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A5 Presentation:

Conference Management

Fiona Chen, Andrea Dang, Keilly Santos, Andrea Ventura

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Introduction

Conferences serve as a valuable opportunities for professionals, not only in the content that speakers provide at these events, but also in how they provide insightful opportunities for individuals to communicate face-to-face with their peers. (EICC Ideas Hub)

However, these networking opportunities become inaccessible when attendees feel overwhelmed, anxious, or bored. Attendees may also struggle with conflicting events, and keeping track of details about people they meet (INOMICS Team)

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Motivation

What are the personal goals of conference attendees?

What needs do attendees feel are unfulfilled?

What barriers are there at conferences to accessibility?

"Going to conferences made me very good at faking interest at people's posters."

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhD/comments/y1s0xt/i_hate_conferences/

"The truth I found for myself is: people don't enjoy conferences…the first few conferences are hard networking work until you have a pool from international friends"

"Depending on the conference as an introvert it is hard to meet people. "

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SummitSphere revolutionizes the conference experience by offering dynamic recommendations for content and networking, powered by real-time indoor location tracking.

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Our Concept

Focusing on creating an engaging conference experience by facilitating connections and community building for attendees.

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Shifting the Conferencing App Landscape

Organizers

Attendees

We chose to focus on conferences because, traditionally, the emphasis has been more for the event organizers rather than on enhancing the attendee experience and satisfaction.

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Mission Statement

Our mission is to cultivate an inclusive conference experience through a dedicated app that fosters community engagement and addresses accessibility needs, ensuring every attendee can connect, learn, and thrive.

* Related Appendix: Mission Statement Iterations

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Final Video Pitch

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Competitive Analysis

Services	Primary Focus & Functionality	Integration Capabilities
	Cvent offers a very comprehensive suite that covers all aspects of event management.	Cvent has extensive integration capabilities with numerous CRM and marketing automation platforms, providing a seamless flow of data across different business tools.
	Whova focuses more on enhancing attendee engagement and simplifying event management processes.	Whova offers necessary integrations mainly geared towards enhancing the event experience and streamlining management tasks.
	vFairs focuses on virtual and hybrid events, providing a platform that simulates a physical venue.	vFairs allows integration with webinar tools and CRM systems, supporting its virtual event focus by facilitating lead capture and follow-up.

($$$)

($$)

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Competitive Analysis

Services	User Experience	Event Suitability
	Cvent is comprehensive but complex, potentially requiring more time to master due to its vast array of features and capabilities	Cvent is best for large-scale, complex conferences, trade shows, and corporate events.
	Whova is known for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible for event organizers without extensive technical skills.	Whova is ideal for enhancing participant engagement in academic conferences, community gatherings, and smaller professional events.
	vFairs provides an immersive virtual environment that can impress attendees but may require some initial orientation to navigate effectively.	vFairs excels in hosting virtual or hybrid events where physical venue constraints are a challenge, such as global trade shows or virtual job fairs.

($$$)

($$)

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Final Hi-Fi Prototypes

Final Hi-Fi- Prototypes

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Crowdfunding Campaign

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12 Month Budget/Growth model

Budget Models

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Previous Value Flow

While conferences are valuable centers for professionals within a certain field to interact with each other, attendees may still have trouble finding other people or presentations that really resonate with them.

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Final Value Flow

The introduction of SummitSphere helps to alleviate the tension between organizers and attendees.

By prioritizing the underdeveloped sector of attendee experience, it relieves the previous tension point and also help to create more sustainable conference environments for the future.

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Final Poster

Link to final poster

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Thank

You

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, and includes icons by Flaticon, and infographics & images by Freepik

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Appendix

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Brand Identity

Mood Board

Logo

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Brand Identity

#322C2C

#2E85FA

#9747FF

#F07204

DM Sans Bold

Title/38px

Archivo Normal

Body/16px

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Landing Page A

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Landing Page B

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Web Advertisements

Since the pandemic, live events has made a comeback. We would assume that event attendance would be high immediately after, but it took people a while to adjust. Live Nations, who owns ticket master page revealed that concert attendance was up by 20% compared to 2022, with more than 145 million fans attending more than 50,000 events. Ticketmaster sold 620m tickets, up 13% compared to the year prior reaching new heights.

As we can see in the first graph, the U.S. is way ahead of other countries in event planning, making it a profitable and promising industry.

Additionally, despite having virtual events people have preferences from the experience of being present in person rather than through a screen.

Research reveals that the two most challenging aspects of virtual events compared to live events are networking and engagement, giving us an insight about what people value and expect to take away from events- socializing and a positive experience.

So… we wanted to look more into how we could provide the best experience possible for event attendees.

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Ad Details

Demographics

Key Words

Color Choices

Age: between 25-50

Income: middle-upper class

Job: corporate/White-collar/Entrepreneur

Location: large cities

Community
Conference
Networking
Corporate

Career
Professional
Experience
Connection

Confidence

Success

Trust

Competence

Clean

Honest

Luxury

Ambition

Security

Formality

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Analysis of Web Probes

We posted our ads on two different instagram accounts which redirected viewers to two different landing pages via story links. Ad #2 tested out hashtags in the caption to attract viewers.

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Analysis of Landing Pages

Landing Page 1

Landing Page 2

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Summary of Results

Ad 1

Ad 2

Landing Page 1

Landing Page 2

6 likes
0 shares
0 comments
0 saves

30 likes
0 shares
0 comments
2 saves

3 unique visitors
3 total visitors

20 unique visitors
32 total visitors

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Concierge MVP Description

Professionals looking to advance their career and connect with others in their field, convention attendees

Conference or convention venue

Professional Growth, Forming community connections, Engaging with topics of interest

WHO:

�

WHERE:

WHY:

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Concierge MVP Procedure

What do you usually attend conventions/conferences for?
At conferences/conventions, how would you describe your interactions with the content at the event?
At conferences/conventions, how would you describe your interactions with other attendees/the community at the event?
Have you ever used an app for an event experience?
What tools or apps do you usually prepare and/or use at an event experience?

Pre-Survey

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Concierge MVP Procedure

You arrive at the business conference, ready with your phone and your laptop, to hopefully learn about some new and exciting developments in your field and to connect with people with similar careers or interests. You see people gathered in small groups everywhere, all casually conversing with each other as they wait for talks to begin. You pull up your phone and start checking out the program agenda…

Scenario

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Concierge MVP Procedure

Interviewees were shown a lo-fi prototype and instructed to explore it as if they were an attendee at a conference.

Lo-fi Demo

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

Interviewees play the role of a conference attendee.

First, they are welcomed to the event. They are prompted to check that their personal details are up to date before they enter the event.

Intro Screen

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

Live Map

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

Profiles

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

Schedule

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

After the experience, users were asked about how they felt about additional concepts.

Thoughts on Additional Concepts

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Concierge MVP Lo-fi Demo

Details in the lo-fi prototype are customized to the interviewee's background.

Education

Conference

Design and Tech Conference

Customization

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Concierge MVP Procedure

How often do you see yourself using this app during a conference or convention experience?
What did you find most relevant or compelling to you about the app? Do you feel this app would help you fulfill your personal goals at these events more effectively?
What did you not find to be relevant or compelling to you about the app?

Post-Survey

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Video documentation of Service Encounters

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11qqouh6FjihTMBH-S_Q118h5SUIezvPm?usp=sharing

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Analysis & Design Implications

Interview 1

Live Map is a nice feature

useful for finding friends that are constantly moving around
visibility of people on live map at the event should be restricted to friends and important figures

preserve readability, so not everyone has their visibility enabled

Timescale/schedule should scroll and expand to right to fit additional events
People don't necessarily want all of their contact info easily available

e.g. phone number is more sensitive

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Live Map is particularly useful for finding friends

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Analysis & Design Implications

Interview 2

Live Map and Profile location visibility might not be very useful

people that need to be found are usually dedicated to a certain booth
turning on and off tracking might be a hassle

interviewee has a special interest in purchasing from artists at conventions

doesn't care about connecting with other attendees
very enthusiastic about collecting contact info of all artists they have bought from/interested in

Heatmap can be confusing and not easily understood
Schedule

everything that will be attended should be highlighted in purple, even on the main view

conferences have a designated social space, so social aspect might not be as useful
small conferences might not have as much use for a live map

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Live Map might not be useful for finding special guests, or people of interest that aren't friends

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Analysis & Design Implications

Interview 3

More excitement about Live Map and Profile location visibility

Likes idea of being able to find friends and people of similar careers
have visibility of general attendees vs connections vs guests and speakers be toggleable

Being able to explore profiles and focus on attendees of similar careers is interesting
Dislikes idea of connections being automatically added based on proximity, wants to manually approve
Didn't immediately understand heatmap, but thinks it would be useful for deciding what conversations they would want to join + navigating crowds

show what kinds of professionals are currently in a conversation

Wants to be able to add events to the schedule to show connections what they're up to; e.g. taking a break
Really likes the idea of integration with notetaking at conferences

interested in how app might facilitate followup with speakers

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Integration with methods of conference engagement, like notetaking would be helpful

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Minimal Viable Product

MVP

MVP Draft

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Ad Draft

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Style Guide

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Mission Statement Iterations

Ver 1

Our mission is to deliver uniquely enjoyable experiences that enrich our attendees’ lives through memorable events. We are committed to fostering a vibrant community atmosphere, while embracing sustainability practices that ensure our events can be enjoyed by future generations. We prioritize innovative, eco-friendly solutions and community engagement to make each event not only a moment of joy but also a step towards a sustainable future.

Ver 2

Our mission is to deliver uniquely enjoyable experiences that enrich our attendees’ lives. We are committed to fostering a vibrant, sustainable community atmosphere that ensure our events can be enjoyed by future generations. We prioritize innovative, eco-friendly solutions and community engagement to make each event not only a moment of joy but also a step towards a sustainable future.

Ver 3

Our mission is to deliver uniquely enjoyable live event experiences that enrich our attendees’ lives and help sustain the local community. We prioritize innovative, long-term solutions and community engagement to make each event not only a moment of joy but also a step towards a sustainable future.

Team Notes:

In our data gathering, we found interest in the cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability surrounding events hosted in the context of a community

in short– events that holistically benefit the community that host them in the long run
our current body of interviews didn't cover this in enough detail, but we are interested in investigating this more in future stages and attempting to incorporate it into our mission statement

Final

Our mission is to deliver enjoyable stress-free live experiences that help attendees spend less time waiting and more time cultivating community connections and making the most of unique event activities.