How to make a physical event for 190 people interactive and inclusive

The challenge: make the Sophia Antipolis Agile Tour more inclusive and interactive

"Imagining an agile world". This is the slogan of the Agile Tour, a series of non-profit events that take place in various cities around the world every fall. At the end of September, it comes to Sophia Antipolis for a day of conferences and workshops looking at business agility.

Viviane Morelle is a team coach and professional graphic facilitator. She is also a volunteer for this stage of the Agile Tour. As she explains very clearly: "The Agile Tour is all about meetings whose goal is to spread the word about agility all over the world."

Hence the importance of a high quality user experience, when you realize that human beings are at the very core of agile methods.

Rethinking the user experience at the Sophia Antipolis Agile Tour is Viviane’s project. "We started from the premise that we needed more interaction. That we had to increase visibility for our program and our partners, and above all that we needed to be able to collect feedback."

The solution: a Board as a shared interface between participants and speakers

Klaxoon, one of the event partners, provided its Workshop Platform to organize and create a unique user experience for the Sophia Antipolis Agile Tour.

Viviane set up 6 spaces on a Board, to make all the workshops and conferences as visible and clear as possible on this stage of the Agile Tour.

Viviane and her team used an iterative approach to create this Board and ensure that all the information was available.

• The first space contains general information about the event: access to the campus, terms of use for Board, public health guidance, the venue plan and the program.

Thanks to Board, we were able to share links, images and plans in an easy to understand and visual way.

• A second space is reserved for partners who can introduce themselves by means of four questions: Can you introduce yourself and your company? What do you expect from the 2021 Agile Tour? What would you like to bring to it? What are the virtues of agility in your opinion and within your company? Do you have an anecdote from a previous Agile Tour?

Each partner answers these questions individually with ideas. We managed to move away from the traditional company presentation by using ideas.

• The third space is dedicated to networking, where participants, speakers, partners and sponsors can exchange information easily.
• The fourth features the day's program.

At each workshop and conference, the audience is asked Questions to get feedback and relevant information about the day’s proceedings. This way, each participant can share their views about the sessions, for the benefit of the entire group.

Viviane is a big fan of the Question tool, especially during the major conference plenary sessions: "Thanks to Questions, we could interact with the public." An opportunity to get feedback in real time during the event.

• A final space is specifically for the Poll tool to collect more constructive feedback about all the conferences/workshops, and whether the Sophia Antipolis stage of the Agile Tour has been a success.

This part is essential with respect to continuous improvement for the people organizing the event. Viviane Morelle gives more detail about the use of these polls: "After the event, the entire organizing team was able to conduct a debrief via Klaxoon: a retrospective of the speakers and the organizers, etc."

To ensure an excellent engagement rate, Viviane and her team awakened the competitive spirit of attendees. "During the day, we offer participants a chance to win a Klaxoon license. The winner is whoever participates the most on Board during the day. This generates a very high engagement rate."

The result: even more participation and engagement in the event

At the end of the Sophia Antipolis leg of the Agile Tour, the benefits of using Klaxoon are significant for Viviane.

First, with respect to quantity, 170 people logged in to Board out of 190 registered, i.e. a participation rate of 89%.

With respect to quality, the exchanges proved fruitful and the organization as a whole was successful. Viviane used Board before, during and after the event.

We were able to onboard partners and participants ahead of the event using an interactive format. One of our roles at the Agile Tour is to spark interest in new tools used by the agile teams.

On the actual day, interactive tools such as Polls and Questions encouraged everyone’s participation and interaction.

With Klaxoon, we were able to collect feedback from participants at the end of each session, and speakers had direct access to the information without it having to be put in another format.

After the event, asynchronous exchanges added the final touch to the overall experience: "Following the event, we shared the Board and told participants that they could find all the content centralized on it. Speakers and participants were able to drop and share materials and documents or articles relating to each conference or workshop independently."

And for the organizers, all these exchanges are a gold mine of information: "Afterwards, we were able to share and organize feedback to improve our internal operation. We had a retrospective workshop for the organizers in person after the event."

More generally, using Board and Klaxoon tools made both the organization and discussions easier, giving all stakeholders more flexibility.

Klaxoon gave us more flexibility compared to the website. Thanks to Board, everyone can update information. In this instance, it confirms our agile approach, we can always make improvements. Klaxoon is easy to use, especially from a phone, which was how our participants used it during the day of conferences and workshops.

Finally, the Board’s visual aspect was a source of inspiration for everyone, according to Viviane. "People often don’t realize that you can create a whole universe, and seeing one like this inspires them. A Board is a whole universe, with a story, and it gives participants ideas. As organizers, we were able to breathe new life into the event, to get away from the traditional PowerPoint format. It was dynamic, people could find and retrieve information live."

Viviane's conclusion says it all: "I recommend Klaxoon for its overview, the sharing aspect and all the tool’s varied features."