event agenda component suite

We migrated all of our event websites into our Sitecore CMS from a third-party vendor. Now we needed to create an Events Platform.

Problem Statement

I had worked extensively with an external partner to manage the user experience of the PMI Event websites including the Global Conference, EMEA Congress, and PMO Symposium. Some of our principal challenges were in optimizing the mobile experience, so we did significant work in improving the responsive UI.

The vendor had built the sites on top of a CMS called Sitefinity and we had a range of features that were adequate, but certainly not a world-class experience for customers. After standing-up the new version of Sitecore as our CMS, I created a roadmap as well as project plan to move those web properties in-house. The new platform required us to do development to build new features and components to achieve the functionality our users needed.

Event Calendar

Features including Event Calendar and Event Session Details were rolled out for PMO Symposium event. Content types including Presenter Bios, Attendee Portal, and Attendee Directory were developed and deployed within Sitecore as reusable components for use across event properties as well.

Product Roadmap

Additional phases for feature development were elaborated on in a Product Roadmap to continue to expand a robust interconnected set of services for Event Attendees.

I’ve continued to evangelize for and make the case for the evolution and enhancement of the PMI Event digital ecosystem. The goal has been to build on the foundational efforts of the Event Calendar and Event Session framework as well as the Attendee Portal work an ongoing effort of progressive enhancement that would improve user experience and engagement.

Customer behaviors captured in interaction with event content would provide valuable user insights that would help us have a fuller picture of our customers and help us build more meaningful customer engagement through personalization.

Other Enhancements

There have been a number of enhancements recommended, but had stalled due to development prioritization. Following are additional initiatives proposed as part of the event digital ecosystem:

Streamline Session Data

A key enhancement that has been proposed is to the management of session and speaker data that could be streamline the flow of content… e.g. build an intake form for session presenters that would feed structured data directly into a database that would then surface within Session Details and eliminate the need for downloading data in spreadsheets and then re-enter into Sitecore as well as a third-party mobile app. This had been a considerable pain point with duplicative effort employed for data entry by the Events Team.

Authentication and Personalization

Other proposed enhancements including integrating SSO into event sites as well as ultimately leverage personalization to make the Attendee Portal a real dashboard for attendees… allowing users to build agendas, network with colleagues, automatically report PDUs, display targeted inline sponsored content, and many other areas to improve the experience.