TEDxCMU
An attendee-focused app for 500+ annual attendees providing a live schedule, communicating with speakers, and interactive content.
Type / Web App
Duration / 2019
Role / Innovation Team Member
Tools / UX • Frontend
Background
In September 2018, I joined the board member of TEDxCMU, an annual conference and independently organized chapter of TED bringing together some of the world’s most bold and innovative thinkers to Carnegie Mellon University at a 400+ attendee event. I was responsible for styling the front-end of a new web application for our events.
Brainstorming
The innovation team ideates solutions to problems in the board and creates interactive elements for our event attendees. We brainstormed with our 30+ member board to identify potential problems and places where our organization could use innovation.
With TEDxCMU growing to a 400+ attendee event in just a few years, management and communication became considerably more challenging. The year prior, a tech problem with cabling delayed the event by nearly an hour.
With relatively few organizers and volunteers, we needed a solution to help mitigate problems like these. We chose to build a new web application that could address the needs of multiple stakeholders and potential problems.
Ideas presented in brainstorming session from board
Stakeholders
Attendees
Create a method for them to easily view schedule changes, engage with speakers, learn more about them, and each other.
Speakers
Provide a medium for interaction with audience members that can outlive talks on stage and foster engagement.
TEDxCMU Board
Control the event schedule with real-time updates and announcements.
Lo-Fidelity
We created personas for attendees and board members, storyboarding use cases for an application. We discussed what these stakeholders need, and how they might navigate the application.
Lo-fidelity whiteboard ideation
Mid-Fidelity
Our Head of Innovation, Dean Dijour, created mid-fidelity prototypes from our early designs to present to stakeholders and help validate our design decisions in Figma.
Mid-fi mockups
Mid-fi mockups
High-Fidelity
TEDxCMU's Head of Design, Vicky Ye, thoughtfully designed high-fidelity mockups based on the mid-fidelity mockups provided and user needs. I used this as a model for the styling of our application.
Hi-fi designs
Delivery
Attendees can easily access a live schedule. The app auto-scrolls to the the current event, which pulses. A top banner also indicates any event information or announcements, if a TEDxCMU board member overrides it. They can click on speaker cards to view more about them and ask questions, and make a “ripple” on the ripple page to visualize where audience members come from.
Final product
Attendees can see a live schedule
Attendees can learn more about speakers
Attendees can "make a ripple"
Speakers can view "My Questions"
Speakers can answer questions
Speakers can see all questions
Making an announcement
Changing conference start time
Changing the time of an event
The TEDxCMU web application has since become a much larger project.
If interested in learning more about subsequent work at TEDxCMU, please contact me at bhuffman@andrew.cmu.edu.