Overview
About
Each year, Scout’s Conference team hosts Interventions, a one-day design event where professionals from Boston and beyond present and showcase their work. The theme, Interventions: Ignite, aimed to reveal hidden potential and eliminate rigid design approaches through presentations, panels, and workshops.
Leading the UX team, we aimed to bring to life a memorable experience through life-size displays, AR activities, and seamless coordination of schedule. We were able to showcase all of our designs to over 200+ attendees, including students, professors, and other design professionals.
What does it mean to design a conference?
Scout’s Conference team was something that I always wanted to be a part of because of the overall impact it had. I started as a UX Designer on the newly established UX team the previous year, and when given the opportunity to come back and push the direction of the UX team further, I gladly took it. Designing a conference was something that I had no experience in, but I wanted to see how I could apply UX principles to a context that was not web or mobile based.
Designing a conference means creating an engaging and smooth experience for attendees. For the Interventions conference, the goal was to make a space where participants could connect, learn, and be inspired. Balancing all these elements to deliver a seamless and impactful experience was challenging but rewarding, showing how important detailed design is in creating memorable events.
I wanted to see how I could apply UX principles to a context that was not web or mobile based.
Feedback from conferences of the past
We conducted some initial research based on feedback from previous conferences. Looking through past documentation, we compiled "How Might We" questions to identify areas for improvement and innovation.
How might we…
design intuitive navigation tools to help attendees find their way easily?
How might we…
design spaces that help spark conversation?
How might we…
provide materials and sessions in multiple formats to accommodate all attendees?
Sketching to define our vision
In our team of six designers plus myself, I led a sketching session where we shared all our ideas. This session helped us brainstorm how attendees would discover and interact with the experiences we created. The key takeaway was that we were all aligned on the experiences we aimed to design.
Some ideas that we all had in mind were interactive displays, AR exhibitions and an immersive room.
Executing our ideas
This marked the first time Scout's conference team had an established UX team focused solely on creating new experiences. The UX team was the newest team on Conference, so there was not really a framework for us to follow. As the lead, I determined that the most effective approach was to divide responsibilities based on individual preferences. Each team member took the lead on their own mini projects, while I assumed the role of project manager, providing support and leveraging available resources wherever necessary.
Asking the Northeastern community for help
To make sure everyone had the necessary resources, I decided to utilize our university connections effectively. We required a good amount amount of cardboard for our installations. I contacted our Materials & Recycling Department, who generously gathered cardboard to provide us with the required materials. We worked in partnership with them to be able to achieve our outcomes.
Another activity my team wanted to experiment with was augmented reality. Our conference advisor suggested using Hoverlay, a program partnered with Northeastern to simplify placing augmented reality in physical locations, which suited our needs perfectly.
Introducing…our final experience
In the span of one semester, we were able to accomplish a collection of four interactive and immersive experiences. As a whole, these experiences reflected our interpretations of the theme of the conference. Below are the descriptions of each of the final four experiences.
🔥 Wildfire: An AR Scavenger Hunt
This was our in-house augmented reality scavenger hunt powered by Hoverlay. Conference attendees would be able to use their smartphone to scan any QR code inside the atrium to learn interesting facts and insights behind the meaning behind “Interventions: Ignite”.
🔭 “The Lookout” Sculptures
A collection of interpretative, hand-constructed sculptures on display throughout the conference atrium. These unique art installations not only showcased the team's creativity and skill, but they also each represent Ignite’s four goals. They were modeled after the design elements of the conference’s brand.
📸 Photo Room
Lastly, we turned an entire room into a photo room where attendees can take pictures amongst custom-designed props, and backdrop, and a mysterious ambiance. This sensory room offers a playful and creative space for attendees to both capture memories and express their own creativity.
🌀 Spin & Pins
A digital experience we’ve created to spark connection and conversation among attendees. Participants of this fun mini-game version of spin-the-wheel were able to walk away with new connections and a limited-edition Interventions: Ignite acrylic pin.
Learnings & Reflections
This project really tested my limits as both a designer and a leader, and I learned a lot during these four months. Here are a couple of learnings and reflections that I took away:
🪄 Try a bunch of different things.
I wasn't sure what my role involved or the team's capabilities until we started collaborating. We gathered all our ideas and took just went for it. Don Norman's "fail often, fail fast" mindset was a personal guiding light as we pursued our ideas throughout the semester.
🎨 Design isn’t just a screen.
Participating in Interventions: Ignite provided me with an invaluable opportunity to broaden my design horizons beyond the realm of print and digital products. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to apply the design process in a new context – organizing and executing a conference.
🔮 Believe in myself as a leader.
This was my first project lead role, and I was able to learn a lot about myself as a leader. It was a significant shift from being a contributor to guiding and orchestrating the entire process. In this role, I had to take ownership of defining the project's overarching goals, setting the direction, and coordinating the efforts of the team to achieve success.
💪 Play to the strengths of others.
Our projects wouldn't have been possible without everyone on the team. I knew that the success of our projects depended on the skills and efforts of every designer. Since I couldn't handle every part of each project by myself, I assigned each designer as a leader for different projects, making use of their different skills and strengths.
The results of our hard work
It was rewarding to see attendees walk up and compliment all of the installations that we had made. From the bigger AR experience to even the smaller table toppers that we had put around the conference space. All of the elements came together nicely for a cohesive experience. Although we only had one semester together, the UX team was able to contribute to the impressive metrics of the 2023 Interventions Conference.
218
total attendees
10%
increase in attendees
12
universities represented
17
headlining speakers
