Design Thinking for Innovation: Visualization (Module 1)

“Evolving In-Person Events to a Virtual Experience”

Challenge & Selection

It can be a challenge to conduct a productive design thinking session remotely with a large 14-person  team in the current era of working from home. With professional events of all sizes quickly pivoting from  a typical in-person delivery to a virtual delivery model worldwide, my meeting planning team was posed  with a similar challenge. My team plans an annual event to host 350+ Manager-level employees from  across the US for an in-person 3-day learning and networking event. Since large gatherings are currently  restricted with COVID-19, my team’s challenge was to explore effective ways to convert a 350-person  networking event typically held in person into a virtual offering while maintaining similarly high levels of  participant learning & engagement. How does one incorporate all the various aspects of a successful in- person event to life in an effective virtual capacity, while redesigning an engaging guest experience for  intimate professional networking and meaningful learning?

Since my planning team’s challenge to recreate a event experience was human centered at its core, I  selected the Visualization tool for my team to: 1) achieve a shared understanding of the problem – what  elements are essential to redesign an event experience effectively, and 2) kick-off a brainstorming  session to instill creative thinking for potential solutions.

Whiteboarding is a common visualization technique where various stakeholders write down what or  how they are visually thinking on sticky Post-It Notes and then physically stick/move these paper notes  at various points in the event lifecycle. In a 100% remote working environment, the use of digital sticky  notes in breakout sessions for small group collaboration was a Visualization technique that enabled my  planning team to dive into idea generation. With a set of key questions, this visual thinking technique  prompted exploratory, abstract discussions as well as aligned group thinking to achieve consensus on  the event design approach in tangible, concrete, and productive way.

Application

Before our first group brainstorming session, it was important for me to do some preparation work for  the team. Prior to COVID-19 and remote working, the planning team was originally segmented into four  workstreams: (1) Marketing & Communications, (2) Event Venue & Logistics, (3) Learning Content &  Agenda, and (4) Networking & Speaker Engagement, as shown in the Figure 1 screenshot below.

Figure 1

I started the process by mixing up the teams and creating new “buckets” or categories for each  component of the event domain. Since the team’s ability to collaborate with sticky notes on a physical  whiteboard was not feasible, I divided the large team into small groups of 4-5 team members where  they participated in a small breakout session that focused on a different category of event design.  Assigning individuals to a specific group beforehand ensured a Lead/POC from each original event  workstream was represented in each small group breakout session. This approach diversified the type of  thought leadership and hypothesis’ that would be generated within each breakout sessions.

Figure 2

The Figure 2 screenshot above illustrates the event design categories that prompted each Group 1, 2, or  3 to generate creative ideas and answer their respective question moving beyond the ‘What Is’ to  explore the ‘What If’. I allocated approximately 15-minutes for each breakout group to have relevant  discussions and synthesize their key themes on digital sticky notes. Figure 3 screenshot below illustrates  one example from one of the small breakout session results.

Figure 3

After the small breakout discussions concluded, I facilitated the team coming back together in a single,  virtual forum to debrief. I asked each group to report out their takeaways, while I quickly captured the  shared commonalities and type of feedback it received from the rest of their team members. After the  session, I documented the meeting minutes, including the combined feedback, shared insights, open  questions, key concerns, and other considerations from the discussion, to distribute to my planning  team. This artifact now serves as a reference document that the team can always point back to as we  continue working through the details of event design. Documenting the key takeaways and shared  insights reinforces the group’s understanding of the fundamental problem and shared insights that the  team can point back as a cornerstone for related decisions.

Insight & Approach

Establishing a clear understanding of the problem domain and developing core guiding principles based  on what my team agreed upon was a critical cornerstone to then progress forward in case conflict  arouse later in the ideation and/or execution phases. Since my team was early in the design thinking  process, there was lead time available for disagreement, inefficiencies, and ambiguity in order to

achieve consensus and decisions for the overall event design. The tool of Visualization solidified  alignment of our thinking and approach to the problem as well as drove shared insights for more  valuable results. Even though the way in which this annual event is delivered changed from an in-person  to a virtual experience, our human-centered challenge required us to level set context of the problem in  order to re-create a guest experience effectively and maintain its status as the #1 ranked event attended  by Manager-level employees.

Using the tool of visual thinking with our challenge forced creative ideas to be explored with diagrams,  instead of being verbally open for interpretation in a slightly different way. Thus, my team evolved its  thinking from a single activity set (e.g. simply digitizing the same event content to be available on video  broadcasts without a physical event venue) into a larger set of event design activities (e.g. restructuring  design elements to make an event execution successful, engaging, and highly attended).

Practicing the use of visualization helps me become a better communicator – both written and verbally.  After taking this course, I realized that I don’t have to have all the “right answer” to an open-ended  question, but I can leverage images to stimulate unbounded creativity, imagination, and exploratory  thinking. Without the support of visualization techniques, like categorization and the use of structured  color, innovative ideas generated risk getting “lost” if not quickly captured visually for further  exploratory discussion or risk overlooking the commonalities between insights. In our next planning  team session, I will practice additional visualization techniques, such as mapping process flows, to  explore the next level of detailed planning for a revised event schedule/agenda. While scheduled to  occur virtually in October 2020, my team’s redesign will consider all the insights shared on what makes  an effective, engaging, and compelling event.


Design Thinking for Innovation : Visualization ( Module 1 ) “ Evolving In - Person Events to a Virtual Experience ” Challenge & Selection It can be a challenge to conduct a productive design thinking session remotely with a large 14 - person team in the current era of working from home . With professional events of all sizes quickly pivoting from a typical in - person delivery to a virtual delivery model worldwide , my meeting planning team was posed with a similar challenge . My team plans an annual event to host 350 + Manager - level employees from across the US for an in - person 3 - day learning and networking event . Since large gatherings are currently restricted with COVID-19 , my team ’s challenge was to explore effective ways to convert a 350 - person networking event typically held in person into a virtual offering while maintaining similarly high levels of participant learning & engagement . How does one incorporate all the various aspects of a successful in- person event to life in an effective virtual capacity , while redesigning an engaging guest experience for intimate professional networking and meaningful learning ? Since my planning team ’s challenge to recreate a event experience was human centered at its core , I selected the Visualization tool for my team to : 1 ) achieve a shared understanding of the problem – what elements are essential to redesign an event experience effectively , and 2 ) kick - off a brainstorming session to instill creative thinking for potential solutions . Whiteboarding is a common visualization technique where various stakeholders write down what or how they are visually thinking on sticky Post - It Notes and then physically stick / move these paper notes at various points in the event lifecycle . In a 100 % remote working environment , the use of digital sticky notes in breakout sessions for small group collaboration was a Visualization technique that enabled my planning team to dive into idea generation . With a set of key questions , this visual thinking technique prompted exploratory , abstract discussions as well as aligned group thinking to achieve consensus on the event design approach in tangible , concrete , and productive way . Application Before our first group brainstorming session , it was important for me to do some preparation work for the team . Prior to COVID-19 and remote working , the planning team was originally segmented into four workstreams : ( 1 ) Marketing & Communications , ( 2 ) Event Venue & Logistics , ( 3 ) Learning Content & Agenda , and ( 4 ) Networking & Speaker Engagement , as shown in the Figure 1 screenshot below . Figure 1 I started the process by mixing up the teams and creating new “ buckets ” or categories for each component of the event domain . Since the team ’s ability to collaborate with sticky notes on a physical whiteboard was not feasible , I divided the large team into small groups of 4 - 5 team members where they participated in a small breakout session that focused on a different category of event design . Assigning individuals to a specific group beforehand ensured a Lead / POC from each original event workstream was represented in each small group breakout session . This approach diversified the type of thought leadership and hypothesis ’ that would be generated within each breakout sessions . Figure 2 The Figure 2 screenshot above illustrates the event design categories that prompted each Group 1 , 2 , or 3 to generate creative ideas and answer their respective question moving beyond the ‘ What Is ’ to explore the ‘ What If ’ . I allocated approximately 15 - minutes for each breakout group to have relevant discussions and synthesize their key themes on digital sticky notes . Figure 3 screenshot below illustrates one example from one of the small breakout session results . Figure 3 After the small breakout discussions concluded , I facilitated the team coming back together in a single , virtual forum to debrief . I asked each group to report out their takeaways , while I quickly captured the shared commonalities and type of feedback it received from the rest of their team members . After the session , I documented the meeting minutes , including the combined feedback , shared insights , open questions , key concerns , and other considerations from the discussion , to distribute to my planning team . This artifact now serves as a reference document that the team can always point back to as we continue working through the details of event design . Documenting the key takeaways and shared insights reinforces the group ’s understanding of the fundamental problem and shared insights that the team can point back as a cornerstone for related decisions . Insight & Approach Establishing a clear understanding of the problem domain and developing core guiding principles based on what my team agreed upon was a critical cornerstone to then progress forward in case conflict arouse later in the ideation and/or execution phases . Since my team was early in the design thinking process , there was lead time available for disagreement , inefficiencies , and ambiguity in order to achieve consensus and decisions for the overall event design . The tool of Visualization solidified alignment of our thinking and approach to the problem as well as drove shared insights for more valuable results . Even though the way in which this annual event is delivered changed from an in - person to a virtual experience , our human - centered challenge required us to level set context of the problem in order to re - create a guest experience effectively and maintain its status as the # 1 ranked event attended by Manager - level employees . Using the tool of visual thinking with our challenge forced creative ideas to be explored with diagrams , instead of being verbally open for interpretation in a slightly different way . Thus , my team evolved its thinking from a single activity set ( e.g. simply digitizing the same event content to be available on video broadcasts without a physical event venue ) into a larger set of event design activities ( e.g. restructuring design elements to make an event execution successful , engaging , and highly attended ) . Practicing the use of visualization helps me become a better communicator – both written and verbally . After taking this course , I realized that I do n’t have to have all the “ right answer ” to an open - ended question , but I can leverage images to stimulate unbounded creativity , imagination , and exploratory thinking . Without the support of visualization techniques , like categorization and the use of structured color , innovative ideas generated risk getting “ lost ” if not quickly captured visually for further exploratory discussion or risk overlooking the commonalities between insights . In our next planning team session , I will practice additional visualization techniques , such as mapping process flows , to explore the next level of detailed planning for a revised event schedule / agenda . While scheduled to occur virtually in October 2020 , my team ’s redesign will consider all the insights shared on what makes an effective , engaging , and compelling event .