sessions
Tuesday, Oct 24
8:30–9:00
Coffee
_
9:00–9:30
EPIC Board Presentation
_
9:30–10:30
Keynote
_
11:00–12:30
Thematic Sessions
_
12:30–2:00
Lunch & Networking
_
2:00–3:30
Thematic Sessions
_
4:00–5:00
Panel
_
6:00–10:00
Conference Dinner: Museum of Science & Industry
Separate ticket required. Buses leave from Hermann Hall at 5:15!
Wednesday, Oct 25
8:30–9:00
Coffee
_
9:00–9:30
Fireside Chat
_
9:30–10:30
Keynote
_
11:00–12:00
Town Halls
_
12:00–12:30
EPIC2024: The Big Reveal!
Learning + Networking Week
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Tutorial Overview
Location: Online
Fee: $100 USD for registered conference attendees
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How to Register
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Price: Tickets are $100 USD for each tutorial
Class size: Maximum 20 participants
Date: Monday, Oct. 3, 9am–12pm Pacific | 6–9pm CEST
Location: Online
Questions? Contact registration@epicpeople.org
Sponsorship Opportunities
Organizations sponsoring EPIC have special opportunities to demonstrate leadership, showcase capabilities and brands, recruit and network. For more information about sponsoring EPIC2023, please contact us to discuss opportunities for your organization: sponsorship@epicpeople.org
“EPIC is a strategic asset for our business because it offers us a leading community of human-centered business thinkers to tap into and provides a wide range of learning experiences for our people.”
Platinum
Overview
Location: Online
Fee: $100 USD for registered conference attendees
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Overview
Tuesday October 4, 11–12:00 pm US Pacific Time / 8–9:00 pm CET
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How to Register
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Price: Tickets are $100 USD for each tutorial
Class size: Maximum 20 participants
Date: Monday, Oct. 3, 9am–12pm Pacific | 6–9pm CEST
Location: Online
Questions? Contact registration@epicpeople.org
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Activating Research Insights for Business Impact
Learn techniques for engaging business stakeholders and design a workshop to run with product managers, designers or engineers to activate your current research project.
Beyond “It’s Complex”: How to Understand and Analyze Systems
Learn the essentials of systems thinking and how to apply it, from project formulation through research design, data collection, analysis, sensemaking, informing strategic priorities, and making tactical recommendations.
Cultural Empathy Mapping: An Ethnographic Tool for Working Strategically in Teams and Organizations
Learn how to decode unconscious behaviors and rituals in teams and organizations, and create frameworks to address problems, align teams, and drive strategic change.
Inclusive Research Techniques: Learning with Disabled Users to Create Accessible Designs
Learn how to engage research participants with disabilities and translate your research data into inclusive insights that can drive empathy, change and inclusion in your organization.
Product Thinking for Ethnographers
Learn about the mindset and practice of product management, and methods for engaging with product managers so you can extend the impact and influence of ethnographic insights.
Storytelling for Impact
Learn techniques and strategies to transform research findings into compelling stories that capture attention, shape perspectives, and leave audiences wanting more.
Thinking & Communicating with Visual Frameworks
Learn how to interpret, create, and apply visual frameworks to strengthen insights and communicate findings across functions and disciplines.
Regular
Discounted*
Student**
In-Person, Los Angeles
Membership
If you’re not already a member, the first step in registration will be to become one. Membership includes:
- Learning & Networking Week
- Main Program livestream
- Read about more benefits here
$150
$150
$150
Conference Ticket
Before May 1
$1100
$750
$300
After May 1
Includes:
- Main Program in Los Angeles
- Reception, lunches
$1300
$850
$300
Add-Ons
Tutorials (online)
Learn from EPIC community experts during Learning & Networking Week.
$150 each
$100 each
$100 each
Salons
On-site in Los Angeles.
free
free
free
Conference Dinner
$90
$90
$90
Virtual Participation
Membership
If you’re not already a member, the first step in registration will be to become one. Membership includes:
- Learning & Networking Week
- Main Program livestream
- Read about more benefits here
$150
$150
$150
Add-On
Tutorials (online)
Learn from EPIC community experts during Learning & Networking Week.
$150 each
$100 each
$100 each
Activating Research Insights for Business Impact
Learn techniques for engaging business stakeholders and design a workshop to run with product managers, designers or engineers to activate your current research project.
Beyond “It’s Complex”: How to Understand and Analyze Systems
Learn the essentials of systems thinking and how to apply it, from project formulation through research design, data collection, analysis, sensemaking, informing strategic priorities, and making tactical recommendations.
Cultural Empathy Mapping: An Ethnographic Tool for Working Strategically in Teams and Organizations
Learn how to decode unconscious behaviors and rituals in teams and organizations, and create frameworks to address problems, align teams, and drive strategic change.
Inclusive Research Techniques: Learning with Disabled Users to Create Accessible Designs
Learn how to engage research participants with disabilities and translate your research data into inclusive insights that can drive empathy, change and inclusion in your organization.
Product Thinking for Ethnographers
Learn about the mindset and practice of product management, and methods for engaging with product managers so you can extend the impact and influence of ethnographic insights.
Storytelling for Impact
Learn techniques and strategies to transform research findings into compelling stories that capture attention, shape perspectives, and leave audiences wanting more.
Thinking & Communicating with Visual Frameworks
Learn how to interpret, create, and apply visual frameworks to strengthen insights and communicate findings across functions and disciplines.