Space,, Time,, and the Attendee
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Robert Lowe Paul Gould
Vice President—Event Architect Designer
Nth Degree Events
g MAYA Design, Inc.
g

Essential Learning Components
1. Consider the unique mindsets of the four distinct
generations of attendees.
2. Acknowledge and accept attendees’ time
constraints.
3. Develop personas as a way to understand and support
3D l d dd
attendee needs.
4. Pay attention to the social and behavioral impact that
Pay attention to the social and behavioral impact that
space has on event attendees.
5. Stay aware of boundaries where attendees maintain
“sense of place” and form meaningful connections.

Questions to keep in mind
• How have attendees evolved over the past five years?
• What drives those changes?
• How has your event development, planning, and
methodology changed in response to or anticipation of
methodology changed in response to or anticipation of
those changes?
• How do all of these changes alter the way attendees
“consume” your event?
• How do the approaches we’ll cover differ from
conventional approaches?
conventional approaches?

User-Centered Design
User‐centered design is
a multi‐stage problem‐
solving process for
li f USABILITY ACCESSIBILITY
understanding user
needs, designing to
support those needs,
USER
and conducting real‐
world tests to ensure
user goals are met.
UNDERSTANDABILITY

User-Centered
User Centered Design = Event Design
Goals
Gl Constraints
C t it
Attendee
d
Expectations Un‐met needs

Event Design = Experience Design

Experience Design from Whose Viewpoint?

As attendee can no longer be thought of as someone who
attends an event. They must be understood . . .
as the event
the event.

Today’s Attendee

Today’s Attendee
– Generational
– Persona

Effects of Time on Attendees
How does time affect and change attendees?
– Attention Economy
– Interaction value

Generation Review
• Multiple generations
Traditionalist (ages 64–79)
–
Boomers (ages 46–63)
–
Generation X (ages 30–45)
–
Generation Y / Millennials (up to age 29)
–
• Generational differences

Generational Exercise

Generational Effects on Events
• Learning styles
– Events must “teach” to all learning styles
and not just in sessions
• Approach to commitment and focus
• Work vs. personal time
• Different core values

Generational studies frame the design.
Persona development . . .
guides it
id it.

Understanding the Attendee Personas
• What is a persona?
• Wh i i i
Why is it important to define them?
d fi h?
• How do you do it?
Tasks
–
Goals
–
Motivations
–
Mindset
–
Context
–
Constraints
–
Capabilities
–

What is a persona?
• As defined by Wikipedia: “A persona is a fictitious
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character created to represent different user types
within a targeted demographic…. Personas are useful
in considering the goals, desires, and limitations of
the users in order to help to guide decisions about a
product….
product ”

Why is it important to define them?
• Meet the expectations of attendees
• Understand attendees as people not just BISs
• Test your “design” against them
All this should be at the center of your decision‐making process.
y gp

Analysis Method: PERSONA

Example: Using Personas
Example: Using Personas
How to Use
Personas

Attention Economics
It s an approach to the management of
It’s an approach to the management of
information that treats human attention
as a scarce commodity.
as a scarce commodity.

Event Attention Economics
Understand that attendees have less time to
Understand that attendees have less time to
sort through more information. Tailor their
activities so that they benefit from every
activities so that they benefit from every
interaction.

The Event Attention Economic Affect
• High value vs. time spend
– Weigh perceived value of every interaction
vs. time commitment necessary
• Attendees demand the ability to consume an
event when and how they choose

Applications

Generational Applications
• Laptop Lane
Laptop Lane

Generational Applications
• Laptop Lane
Laptop Lane
• Crypto Commons

Generational Applications
• Laptop Lane
Laptop Lane
• Crypto Commons
•S i R
Session Room layout
l t

The primary use of these
Persona Applications
personas is by the Agile 2009
conference attendee for use in
conference attendee for use in
identifying sessions appropriate
to attend. In particular
attendees that don’t have a
specific agenda may be
interested in choosing sessions
that closely match their role or
interest level.
The secondary use for personas
is for session proposers. Session
is for session proposers Session
proposers will “tag” their
session proposals as being
appropriate for one or more
appropriate for one or more
attendee personas

Persona use scenarios

Event Attention Economic Applications
• Shrinking keynote and session presentation times
• Replay/recast
• Activity‐finding (“What’s happening now”?)

Measure of Success
• Measure number of hours on show floor,
number or sessions attended or number of days
b i tt d d b fd
at an event
Vs.
• Have attendees formed meaningful connections
and accomplished their goals?

Spaces and Boundaries

Questions to keep in mind…
• How is the information space changing?
• Who/What are we designing for?
• How do we design spaces that enable, support, and
empower users within the constraints of an
attention economy?

Points of Interest
• It’s all about:
– Connections
– Designing for experiences
– Creating a shared ritual through storytelling,
spectacle, and community

Design Exercise

Design Exercise
Design:
g
. . . a vase
. . . a “vase”

Design Exercise
Design:
g
. . . a way for people
. . . a “way for people
to enjoy flowers in
their home”

Design for Experience
Experience design, or design for
Experience design, or “design for
experience” is a name for enlarging
scope to consider patterns of life, goals,
scope to consider patterns of life, goals,
activity, context, repeated use, learning,
sharing, emotion, and more…while
g, ,
applying the design process.

Design for Experience
Are you providing answers to immediate problems?
Are you providing answers to immediate problems?
OR
Are you creating holistic experiences for your users?

Oscars 2006
2009

Oscars 2008

Oscars 2009

Imagination Playground

Sociofugal vs Sociopetal Space

MAYA Neighborhoods vs. Cube Farm

Ikea
IKEA as a constructed space

Seattle Public Library

Example: RSA Conference

Session Rooms

Session Keynotes

Session Post-Keynotes

Post-Session Interactions

Modular Spaces

Modular Spaces

Public Lobby

Structured Spaces

Unplanned Spaces

Pathways

Common Spaces

Café Tables

Orientation and Roles

Orientation and Roles

Orientation and Roles

Blending

Secret Societies

Boundaries

Boundaries

Boundaries

Example: Carnegie Public Library

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Pervasive Information Environment
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Public Library

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
What do Customers Experience?

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Experience Depiction

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Personas follow scenarios

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Bridge the breakpoints

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
The d f
Th end of every customer journey should
t j h ld
be the beginning of a new one

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Make prototypes to explore options quickly

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Information and space

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
After renovations, hidden information is
broadcast into the space

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
“Serendipitous” connections depend on a
well-planned, sustainable framework for
publishing into the space

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh | Information Environment
Now the electronic space and physical
space interfaces are consistent
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So What?!
• Help all stakeholders make connections.
• Address holistic experiences.
• Build bridges over boundaries.
• Build spaces with personas and purposes
in mind.

Field Research Activity

Using our Developed Persona

Hypotheses
to Test
Test,
Experiences
to Evaluate

Assumption-based Personas?
The Partier
The Player
The Player The Connoisseur
Th C i
The Professional
The Escapist

The Player

The Partier

The Connoisseur

The Escapist

The Professional

Guidelines
Where are we going?
•
What are we looking for?
•
Tasks
–
Goals
–
Motivations
–
Mindset
–
Context
–
Constraints
–
Capabilities
–

Review
• What did you see?
y
• What did we learn?

Relate
• Why is it important?
• How can you relate your findings back
to your own challenges and
responsibilities?

Thank You
Robert Lowe Paul Gould
Vice President—Event Architect Designer
Nth Degree Events
g MAYA Design, Inc.
g
281‐304‐9566 412‐488‐2900
rlowe@nthdegreeevents.com gould@maya.com