1.5 Billion Dollars of Pipeline

Salesforce's Biggest Event

Project Overview

Client: Salesforce
‍‍
Duration: Ongoing

Team: Product Manager, Engineers, Data Analysts, Customer Success Advocates, and myself

Objective: Make sure the Dreamforce site is amazing and no one talks badly about it - no seriously, this was the guiding principle

The Challenge

No, you read that right. 1.5 Billion Dollars of pipe depended specifically on this website that only needed to exist for three days.

The main challenge was transitioning from Open CMS to AEM with no existing components, UX/UI elements, or prior experience with the platform.

Additionally, Dreamforce 2016 was expected to sell out for the first time, requiring new registration and notification systems.

This year's site had to be built from scratch with a brand new development team, and I was the sole designer.

The Approach

To tackle these challenges, I ensured open collaboration with the development team and stakeholders from the start.

We had a ticking clock, literally, that was the constant reminder of the time we had left.

We knew that we had to take all the learnings from previous years, and innovate the experience based on feedback from users.

This approach facilitated rapid learning and integration of AEM's capabilities into the design process.

Wires

Discovery

We did a lot of internal interviews, and relied heavily on the feedback and support from the Strategy Team.

They had a considerable amount of data and feedback that they were able to give us.

We also worked with the product teams to help refine the major needs.

We identified the following main issues.

001
Registration: Registration needed a full overhaul as well as the inclusion of two new ticket types and the new "sold out" state.
002
Video / Audio: People needed to watch important events and workshops, but getting into them is near impossible some times, and when you do, you may not be able to hear everything.
003
Key Pages Transitioning: Multiple pags needed to transition as the event did. Updating almost in real time to react to users and events.


When we approached the Dev team to talk about the platform we hit a major snag.

Many previous modules and features were not feasible in AEM.

This required rapid design iterations to adapt to AEM's constraints. It significantly changed the build needed for registration flow and video sections.

We also needed to fully rebuild the ticketing flows, and many of he internal pages for events and schedules.

Live Site

Define

We had a lot of data to work from, but since it was a new platform we had to be very nimble.

Through rapid design sprints we worked on following key areas for redesign:

001
Registration Flow: Overhaul to make the process quicker and easier
002
Video Section: Improved viewing experience across multiple live channels
003
Keynotes Page: Enhanced prominence for videos
004
General Module Refreshes: Updates to various modules based on new design guidelines

Ideation / Design

We used the best wires rom the raid iteration to test and landed on a single vision to build the high quality wires from.

I created high-fidelity wireframes in collaboration with developers. We then ran a few iterative design sprints with quick turnarounds to accommodate new requirements.

During this whole process we worked very closely with the dev team. We integrated live feedback from dev team to ensure feasibility.

We built the following based on all the work we had compelted.

Key Features

001
Streamlined Registration Process: Simplified steps to improve user experience, added the "sold out" state and crated new ticket types.
002
Enhanced Video Section: Better layout for easier navigation and viewing
003
Prominent Keynotes Page: Clearer presentation of key content
004
Waitlist System: Introduced to manage issues with over-registration and collect additional leads for waitlist & marketing purposes. (This was my idea to help calm some people who may have been upset by the "sold out" state)

Testing /Validation

Faced a major last-minute redesign for the landing page to fit the new "Trailhead / Lightning / Trailblazer" theme.

As well as integrate the Lightening UI system into the platform for the first time.

I also implemented a waitlist system to handle the anticipated sellout, which was well-received by stakeholders and helped collect additional leads.

82%
Approval Rating
with users
100,000
Active Users
At Any Time
03
New Features Developed  
01
New Design Libraries Created For Dreamforce

Conclusion & Next Steps

Dreamforce 2016's website was successfully completed within the tight timeline, despite numerous challenges.

The waitlist system effectively managed over-registration and enhanced user satisfaction.

People were extremely happy with the expereince, and gushed over the stability, and the overall useability across mobile, tablet and desktop.

By maintaining open communication and rapid iteration, we delivered a highly functional and user-friendly website for Dreamforce 2016, ensuring a seamless experience for users and meeting all business objectives.

And NOBODY complained... in a meaningful way. We didnt get one nasty tweet, bad article, or general complaint about the site that year.

Future plan

001
Ongoing Collaboration: Continue close collaboration with development and business teams for next year's event
002
User Feedback Integration: Gather and analyze user feedback from Dreamforce to inform future improvements
003
Platform Optimization: Further refine AEM capabilities and explore new features for upcoming projects

Let's see how I
can help you

I was able to help Wonolo


I improve the job posting, reviews, and feedback system for both job requesters (Requestors) and job seekers (Seekers). What can I do for you?

001
Design
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"Their strategic insights made Dreamforce looked & worked better."

Jacinda Perez
PM Salesforce
002
Strategy, Design
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"He always brought good ideas and a collaborative spirit."

Samantha Carson
Designer Manager, Densu
003
Strategy, Design, Research
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"He was a dream to work with, i miss him!"

Jessica Hampton
Content & Branding, Wonolo
004
Branding
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"Jon always provided us professional work."

Marcus Johnson
Fullstack Dev, Densu