Abstract
Connecting authors and institutions to create meaningful events.
About the project
The problem
When Penguin and Random House merged, a number of platforms and departments had also to merge. With two Speakers Bureaus in existence, the challenge was to combine content from the separate websites into one that retained each company’s content strategies while incorporating the updated identity of the merged company.
The solution
A one-stop-shop website incorporating advanced tools for those looking to discover and book speakers for their educational, community, or corporate programs.
Audit and discovery.
Prior to our initial meetings, we audited each website for current features, calling out differences or areas where the approach might differ (for example, how speakers were categorized.
At our first meetings, we presented the audit to stakeholders and listened as they provided additional requirements that were either on their roadmaps or wishlists. Combining the lists, we then asked them to prioritize the combined set of features so that we could formulate a roadmap for design and development.
Discovery.
With the large number of authors now available to us, it was important that we created a meaningful set of filters and topics by which to search and sort authors. We also sought to hiighlight different sets of authors at various times of the year in keeping with calendar events (such as National Poetry month or Pride), which were surfaced in two different speaker lists.
Robust speaker pages.
Each speaker page highlighted a photo or video of the speaker to create an instant connection with the user. Where possible, the hero image was a video of the speaker at an event so that users could get an immediate sense of the speaker’s rhythms and style.
Additional information about the speakers was provided below, including a bio, their topics, additional video or media about the speaker, as well as a list of their books.
News & highlights.
In additional to the lists of speakers, it was important to stakeholders that they be able to create additional content around speakers and the Bureau. They wanted to be able to share news about speakers and promote speakers together tied to key events or topics.
Shortlists.
Stakeholders wanted a way for users to save speakers they were considering booking, ideally to different lists that they could share amongst each other and with Penguin Random House. This offered additional marketing opportunities as we could target messaging to individuals based on the lists they created and the speakers they saved to their shortlists.
