Designing Conference Experiences That Matter To Your Audience

Designing conference experiences that matters to your audience

Raven Chai, UXSG community

I’m a

UXperson

who is involved in a…

consulting biz ground-up community non-profit professional association

Organiser of 4 conferences in Singapore, Shanghai and London

Share 3 stories of my personal journey in event organising

Reference: http://www.fastcompany.com/52831/creating-design-centric-culture

How the idea of organising a conference came about in the first place (year 2011)?

1Story

The triggers…

“Why do I started to feel indifferent about attending these events and the experiences are kind of similar; uninspiring,

impersonal and unfulfilling?”

… after attending a few hundreds of events

Started the habit of taking notes, observations on fellow attendees’ reactions and engage in meaningful discussions in every event I have attended or spoke in

Having a sense (and validates) whether a conference is needed in the first place

what if no one buys the ticket???

Implications > fears, anxiety and stepping into unknown

Live with no regrets. Life’s too short, take a chance.

Making the dream a reality, turning thoughts into action.

2Story

Assemble a team of like-minded leaders and supporters

Understand your users (audience) - What they hope to learn, what are their challenges.

Conduct user research to validate hypotheses, gather honest opinions and feedback from attendees.

Curate a holistic experiences as if you are inviting your loved ones and best friends to attend the event

Think about content, speakers, marketing, operation, f&b etc Yes but design it from a human-centric point of view

Marketingseek to inform and educate, not to sell.

17 personalised eDMs from pre to post event

Welcome pack for your speakersHelp them to understand your audience and perform to their very best

OperationTransmit the passion to the venue ‘landlord”, and what it means to have a win-win partnership

Food & BeveragesImagine yourself as one of the attendees, what would you love to have for food & beverages

Community SpiritWhen you do the right thing with sincerity and authenticity, your audience will response with unconditional love and support.

Reward your volunteersThey are the people who makes things happen

Most importantly - you must have fun!! despite how difficult it is to run a conference event

Define success as how much we learnt from the experiences

3Story

De-brief to learn from each other and identify areas for improvement

One of our most successful experiments: “Super Garang Early Bird Ticket” concept

Continue to engage with your audience to add value to their professional lives

Keep the things that are successful, find ways to improve others.

7Design Principles

Making conferences feel personal again1

“Theorganiserstreateduslikepeople,notnumbers.Ihadfunlearningwithotherattendeesandwasabletonetworkwiththerightpeople.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ameotoko/4334357860/

Investing in things that matter to people2

“Itfeelsgreatwheneverythingworkswell–Wi-Fi,goodcoffee,deliciousfood servedfast,slidesavailablequickly&keynoterecordings.WhatelsecouldIaskfor?”

http://www.ifood.tv/blog/tips-for-planning-a-food-photo-shoot

I feel at home3

“Itwassoawesomemeetingotherswiththesamepassionorexperiencesasmyself.IamnotaloneinthejourneytobetterUX.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyromasci/9872083473/

I know what I signed up for4

“Ihadsufficientinformationtomakeaninformedchoiceonworkshopsandfeltconfidenttheyweregoingtobeworthpayingfor.”

https://www.flickr.com/photos/comode/2420378711/in/photolist-4FT5gr-dNgPKa-5CRsuP-5KVtSt-Bu5oM-8puUm-dUjaP-dt2a1D-5D1E2X-9d7Lwu-dt29RK-5uNfgC-8em1zq-7MvT8r-5noFd7-x1YQo-ecSnBf-adnuwZ-c5jgoj-gHqCpf-dgKsnQ-k9Jh5-

I feel guided all the time5

“NeverdidIoncefeellost.Therewasalwaysclearsignageorsomeonearoundtohelp.IknewwheretogoforhelpifIneededit.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ameotoko/4334357860/

Approachable, inspiring, engaging6

“IfeltlikeIcouldchangetheworldaftertheconference.Thespeakersjoinedusfordrinks,itwasnicetoseetheyarehumantoo.”

http://www.theworldspeaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/group-of-happy-people-2.jpg

Delight in the details7

“Lovedhowmuchthoughtwentintotheconference–thereweremanynicesurpriseswhichIdidnotexpect.”

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jirka_matousek/9419564765/in/set-72157634894819171

Conclusions

Always organise a conference event from a human-centered perspective.

Assemble a multi-disciplinary team to run the event with a product life-cycle mindset

Always focus on your users - audience, speakers, partners, volunteers

Create impact beyond the event itself, focus on what people can take away from your event.

Evolve the team’s thinking into “To go fast is to go slow"

Start . Stop . Continue

So the answer is “YES”, conference experiences can be designed

Thank you!Raven Chai

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ravenchai

Website: www.uxsg.org