UX Alive:
The biggest conference on User Experience in Istanbul with presentations and workshops. It is organised by Userspots since 2014 in the most authentic city, Istanbul and there will be another international event in Germany starting from this year, UX Alive Berlin.
Project Advisor: Userspots
Group Project with: Hazal Alkan, Gizem Öncü, Ertan Toy, Selçuk Yıldırım.
Project Aim:
It is expected a good user experience from a conference about user experience and the organising team is aware of the expectations. This is why we came together to investigate the issues, expectations and possible improvements to make the whole conference experience better. The aim was to eliminate or minimise the issues and offer better solutions for attendees, speakers and followers.
RESEARCH
NUMBERS OF RESEARCH
BENCHMARK
15
CRITERIA
17
CONFERENCE
INTERVIEWS
3
ATTENDEES
2
SPEAKERS
4
FOLLOWERS
4
ORGANISERS
SOCIAL MEDIA
5
PLATFORMS
BENCHMARK
We started with a research of other conferences around the world related with user experience. The purpose is to identify what other conferences offer for their attendees and speakers, what UX Alive is missing or if we can create a unique experience exclusive to UX Alive.
As a result, we conducted a benchmark research with 17 UX conferences within 15 different criteria. We were able to see in which steps UX Alive is behind and how we can improve the overall experience.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
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Conference has a constant or a changeable theme.
Workshops are organised.
Workshops split by their categories or titles.
Speakers are listed on the website.
There are speaker profiles on the website.
There is a section for attendees on the website.
There is social media content on the website.
Tickets are available online.
There is information about transformation, food and beverages.
There is a briefing for sponsors.
Conference has separate links for previous conferences.
There is an introductory video on the website.
There are different types of stands at the conference.
There are news from media on the website.
There is a chance to watch conference videos.
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A UX Alive
G UX LX
M UX Cambridge
B UX London
H Enterprise UX
N Giant UX
C UX Salon
I UX Strat
O IA Summit
D UX Poland
J Interaction IXDA
P Euroia
E UX Week
K UXPA 2015
Q Lean UX NYC
F Convey UX
L Smashing Conference
INTERVIEWS
Thanks to the organising team, we were able to contact many of the speakers, attendees and volunteers. And of course, they were also there as our another user group. So, we had a chance to talk about the previous conference with many of them.
We basically tried to understand what each group of participants expect from the conference, organising company, the venue or anything else. We tried to identify the issues they had and describe the ideal conference experience in their minds.
At the end, we had interviews with 3 attendees, 2 speakers, 4 followers and 4 organisers. We were able to take notes of the issues, expectations and other details about the conference.
Talking with different group of participants made us notice that every group has their own experience and expectations. As a result, we created a map of different participant groups which will be described on the analysis section.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media platforms are a way of advertisement and they play a role for brand to be recognised. Therefore UX Alive could use some of social media attraction. It is not only crucial for the conference but also the recognition of the organising company, they may use that power to be well known in both local and international area.
Yet, research showed that organising team completely fails on social media. Although both Userspots and UX Alive have accounts on several platforms, they are not actively used. Sadly, there was not much to say about social media usage at this point.
ANALYSIS
GROUPS OF PARTICIPANTS
While doing the research, we noticed that different participant groups have different expectations and their overall conference experience is also different than others.
Therefore, we needed to identify these groups and created a detailed map of these different experiences.
We defined 5 groups who attend the conference with different titles: Organisers, volunteers, speakers, attendees and followers.
ORGANISERS
O
VOLUNTEERS
V
SPEAKERS
S
ATTENDEES
A
FOLLOWERS
F
ATTENDANCE TABLE
PREPARATION OF THE CONFERENCE
&
ANNOUNCEMENT
AND SALES
GUIDANCE
AND TOURS
DURING THE
CONFERENCE
AFTER THE
CONFERENCE
PUBLISHING
THE CONTENT
ORGANISERS
VOLUNTEERS
SPEAKERS
ATTENDEES
FOLLOWERS
After the interviews, we decides to split the conference into different time slots. Additionally, we needed more than 3 time slots. Because preparation continues whole year and conference is published as videos and articles online.
Before the conference consists of two time slots. First one is for preparation, promotion, announcement and sales.
A week before the conference is another time slot because speakers are needed to be welcomed and volunteers are needed for easy tasks.
During the conference every participant group is included, except for the followers.
After the conference, there are still some tasks that organisers and volunteers need to take care of and there would be another organisations like after party.
After organisers and/or volunteers share videos, articles and other types of the content, followers would be able to participate and get information about the conference.
UX MAP
With the Attendance Table, we knew that who participate when. But we still needed a detailed map of who does what. UX Map shows that which group of participant are active in which time slots of the conference.
In this way we were able to identify every singe person's objectives, expectations and how they interact with the conference and other people. Moreover, we were able to display the troubles in every single step of anyone's experience.
PRE-CONFERENCE
DURING CONFERENCE
POST-CONFERENCE
ORGANISERS
Titles:
·Finding sponsors
·Finding venue
·Finding speakers
·Web site and advertisement prep.
·Ticket sale
·Infopack
·Getting on with technical team
·Social media
Troubles:
·Lack of sponsor team
·Web site updates
·Ineffective use of social media
·Failing to reach volunteers
Titles:
·Welcoming and checking speakers into hotels
·Welcoming attendees and giving ID cards and infopacks
·Service organisation during the conference
Troubles:
·Very long ticket lines
·Missing infopacks
·Disruptions during speeches
·Access to coffee
·Changes in workshop lists
Titles:
·Statistics and data analysis
·Updating the web site
·Sharing videos and photos
Troubles:
·Failure with some web site pages
·Not sharing conference videos
VOLUNTEERS
Titles:
·Social media
·Infopack preparation
·Getting on with organising team
*Because of the lack of volunteers at the previous year's conference, we couldn't identify the issues related with volunteer work.
Titles:
·Welcoming attendees
·Giving ID cards and infopacks
·Service organisation at the conference
Titles:
·Sharing videos and photos
SPEAKERS
Titles:
·Being invited
·Getting information about the conference
·Making the decision and arranging the program
·Notifying certain dates
·Flight tickets
·Preparing the speeches
Troubles:
·Assignation of ticket dates and hours
·Claiming to bring a guest
Titles:
·Checking into the hotel
·Guidance service
·Attending VIP dinner
·Attending the conference
·After party
Troubles:
·Weak networking
·Lack of volunteers with guidance
Titles:
·Access to videos and photos
Troubles:
·Complicated ways to access to videos and photos
ATTENDEES
Titles:
·Awareness of the conference
·Knowledge acquisition
·Making the decision and arranging the program
·Ticket purchase
·Infopack examination
Troubles:
·Following the news
·Long and complicated ticket purchasing process
Titles:
·Checking into a hotel
·Taking ID cards
·Attending speeches and workshops
·Networking
Troubles:
·Weak networking
·Long waiting lines
​·Disruptions during speeches
·Changes in workshop lists
·Coffee service
Titles:
·Being published on the web site
·Access to videos and photos
Troubles:
·Requests to be published on the web site
·Complicated ways to access to videos and photos
FOLLOWERS
Titles:
·Awareness of the conference
·Content examination
Troubles:
·Social media use
·Publicity in academy
Titles:
·Online follow-up
Troubles:
·Web site updates
·Promotion to follow the event online
Titles:
·Receive information about shared content
Troubles:
·Lack of awareness about shared content
DESIGN
ALIVE WEB SITE
After we had a chat with speakers and attendees, we noticed that the information that they seek about the conference differs in time. Therefore, we wanted to create a more "Alive" website.
According to our research and analysis, we created an attendance table with 5 time slot. Accordingly, we decided on which information and details to put on the Alive web site in which time slot.
Unlike the during and after time slots, we needed two slots for before the conference. First we needed to put more general information about the conference, and while the date arrives, we need more details to put such as speakers, workshops and programme.
PRE
BEFORE
DURING
AFTER
SHORT PROMOTION
ISTANBUL
PROMOTION VIDEO
ACCOMMODATION
HEADINGS
SPEAKERS
PROGRAMME
CONVINCE YOUR BOSS
TICKETS
VOLUNTEERS
SPONSORS
ORGANISATIONS
CONFERENCE VIDEOS
SOCIAL MEDIA FEED
LIVE CONFERENCE FEED
ATTENDEES
WHAT HAPPENED
Last Year
This Year
CONVINCE YOUR BOSS
After we talked to some of the attendees and the organising team, we learned that the vast majority of the attendees are coming as representatives of their companies. The reason behind is the ticket prices. They might be too high for individuals, so most of the attendees come as groups with their company IDs.
Yet, there are always some managers that are not familiar with UX or these kind of events. For those, it might not be easy to explain what UX Alive is and convince them to pay for the tickets. We needed an information package specifically for business owners and managers.
VOLUNTEER APPLICATION
No matter how organised and hard-working you are, there is always a need for volunteer work these kind of events.
Yet, finding a volunteer might not be easy sometimes. It is needed to be explained well what volunteers gain as a return of their free workforce.
A meeting before the conference would be beneficial for both. Aside from work distribution briefing, volunteers can help with the easy tasks just before the conference day.
STUDENT DESIGN CHALLENGE
A step further of volunteer application, we wanted to reach the designers of the future, today.
Because of the high ticket prices, students are not able to attend the conference. We wanted to give a chance for those to participate an international event and meet professionals around the world.
The idea is to publish a task for students and recent graduates and expect their solutions. Before the conference an examination and presentations will be performed and the ones who deserve will get free tickets for speeches and workshops and maybe other valuable gifts, thanks to sponsors.
ISTANBUL
UX Alive is organised in Istanbul which is the cultural and historic centre of Turkey and ties two continents, Europe and Asia. With all its treasure and history, Istanbul has some much to offer its visitors.
We wished to use Istanbul as the face of the conference. City of Istanbul, a characteristic of UX Alive, welcomes the speakers and attendees with all its glory.
We put a city package for first time comers and who wishes to explore the beauty and the history of the thousands of years.
INFOPACK
Although Istanbul has a great potential as an advertisement and attraction, organising team did not use it thoroughly. To carry a step further, we wished to use Istanbul more.
Every event has their own infopack with the details of programme, speakers, city and transport guidance and any other information. Yet, they are thrown away after the event.
We wished to create an infopack as a combine of information and guidance booklet and a notebook. The idea is to make people use it after the conference.
We designed an infopack with introduction of Istanbul with historic and cultural sites and Turkish culture. In addition, we included sections to take notes specifically for those attractions to make it personal.
In this way, speakers and attendees would use the infopack as a notebook and carry it with themselves for a long time. This would be a chance of advertisement of Userspots, sponsors, and UX Alive.
LIVE FEEDBACK
Social media is maybe the most important advertisement channel nowadays and it is expected to seen a decent use of it. Unfortunately we realised a lack of social media use with both organisers and participants.
We created a live feedback corner at the hall of the venue. Live feedback screens displays the latest tweets and instagram shares of the conference. So everyone at the conference would be able to see what is posted online. In this way we wanted to remind and encourage the participants and increase the social media usage.
Additionally, we put a live programme of the conference into the screens. Therefore participants would be able to follow the conference without any confusion even though there might be delays or last minute changes.
NEXT YEAR
Some of us were able to attend the next year's conference and proud to see that some of our design solutions were implemented.
A live programme was displayed at the screens in the main hall. People were able to see which speech or workshop is going on at the moment and arrange their personal schedule.
