Automating Efficiency:

Streamlining the Nomination, Management & Judging Process for Award Events

£30k saved pa

from previous platform fees

70+

events run more efficiently

1120+

hours saved

100%

control and customisability

Introduction

National World Events deliver over 70 events per year across the UK, including award events where individuals, teams, businesses and more are recognised for their outstanding achievements in various categories and fields across communities in the UK. The previous event management platform, Evessio, charges per event managed on the platform. Due to the success of the events team and the number of events run annually, the cost of managing the events on the platform quickly doubled to more than £30,000 per annum. Using a third-party application also reduces the flexibility of customising the platform to fit specific business needs, hence the need for a bespoke solution that integrates seamlessly with internal applications and meets requirements. The new nomination portal will help the events team to improve the user experience for users submitting nominations across the different types of events, as well as the judging of those submissions by external judges. The events team will be in full control of the platform and can streamline the management processes of nominations to their needs.

Client and Background

National World Events, as part of the wider National World Publishing Limited portfolio, employs a team of event professionals who deliver over 70 events per year across the UK. The events team host and oversee many types of events including award ceremonies, conferences, roadshows, exhibitions and festivals. Over the years, the company has acquired more businesses and the events team have increased the number of events managed and launched per year.

Research and planning

User Research: Surveys and interviews were conducted with nominators, judges, and event managers to gather insights into their experiences and pain points with the existing system.

Stakeholder Input: The event involves numerous stakeholders, including hundreds of nominees, a panel of distinguished judges, and a team of event managers. Efficient and user-friendly dashboards are critical for smooth operation. Regular meetings with event managers and key stakeholders helped identify critical requirements and set clear goals for the redesign.

Portal Users and their Objectives

Nominators
Easy nomination submissions, progress tracking, user-friendly navigation, and personalized notifications.
Judges
Streamlined judging workflows, efficient scoring systems, comment sections, and quick access to nomination details.
Event Managers
Comprehensive management of nominations, real-time progress monitoring, detailed reporting, & user management.

design goals and proposed solution

1. Enhance User Experience

Goal: Improve the dashboard structure to make it easier for users to find what they need.

Proposed Solution: Implement a clean and modern interface design with intuitive navigation, easy-to-access features, and a consistent layout across all dashboards.

2. Increase Efficiency and Productivity

Goal: Streamline the nomination, collation, and judging processes to save time and reduce manual effort.

Proposed Solution: Implement automated notifications, reminders, and data collation to streamline workflows and ensure timely progress amongst the end-users and judges.

3. Enhance Reporting and Analytics

Goal: Provide comprehensive reporting and analytics tools to monitor progress and outcomes effectively.

Proposed Solution: Integrate reporting features that allow event managers to generate detailed reports on nominations, judging scores, and overall event progress. Include visual analytics tools such as graphs and charts.

4. Ensure Scalability and Flexibility

Goal: Design a system that can accommodate future growth and changing requirements.

Proposed Solution: Build a scalable architecture that can handle increasing numbers of nominations and users. Use modular design principles to allow for easy updates and the addition of new features.

process

Discovery & Research

  • Stakeholder Interviews & User Surveys: Gathered insights from event managers, judges, and nominators to understand their needs and challenges.

Planning & Strategy

  • Goal Setting: Defined clear goals focused on user experience, workflow efficiency, and data management.
  • Feature Prioritization and Roadmap Development: Prioritized features and created a detailed project roadmap.

Design & Prototyping

  • Wireframing and Prototyping: Developed wireframes and interactive prototypes to visualize and test user flows.
  • User Testing: Conducted usability testing to refine the designs based on feedback.

Development

  • Agile Methodology: Adopted an agile approach for iterative improvements.
  • Backend & Frontend Development: Developed a robust backend system and a responsive, intuitive frontend interface.

final design

The new dashboards offer a clean, intuitive interface with enhanced functionality tailored to the needs of nominees, judges, and event managers.

Nominators (Primary Users)

A intuitive and simplified navigation system.

Principle of Progressive Disclosure

Progressive disclosure is a design technique that involves revealing information and options gradually as needed, rather than overwhelming the user with too much information at once. This approach was applied to help manage complexity, improve usability, and keep users focused on the task at hand by reducing cognitive load.

Why it was applied

  • Improves User Experience: Step-by-step forms guide users through the process, providing a clear path to follow. This structured approach can make users feel more confident and less frustrated.
  • Enhances Engagement: Users are more likely to stay engaged with a multi-step form, as each step feels like a small, achievable goal.

Principle of Progressive Disclosure

Progressive disclosure is a design technique that involves revealing information and options gradually as needed, rather than overwhelming the user with too much information at once. This approach was applied to help manage complexity, improve usability, and keep users focused on the task at hand by reducing cognitive load.

Why it was applied

  • Improves User Experience: Step-by-step forms guide users through the process, providing a clear path to follow. This structured approach can make users feel more confident and less frustrated.
  • Enhances Engagement: Users are more likely to stay engaged with a multi-step form, as each step feels like a small, achievable goal.

Ability to Review Submissions

Following Nielsen's sixth heuristic, "Recognition Rather Than Recall", this feature ensures that nominators do not have to rely on memory to recall their submissions. By making their applications easily accessible for review, the cognitive load on users is reduced and their ability to verify and reference their past submissions is improved, enhancing overall usability and satisfaction.

Judges

A intuitive and simplified navigation system.
A intuitive and simplified navigation system.
A intuitive and simplified navigation system.

Event Managers

A intuitive and simplified navigation system.
A intuitive and simplified navigation system.

The submitted nomination entries are shown in another screen, where the manager can see the number of submitted nominations under that category, and the number of the scored nominations.

The total score across board from all the judged judging that category is also displayed, as well as the average to help choose the top scores. The manager is also able to view each nomination, the scores from the judges, as well as the comments.

A visual element (award icon) is included in the top scored entry to help the manager easily identify nominations to prioritize for the award event.

The manager has the flexibility to add and invite judges by entering the judge’s name, email address, and the categories the judge is invited to score.

The event manager is also able to see from this page if the judge has accepted their invitation or if it’s still pending, as well as their scoring progress.

Results and impact

The design and development of the nominations portal for award events was completed successfully and yielded significant positive results and impacts:

  1. Increased Efficiency:
    The new dashboards streamlined the entire process, reducing the setup time for event managers by at least 40%, saving countless hours over time for several events. This is thanks to the platform being built to integrate with the individual event websites to pull required information and managers can manage information from one point without needing to recreate it on the nominations portal.
  2. Cost Saving:
    Moving away from a third party solution to an in-house one saves the company on software cost of over £30,000 each year for the growing number of events.
  3. Improved User Experience:
    Nominators and judges reported a 47% increase in user satisfaction scores, citing the intuitive and user-friendly interface.
  4. Enhanced Data Management:
    Building an in-house solution means all company data stays within the company (without relying on third parties) and can abide by company data policies, which is essential for user data protection. The event managers also benefit from reduced time spent on administrative tasks by being in control of the data they need.
  5. Flexibility and Control:
    Features such as the ability for nominators to save submission progress, withdraw and review their submissions led to a 20% decrease in nomination errors, improving the overall quality of submissions.
  6. Increased Brand Trust:
    Keeping the portal in-house means that users don't have to sign up to a third-party application and see consistent branding across the board, resulting in increase in trust and a stronger brand identity among participants.
  7. Feedback system:
    An in-built feedback system allows users to send feedback directly to the event managers. The feedback system collects first-hand information and highlights what's working well for user experience as well as areas of frustration, which is used to improve the system further.
  8. Scalability:
    As the company and team keep growing with acquisitions and new events, other events have been launched on the portal easily while allowing restricted access to external managers. The system allows for easy scalability (including incorporating feedback from users and event managers) as needed by the company.

Conclusion

The comprehensive design and development of the portal successfully addressed the challenges faced by the nominators, judges, and event managers. By implementing user-friendly design principles, an efficient, intuitive, and scalable system was created, significantly improving the nomination and judging process while saving thousands of pounds in software cost.
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