Community on the Go
Increasing audience and host engagement in virtual classes to create more fulfilling experiences through a community-based platform
Client
Kelly Strayhorn Theater
Context
User-Centered Research and Evaluation Course, CMU
Role
I served as the Design Lead on our project, and was responsible for ideating solutions that addressed user needs as well as guiding the prototyping process. I worked with my team to recruit participants, conduct interviews, and generate insights that would create value both for Kelly Strayhorn Theater and its patrons.
Team
Piper Hayden
Brent Hong
Janie Xue
Timeline
September - December, 2020
Summary
Problem
How might we foster more meaningful interactions between participants and hosts that create or increase value in virtual events?
Solution
Community on the Go
My team worked to create a community-based website, Community on the Go, for virtual events. Participants can directly contact hosts and other attendees, thereby fostering more fulfilling experiences and engagement.
Methods: Initial Research
Background Research
To begin our research, my team explored how companies and theaters have been affected and adapted to the pandemic, as well as KST’s previous engagement data. Through this background research, we found that theaters were having to focus on long-term adaptations to maintain their audience while transitioning to the virtual format that the pandemic necessitates. We saw the potential for our solution to provide value both during and after the pandemic, and wanted to capitalize on the opportunity.
Walk the Wall
After collecting our team member's previous stakeholder and customer journey maps, storyboards, and prototypes from earlier in the semester, we began to define our project. Almost every role in the theater will be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but with the rise of virtual events there were now opportunities to reach a wider audience, in addition to having those audiences take a more active role in the event. We decided to pursue this new problem space to create a solution that would encourage audience engagement and active participation in non-performance events like workshops or classes.
Research Goals
1) To understand what makes people engage in a virtual events;
2) To understand how intuitive virtual streaming platforms are;
3)To explore what class offerings will attract different audiences.
Methods: User Research
Our team had participants think aloud as they found and registered for a virtual event on an experience website. We were interested in learning more about what factors contributed to a participant’s choice of which events to attend, including the format and class topic or activity. We found that users searched for the value proposition of each event; they wanted to know that they would get something out of the event, whether that was a fun experience or new skill. It would be key in our design to demonstrate the potential benefits of attending a virtual event, and that it would be comparable to attending an in-person event of the same type.
“Not going to lie, I’m wouldn’t pay for any of these. I’m going to look for something in Cooking because it’s something useful.”
“This event won't work. I don’t have these ingredients, and don't have time to get them beforehand.”
Contextual Interviews
We also felt that it was important to learn about the hosts' experiences with virtual events; engagement is a two-way street, and we didn't want the burden of those interactions to fall solely on the host. We interviewed five teachers who utilize various platforms to teach classes, and used contextual interviews to expose the pain points (and what was going well) for the artists/streamers. We captured our notes from the interviews in an affinity diagram, as pictured below. Our two key takeaways from the interviews with hosts were that although hosts are willing to try a variety of strategies to increase participation, audience engagement in virtual events was still a challenge. Additionally, setting clear expectations and goals could help reduce the host’s anxiety when planning and preparing for virtual events, and draw in a larger audience. We captured our notes and insights in an affinity diagram, pictured below.
"I like to go ‘thumbs up’ if you feel good, ‘thumbs down’ if you don’t but a lot of times cameras are off anyway.”
"It’s harder to know the expectations going in, so something simple like the formality of the event ... and what the other occupants will be wearing.”
Methods: Ideation
Storyboarding and Speed Dating
We used the information we had gathered through our interviews to generate sixteen different storyboards of potential solutions. The storyboards were then speed dated with real users in order to hone in on whether our perceived user needs aligned with real audiences. We came away with the following insights:
1) For recurring events, participants have a strong desire to build long-term rapport with the host and other attendees.
2) Participants are uncertain about expectations at virtual events, and they rely on the behavior of other attendees to decide what the social norms to follow.
3) Participants would like to attend events with people they are already comfortable with to chat and ask questions during the event.
Prototyping
With those insights in mind, our team decided to move forward with our storyboard that demonstrated a community forum for virtual events, pictured above. We began by creating mid-fi prototypes of the site, then conducted user testing. Participants noted that they would find the private host chat userful if they had a specific question about the event that the event details page did not address. After the event occurs, however, participants would use the forum to communicate and connect with other participants who attended the same event.
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
Our final product, Community on the Go, facilitates interactions between participants and hosts to increase engagement and reduce uncertainty about class expectations. It allows users to filter through, learn more about, and register for virtual events. Once they did so, they would be able to both message the host directly to connect or ask any questions, as well as gain access to a community forum with current and past participants. Attendees could post messages in the forum or directly message other participants.
Left Image: List of virtual events for KST. Users can see additional details or register for event.
Middle Image: Users can filter events by date to find one that fits their schedule.
Right Image:My Events page, where users can see their current and past events.
Left Image: Details of a selected event, with options to register and contact event host.
Middle Image: Users can directly message hosts or other participant.
Right Image: After registration, users have access to a forum of all event participants.
Reflection
This project helped me hone my my research skills while strengthening my design skills. One of the strengths that I brought to the team was in deriving insights and synthesizing our notes into research findings. Iliked being able to look for patterns and underlying ideas that could help us formulate a solution. I was able to do so specifically on our final deliverables, which ultimately helped us frame our final project. In our team, however, I was the designated Design Lead to help strengthen those skills. Playing a role in the research side of our project helped drive the design to bedefined and attainable for KST. It holds value for them by consolidating the event information for users and provides a more streamlined process for helping their patrons connect with each other as well as the artists in one place, and can be a long-term solution for them outside the context of the pandemic.
