Guest Speaker: People-Centered Approach to Innovation

Steve Portigal helps companies to think and act strategically when innovating with user insights. He is principal of Portigal Consulting, and the author of two books: Interviewing Users: How To Uncover Compelling Insights and Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. He is also the host of the Dollars to Donuts podcast, where he interviews people who lead user research in their organizations (including Citrix, Airbnb, eBay and Pinterest). As a researcher, Mr. Portigal has interviewed hundreds of people, including families eating breakfast, hotel maintenance staff, architects, rock musicians, home-automation enthusiasts, credit-default swap traders and radiologists. He lives in a small coastal town just outside of San Francisco.