A Focus on Improving both Brand and Experience

In determining the scope of the project, we asked ourselves how we can improve showcasing the annual conference with a modern design, but limit the amount of work needed. We decided to concentrate most efforts into the following areas:

• Home Page
• Event Tracks
• Registration System
• Hotel Reservations
• Sponsors and Sponsorship
• InfoZone and ExpoZone products

The Project Scope

In addition to this focus, there were some limits to the project in terms of its scope. Here are the main points from the requirements docs.

1. Content for the project would be from the 2023 website (with some polishing).

2. Ten page templates were to be designed and built (and filled with dummy content ready for 2024 editing which would happen separately).

3. The Registration system includes an intro page for three paths then forms that provide the various packages for both physical and virtual events.

4. There would be no site search.

5. The site would be hosted on Netlify

6. I would perform just the basics of Google Lighthouse optimization to keep the cost down.

The Project Phases

The WRS team worked through five project phases to deliver the project. These phases are:

• Phase 1 - SITE CONTENT
• PHASE 2 - SITE CONCEPT & DESIGN
• PHASE 3 - SITE DEVELOPMENT (Build)
• PHASE 4 - SITE REVISIONS
• PHASE 5 - SITE TEST & LAUNCH

WRI 2024 Project Phases and Budget

Here is a summary of the key tasks for each phase of the project.

PHASE 1 - SITE CONTENT - 25 Hours

Phase 1 of the project started with a discovery process where the team looked at the past design and content and started to discuss what changes we wanted to see. At the start, it's just the basics - a style guide and content.

As the website was planned to be done long before we started WRI 2024, we used the text from WRI 2023 as a yardstick for content size and length. Then, putting this together with our ideas to meet our project objectives, we produced a basic user journey, a registration step-by-step, and a series of wireframes.

PHASE 2 - SITE CONCEPT & DESIGN - 40 Hours

After the wireframes were reviewed and approved, the team set its sights on putting the vision to paper. We pulled in Randy Karey to head up the design guided by our goals, objectives, and style choices.

The phase went through two major rounds of changes based on feedback from Steve and Erica at first. Then we passed the final comps to the larger team for review and approval. At that point, we worked on pulling together some of the elements I would need during the website build.

PHASE 3 - SITE DEVELOPMENT (Build) - 125 Hours

The development phase is where all the heavy lifting occurred. Development involved the coding of components that were pieced together to create the pages that are delivered to the user's web browser.

In addition to coding components, API code is written to enable the content to be supplied by a content management system (CMS) to the specific sections and pages where it will be displayed. Images and graphic elements are also pulled together, and they were optimized for speedy loading.

A significant number of hours that were originally allocated to coding the logic required for the registration system went into the configuration of the Cvent registration system. This did not include training.

PHASE 4 - SITE REVISIONS - 25 Hours

Once the build was completed, I created a development server where the team could review the site as it would appear to users once it's launched. This provided the opportunity to review, make edits, and approve the design prior to launch. It took a little longer than expected to get everyone to approve the content, but we did so, and the site was ready for final testing and launch.

PHASE 5 - SITE TEST & LAUNCH - 10 Hours

The launch process was carefully coordinated. We created a subdomain for the WRI from the wheel-rail-seminars.com address. A lot of standard checks were made to make sure the site looked good on mobile, checked that all links work correctly, tested the registration process, and ensured that third-party integrations work correctly. Through to the final day of the conference, the site never had an issue and performed brilliantly!