ux matters: user experience for events

PowerPoint Presentation

@EstherBCM

Matters

Good morning, everyone. My name is Esther Stringer and I am Managing Director of Border Crossing Media, a user experience specialist company based in Leith. Thank you for asking me to come in today to talk to you about user experience in events because 1

I My Job!

+44 (0) 131 561 7300 | www.bordercrossingmedia.com | Company No: SC 308 978

I love my job! I am so lucky to work with a wide variety of forward thinking clients, across sectors helping them to understand and solve their problems. I get to spend my days speaking to people about their problems and aspirations and trying out new ways of doing things.2

Imagine a better world and create it.


Because essentially it is my job to imagine better world for people and then create it. And thats pretty exciting but how do I do it? By focusing on how design and technology can be applied to support and enrich peoples lives and benefit society as a whole.3


And it is the people and society that truly matter in that equation. Because whilst I love technology and how it enables us to communicate and complete tasks in new ways, Without people to use it, technology has no purpose. 4


So why am I here today? Well at Border Crossing Media We are a team of user experience specialists who work with start-ups to large financial institutions solve their customers problems and deliver better outcomes for both the business and the customer. How do we do it? Well we make sure we focus on one thing: What works for your customers. Today I am going to take you through what User Experience is, why it matters and how you can use UX techniques to improve your events and projects by designing the right solutions for your stakeholders.

5

What is User Experience?


So lets start by looking at what User Experience is.

6

User + Product = Experiencehttps://userexperiencerocks.wordpress.com/tag/ux-and-ui-bike/


These outcomes may not be super sexy and have big numbers attached to them. But theyve made a real difference to real people and solved problems that they really have. And that is what I have learnt from the digital transformation work Ive been a part of, that when undertaking a Digital Transformation project7

What is user experience (a.k.a. UX)?User experience encompasses all of the elements and points that (consciously or unconsciously) influence how a person perceives a company, its services and its products.

It includes everything we see, hear and do as well as our emotional reactions.Put simply:

UX is all about finding out what works best for the people your business needs to reach, engage and convert.


But UX is much more than that. It encompass all the elements and points that people are influenced by on both a conscious and unconscious level. Its about going beyond the functional and engaging on an emotional level. Its about whether the bike works but how it makes the user feel, about the bike, about cycling and about themselves. To deliver a great experience you have to think about what people want from every element of the bike from the way the leather on the handle bars feels, to the way the metal smells to how adjustable the seat is and easy the gears are. Its about finding out what works best for your target customers and designing every element to suit them.8

Why does it matter?


So that is what UX is but why does it matter why do you need to find out what people want and design ways to deliver it?

9

10

User Experience is about better outcomesHelping people achieve their goalsExploring and exploiting changing Human BehaviourDelivering the most value for the least effortIts about survival.


Well in essence User Experience is about delivering better outcomes, for your customers but also your bottom line. UX will help people to achieve their goals when interacting with you and in turn complete the tasks and outcomes you want. 10

11

Helping people achieve their goals Courtesy of Antti T. Nissinen https://www.flickr.com/photos/veisto/


Take a look at this simple problem Mens urinals. Now I am not a frequenter of such venues but I am sure we are all aware of the common problem of gentlemen missing the bowl. How do you design a solution to this problem? Well you could put up fancy signs or design cool bowls in the hope that may affect behaviour. Will that really help when people have had a few drinks?

11

12

Helping people achieve their goals

http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-UI-and-UX-design


Maybe but may not. So a really clever design firm decided to tackle it differently and came up with this simple solution. They put a little black fly in each urinal bowl. Why? Well they did their research and discovered that the thing that the majority of men responded to was having something to aim at. The result spillage in urinals with flies is reduced by up to 80%12

13

Exploring and exploiting changing human behaviour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw


It is about exploring and exploiting changes in human behaviour and the technology we are building and using. You can use user experience design to address and change issues in human behaviour. Take the issue of the people of the World becoming fatter and lazier how can you get people to move more? Take the stairs more? Well take a look at this clever solution to try and change our behaviour.13

14

Delivering the most value for the least effort

http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-UI-and-UX-design


But why is user experience so important for a business it allows you to prioritise the outcomes with the highest return on investment for the company and the user so you can focus on those and deliver the most value for the least effort. Take Heinz for example how do you improve on a market leading product such as ketchup? 14

15

Delivering the most value for the least efforthttp://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-UI-and-UX-design


You change the experience. By changing the bottle but not the recipe Heinz were able to improve the user experience of ketchup and deliver more value to their Customers. Not only that they even took this principle into the solution as this ketchup bottle requires less effort to get more out of the bottle easily.15

16

Survival

Eewei Chen, @ultraman



17

Source: YouTube.com/RadDanSurvival


Lets Blockbuster and Chill17

Everything Changes


You see everything changes all the time, you cant stop it

18

19

Source: Shutter Stock

People evolve


People are always evolving. How and why we do things changes continuously in line with our environment.19

20

Feel Good, Be Comfortable, Less EffortSource: The SimpsonsBut what people want doesnt change


But what people fundamentally want hasnt changed. We want to feel good, we want to be comfortable and we want to expend less effort.20

21

How can you use UX?


So how can you use user experience techniques as events professionals to improve your events, products and services?

21

22

Human centred design for events

DiscoverDefineDesignTestYour Target AudienceTake a human centered approach to harnessing new opportunities and solving complex business problems.

Test ideas and balance your business objectives with all your customer needs.


Well start by implementing a human centred design model in your company. For every touch point from websites, to leaflets, to forms, to the event itself should be designed around the target audience. Discover what they want, define the problems that you are looking to solve and their context, design appropriate solutions to these problems and then test them with real people.22

23

1. Discover


Step one is always to discover.23

24What?How?Why?When?

??????????????????


Discovery is all about asking the right questions not just of your stakeholders but also of yourself

24

25

Who are we designing for?What is their purpose?What are their wants and needs?What are the problems and challenges they face?How does our solution fit into their lives and the jobs they need to get done?What are our constraints?

Understand


Before you embark on any project you need to think about who you are designing for, what are the relevant stakeholder and what is their purpose for interacting with us. What do they want and need, and not just in the context of your event but in their wider life. What problems or challenges do they face that you are going to help them overcome. How will your event, product or service fit into their lives and help them complete their goals. And perhaps most importantly, what are the constraints to this project that frame how we make decisions e..g how much time, money and expertise do we have.25

Generative Product ResearchGenerative Market Research QuestionsHow can we solve the problem?What form should this take?How important is the design?Whats the quickest solution?What is the minimum feature set?How should we prioritise?MethodsSolution interviewContextual inquiry/ethnographyDemo pitchConsultingCompetitor analysis and usability testingQuestionsWho is our customer?What are their pains?What job needs to be done?Is our customer segment too broad?How do we find them?MethodsCustomer discovery interviewsContextual inquiry/ethnographyData miningFocus groups*Surveys* (open ended)* Not recommended

Generative Product & Market Research


You can use different research techniques to discover and evaluate the answers to these questions. Try using generative techniques if you are looking at exploring problems 26

Evaluative Product/Market ResearchEvaluative Product ResearchEvaluative Market ResearchQuestionsIs this solution working?Are people using it?Which solution is better?How should we optimise this?What do people like / dislike?Why do they do that?MethodsPaper/Clickable prototypesUsabilityHallwayLiveRemoteFunctioning productsAnalytics QuestionsAre they really willing to pay?How much will they pay?How do we convince them to buy?How much will it cost to sell?Can we scale marketing?Methods5 second testsComprehensionConjoint AnalysisData mining/market researchSurveys* (closed)*Not recommended


or evaluative research to exploit problems and create opportunities. I could spend all day running through the different techniques but there is a lot of information online regarding the different techniques. The key is to choosing the right ones for the problems you are investigating.27

28

2. Define


Step two is define what is the question you are asking, what the problem you are trying to solve is or what outcomes that you are looking to achieve

28

29

Stakeholder types


Start by thinking about the different stakeholders that you have for your event and how important they are to your business.29

30

Proto-personas


When you have mapped the different types take start to draw up what we call proto-personas to represent your stakeholders. A protopersona is a sketch of a representative of that stakeholder group. It details who they are, their demographic information, but more importantly what their goals, what are their frustrations and where are the opportunities to delight them.

30

31

Roadmap of desired attendee outcomes DiscoverSign upProvide feedbackShareInteract with organisersInteract with other attendeesShare their experience with othersAttend eventPre-eventDuring the dayPost-eventInteractShareEnjoyContinue to networkSign-up/followSign-up for future events


Then for each type of stakeholder, for example an attendee, you can start to map the desired outcomes for both them and your organisation across the lifecycle of your event. As you have to remember that it is not just about the day itself, you need to outcomes before then such as signing up or interacting with you, and after the event you want people to share their experience, provide you with feedback and sign up for future events, But remember it is imperative not just to think about functional requirements but map how you want them to feel at each stage of the lifecycle31

32

Participant experience map


Mapping this out earlier helps define what actions or content you need to provide each stakeholder at each stage to ensure that they feel the way you want them to as well as take the action you want. I always recommend writing this in their tone of voice in the first person so you can really get a sense of what they want and need.

32

33

Objectives and outcomesObjectivesDevelop a brand reputation as market leadersAttend a high end event in Scotland - not have to travel far for qualityShowcase their products and/or servicesDevelop the must attend event in ScotlandLearn more about opportunities in the market placeLearn more about the market and potential customer needsDevelop a community and a forum to continue these conversationsLearn more about the competitionMeet influential people and people with purchasing powerProvide a great experience at our events Network and have a great day outIncrease the perception of their brand as market leaders or disruptorsOutcomesOwn the conversation about X in ScotlandEnrich and develop my networks to start conversationImproved brand perception and awarenessGenerate profit and sign ups for future events (sponsorship and attendees)Benchmark my company against competitorsGenerate qualified leads

Participants

Vendors/Sponsors

Your organisation


Once you have understood all different stakeholders functional and emotional requirements you can define each user groups objectives and desired outcomes for your event, product or service.33

34

3. Design, test, implement



The event lifecycleConsistent Experience


As the key to delivering a great event across the board is to provide a consistent experience, not just throughout each stage, but through every channel and customer touch-point and interaction you have.35

User experience principlesClarityStakeholders will require clarity to understand what the event is and why they should engage with it.RelevanceStakeholders must be able to immediately identify information and actions that are relevant and specific to them.SimplicityWe must continually strive to make it simpler for Stakeholders to use our channels, apps and websites to interact with us as a business.TransparencyWe must ensure that the benefits, outcomes and usage of our event are shared openly and honestly.ReassuranceWe must reassure Stakeholders that our mission and the event weve developed is high quality and geared towards helping people achieve their aims.


How can you deliver a consistent experience on your website as well as in person as on the day? Well, the easiest way is to set yourself a set of user experience principles. These guidelines will help you ensure that no matter where or when a user interacts with you they receive the same quality of experience. These five are example principles for events and you can set many more just remember to base them on what your users want to think, feel and do when they interact with you.36

Customer journey mapping


So once you have set your principles it is time to design your customer journey map. This map is like the experience map in discovery but a lot more extensive. Your customer journey map should clearly detail the key stages at which your users interact with you, the channels that they use, the actions that they take and the questions that they have. On this map you will be identify all the touch-points or channels and content that you will need to create or develop such as websites, emails, forms, apps etc.37

Explore

Design something new

Exploit

Use what is available


Having identified the required touch-points and channels you have two choices you can either undertake some exploratory design and make something new and bespoke or you can exploit the technology and templates that are out there which is not a bad idea as38

So many options.


Lets face it there are a lot. And why spend 10k of your budget getting a bespoke app build for your event when there are companies who have developed template apps that you can use for a lot less money. Seems a bit of a no brainer although there is one major downside you have to ensure that the template is right for what you are trying to achieve as look what can happen..39


Key to design for success

http://semanticstudios.com/user_experience_design/


So how do you avoid that? How do you ensure that you design the right tool for the right job? Well it all comes down to thinking about the context of use, where when and why would it be used? The content required to make it work and deliver the right outcome, how the user will feel, interact and react to it. So it doesnt matter whether you are building a website, an app, an email newsletter or an indoor fireworks display if you ensure that the solution is right for the context of use, it can deliver the right content in the right way and the users can understand it and complete their tasks.

41

Test, Test, TEST!!!


If you are not sure whether they will work or what the impact will be Try using paper prototypes or story boarding or free trials of products to see if your solution will work without building a thing! This way you can get feedback on ideas without major time or expenditure, learn quickly and adapt.

42


Once you have prioritised the solutions you can start developing and implementing them. And always remember start with the small and then work through to the big. Yes there may be times that you need to implement huge new products and system but often it can be the simplest things that have the biggest impact.

43

4. Measure and improve


The final step is to measure and improve. Once you have designed, tested and implemented your solutions it is important to understand what success you had and where you could do better.

44

Ask yourselves

Did we get the outcome we want?If yes, what was the impact to the business?If no, why wasnt it right?What have we learnt?How might we do differently next time?


By understanding the answers to these questions and monitoring your successes you can start to improve the experiences you provide across all channels and communications for both this event but for future events.

45

How might we do differently next time?


By continuously asking yourself How might we do differently you can keep yourself innovating and developing every experience you provide your users.46

Achieve better outcomesHelp people achieve their goalsExplore and exploit changing Human BehaviourDeliver the most value for the least effortSurvive and flourish


That way you can achieve better outcomes time on time again. By using a user centred design process at each stage of your event you will help people achieve all their goals, you will be able to explore and exploit the changing nature of human behaviour and advances in technology, you will deliver the most value to your users for the least effort and not only will you survive but by aligning yourselves to the wants and needs of all your users you will flourish.47

0131 561 7300

[email protected]


Thank you48

.MsftOfcThm__Fill { fill:#ED174F; }