Client

The Jewish Healthcare
Foundation

Date Completed

Dec 2020

My Role

Service Design
UX Design
Usability Testing
User Journey
Process Management
Visual Design
UX Copy

The Team Members

Program Manager
Event Logistics
Brand & Advertising
Event Production
Virtual Portal Product
Customer Service

Client

International Free Expression Project

Date Completed

June 2021

My Role

Project Management
Participatory Design

Information Architecture
High Fidelity Wireframes

The Team Members

Front End Developer
Copywriter

An ipad prototype with the landing screen of healthcare innovation conference Liftoff PGH

Catalyzing Healthcare Innovation in 2020

In March of 2020, Pittsburgh’s first healthcare innovation conference faced a complete digital transition. We designed a multi-sensory experience which builds tangible connection and collaboration in equal measure, attracting more than 700 participants to over 50 events featuring more than 70 national and local speakers.

by the numbers

Unifying the Experience

10

Usability
Tests

1

User Journey
Map

1

Service
Blueprint

6

Cross Platform
User Interfaces

∞

VR rockets
Launched
THE CONTEXT

Breaking the Boundaries
of Collaboration

01

In March 2020, a healthcare foundation was knee deep in planning Pittsburgh’s first healthcare innovation conference, an immersive experience uniting 1,000 disruptors across technology, health, education, and entrepreneurship. And then the century’s largest health crisis ground the event to a halt.

Sponsorships were paused, exhibit design stalled. In a maelstrom of anxiety, the event needed to redraw the boundaries of collaboration, inspiring partnership and connectivity without proximity. And the countdown had already started.

Design an event that created emotional and intellectual space for innovation.
Create tangible connections between changemakers, from a distance.
Capture the city’s openness to transformation to crow source an inclusive economic vision
THE DESIGN GOALS

Create Space for Innovation

the usability testing

Take the Screen out of Digital

02

Before restructuring the conference, we organized 6 test events to test the different formats, times, and topics that engaged our audience. From founders of contact tracing apps, to companies building maternal health platforms, we observed what resonated with users, while also continuing to build our potential customer base. These usability tests garnered six key insights.

Courtesy: Nadyli Nunez

A photo of a zoom event called Generation Fempreneur

I need more of these women in my life! I've never had such vulnerable conversations in a professional setting.

Event Attendee, Generation
Fempreneur Test Event
the rapid ideation

In limits we find the limitless

03

With the conference rule book out the window, I organized a series of ideation sessions with our team to build a completely new conference experience. No activity was off limits, from guided walks to lunch delivery, podcasts, augmented reality, and physical design kits. Based on observations of attendance, we structured a two-week innovation challenge, with at least one meditation activity, one networking event, and one thought talk per day.

Participants could start the day with a quick yoga session, launch our VR rocket while listening to a recorded lecture, and eat lunch over a curated discussion (with a voucher to order from a local restaurant). The initiative would conclude in an all day keynote featuring the host of the Hidden Brain podcast Shankar Vedantam (yes, I am a major fangirl). The proposition was unusual, and I had to sustain attendees' engagement across multiple channels which blurred virtual and reality. 

mapping the flow

User Experience IRL

04

The challenge was a mix of service and digital design, ensuring that users could slip between tangible activities and virtual engagement. Based on our usability tests, I created a persona with a strict set of assumptions, with particular emphasis on the multiple times and places people would log in to content. Starting with a mess of sticky notes, I plotted out users’ touch points from social promotion and registration to collection of their launch kit and daily attendance.

The user journey was particularly essential to navigating our digital conference portal (more on that below). The condensed timeline required an off-the-shelf solution, but none would integrate with our well trafficked website. In my formalized journey map, I over-emphasized the multiple logins and channels where people could start, illustrating how easy it would be to lose our participants’ attention.  



THE real problem

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

05

As for the virtual portal itself, the selected platform was far from customizable, and the development team spanned 5 different companies. In our first meetings, it became clear that our graphic designers, developers, and event planners were misaligned on both process and final deliverables. I organized a weekly stand-up meeting, where I presented a more robust user journey, in addition to a user flow which demonstrated the complexity of flexible timing.

When the developers could see the duplication of logins, I was able to advocate for the creation of a quick API to sync account information. My separate weekly meeting with the developers’ project manager allowed us to sync deliverables to their scrum schedule and ensure we met their technical specifications.

Meanwhile, I collaborated with the branding team at Wall to Wall to create a pixel perfect convention center facade. I centralized our asset management process and designed some clear UI wireframes with a consistent numerical structure to replace the confusing excel sheets used to upload files.

The Service Coordination

From Pain Points to Connection Points

06

With one month out, our team needed to determine where and what customer service would ensure a smooth experience. I had already identified points of frustration on the user journey, and I had already written every piece of joyful micro-copy for the registration, portal screens, and daily event reminders.

To align our teams around customer delight, I built a final service blueprint, which highlighted when we needed direct phone support and who would answer email questions from initial registration to event close. As emails began to come in, we logged all issues in a shared spreadsheet to ensure both rapid adjustment but also future resolutions.


the launch

New format, bolder experiment

07

With no time to spare, we opened the portal and I conducted a final QA check before launch. As expected, we had varying attendance throughout the 2 week event, and our women+ focused events consistently waitlisted participants. There was no shortage of forgotten passwords, login fails, but we had the systems in place to resolve every inquiry.

With more than 700 participants, 50 lectures, workshops, and networking sessions, and over 70 local and national speakers, the two and half weeks were packed with creativity and humor and humility. There was no better moment to come together, and Liftoff PGH created the space to build a community.

check out some reactions
07.

Courtesy: Luxe Creative

[Liftoff PGH]…has everything your zoom conference has been missing… They have added two weeks of daily health, networking, and innovation content in the lead up to the main event (15-16 Dec). All of this tied together with an outstanding interactive platform for expanded async networking. Plus there was the drive (or walk) thru pick-up of a well stocked lift-off pack with lots of healthy edibles along with next level swag like an air plant…

Participant, Liftoff PGH

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A laptop prototype showing the first page of the International Free Expression Project's website.

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