The document discusses managing the chaos of experiential events using Atlassian tools. It describes how Helios used JIRA for project management from the sales pipeline through development. During the prototyping phase, concerns arose about hardware integration and whether the experience aligned with the brand story. At SXSW, issues with motion sickness, environment changes, and internet access occurred. Setup challenges included electricity, construction, and unexpected full footprint. Risks like these were mitigated through preparation and quick on-site problem solving, allowing innovative experiences to be created despite changing requirements and risks.

1. MANAGING THE CHAOS
OF EXPERIENTIAL EVENTS
+

2. When creating innovative experiences on location….
Logistical planning … Essential
Reacting to change … Unavoidable
Atlassian tools provide structured workflows and support
for improvisation.
We use both!
THE CHAOS

3. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched
in the mouth.”
— Mike Tyson

4. Devin Hunter
Helios Director of Operations

5. A B O U T H E L I O S
W H E R E W E S TA RT E D
S A L E S P I P E L I N E
K I C K O F F
P R O T O T Y P E
F I R S T I T E R AT I O N
S E T U P + L I V E

6. ABOUT US
Eric Ruud Ben McChesney

7. ATLASSIAN TOOLS USED
• Using JIRA for Sales Pipeline leading to project
• Using JIRA for Task and Story Tracking (Scrum or Kanban) during
development
• Using JIRA for hardware and shipping during dev and deployment.
• Using HipChat for day-to-day communication all the way through
• Using Bitbucket Server for Code
• Now using Confluence, but weren’t for this project

8. SALES PIPELINE
• How we got the job
• Custom JIRA workflow for pipeline:
• 7 steps from “potential opportunity” to
“signed SOW”
• Defined the experience to the best of our
ability in Statement of Work

9. SALES PIPELINE

10. INITIAL ASSUMPTIONS
• At SXSW
• IBM and GPJ as Client
• Knew it would involve VR + Physical
Bicycles
• Live Dates
• Wind Fan control
• Linear “on rails” experience
• Messaging: “Using IBM Data to optimize your
performance”

11. CLIENT EXPECTATIONS
• No guest gets injured or has a bad IBM brand
experience
• As close to 100% uptime as possible (no black
screens)
• No Lost leads
• Unique, Innovative Experience
• Socially Shareable Tie-in for those outside the event
• Communicate the Brand Story

12. ADDITIONAL INFO LEARNED
• Integrating with a third party lead gen system — FISH
• Three paths (pro rider, urban cyclist, weekend warrior)
• Physical Bikes: road bike, mountain bike, beach cruiser
• Static data vs your ride’s data in the photo social shareable
• Wind fan integration removed
• 5 recommendations on the path
• Addition of bike trainers
• Added Audio to scope
• On site support for duration of festival added
• Now on six bikes instead of three
• Celebrity Cyclist may be present

13. PROTOTYPING PHASE

14. PROTOTYPING
Discovery on Bike Hardware integration:
§ Previous solution has used ANT+ <-> Android <-> PC
§ New solution proposed as ANT+ <-> PC
§ Concerns with wireless signal strength with crowd of people
§ Stability Concerns given timeframe
§ Lack of backup options on site
§ Lots of unknowns — likely to run out of scope
§ Wired connection
§ Good Build Quality
§ C++ Integration via vendor .dll

15. PROTOTYPING
§ “Where are these bikes going”
§ “How much room do we have”
§ “How do these tie into the brand story?”

16. PROTOTYPING

17. PROTOTYPING
§ “Does this feel right? Does this feel like cycling?”
§ Scale in VR
§ “Can we add in coasting?”

18. FIRST ITERATION

19. FIRST ITERATION

20. FIRST ITERATION
§ Motion Sickness on turns
§ Office “Dogfooding”
§ In the deployment space
§ In the Trainer
§ In a car for transport?

21. FIRST ITERATION
§ Does the brand story match the environment?
§ Unnerving when environment changes happen quickly
§ Bikeshedding* on Clouds
• Tried a few iterations results didn’t feel convincing and reverted
• Accepted solution is what the subject matter expert suggested, not what the client thought they wanted

22. SETUP + LIVE

23. SETUP + LIVE

24. SETUP + LIVE
§ Electricity being run
§ Walls Painted
§ Construction
§ Wires could not be visible

25. SETUP + LIVE
§ Plastic sheets over the front windows to protect electronics
§ Plastic sheets blocked sight-lines
• BA on Bicycle on inside as a draw

26. SETUP + LIVE
§ People thought it was cool, but didn’t understand
why
§ Powerful tie-into a personalized journey to the IBM
story

27. SETUP + LIVE
§ Not part of original scope
§ Guests who did not want to ride had brand
ambassadors cycle for them while they stood behind
§ Parents Cycle with Kids standing

28. SETUP + LIVE
§ Used collaborator internet
§ Our internet was blocked while Obama was in town
§ Tape to the rescue!
§ Carpenter onsite had to drill air holes in cabinets

29. SETUP + LIVE
§ Needed them to be self-organizing and self-managing for the duration of event
§ High temperature and humidity on porch in Austin
§ Goggles fogged up faster than normal
§ Picked up anti-fog wipes from a local store
§ Thunderstorms at night, covered patio and gear

30. SETUP + LIVE
§ Full footprint / strategic goals revealed once onsite
§ “Thought this would be the hardest, was the easiest to manage with team”
§ Put ourselves in a position to succeed by mitigating the important risks beforehand

31. RISKS MITIGATED
§ Issues would generally be fixed in <5 minutes
§ Using Development Kits in production
§ Heat + Alcohol + Physical Effort = Bad Brand Experience

32. The tools and processes allow us to create
innovative experiences with constantly changing
requirements and external risks.
THE CHAOS

33. THANK YOU
+