EVENT MANAGEMENT CENTER

Event Management Center (EMC)

The Event Management Center (EMC), is Microsoft's

global event management tool. The launch of the Event

Management Center (EMC) aims to provide a single, one-stop destination to plan, manage, and execute Digital and

In-Person commercial marketing events with Microsoft

first-party technology. Reduce cost to create and execute

events through automating event creation tasks

Jan 2021- May2022

Key Design Lead Responsibilities

Cross-functional team collaboration: Working closely with PM, Engineering, Data, and Business teams.
Close collaboration with product teams: Partnering with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams product teams.
Partnering with research: Engaging with user research to inform design decisions.
Collaboration with product management: Ensuring design aligns with business and product goals.
End-to-end event journey mapping is utilized to pinpoint opportunity areas and delineate key roles.

Key Design Responsibilities

Interaction design: Crafting intuitive, user-centered interaction flows.
Visual design: Ensuring appealing and consistent visual aesthetics.
Prototyping: Creating interactive prototypes to validate design concepts.
Testing: Conducting usability testing to refine designs.
Accessibility: Ensuring inclusive design practices for all users, including those with disabilities.

MY Role - DESIGN LEAD

Interaction design, Visual design, Prototyping, Testing, Accessibility, Partnering with research, Cross functional team collaboration (PM, Engineering, Data, Business), close collaboration with product teams (Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Team’s)

Event Marketers

I own the entire event planning process, from strategy to execution. This includes managing logistics, coordination, and ensuring successful event outcomes.

Integrated Marketing Manager

As an Integrated Marketing Manager, I provide strategic direction on event planning and prioritization for local areas, ensuring alignment with business objectives and regional needs.

PRIMARY PERSONAS

THE PROBLEM

Event marketers and sellers face significant challenges in managing commercial events due to disconnected tools, a confusing and limited calendar, and a lack of partner integration. The current tool fails to focus on sellers’ needs and lacks a clear value proposition, leading to inefficiencies in event planning and promotion. To address these pain points, there is a need for a collaborative, intuitive event management platform that provides a single source of truth for all commercial events, offers comprehensive calendar functionality, and delivers real-time insights to drive strategic decision-making.

Disconnected tools:

Users must juggle multiple platforms that do not integrate seamlessly, resulting in fragmented workflows and inefficiencies when managing event stages.

The calendar is confusing and of limited utility:

The current calendar interface is hard to navigate and lacks essential filtering options, making it difficult for users to track and manage events effectively.

No true partner integration:

The platform does not support seamless collaboration with external partners, complicating the coordination of joint events and reducing overall efficiency.

Lacks seller focus:
The tool does not prioritize the needs of sellers, making it difficult for them to identify relevant events or efficiently communicate them to potential customers.

Unclear value proposition:

Users struggle to understand the tool's unique benefits, leading to low adoption and engagement across teams.

Partnered with the researcher to identify the user pain points and opportunity areas based on foundational research study

WHAT WE LEARNED

UX GOALS

Partnered with the researcher to define user goals based on the foundational research study

Collaborative and flexible event management

More than one person can work on an event in the tool
The events calendar is comprehensive and intuitive to use

Users can easily edit and adapt events if circumstances change

Single source of truth for all commercial events
Marketers easily manage all event stages on a single platform
The calendar offers a comprehensive view of all events
The calendar view can be filtered by event type, region, and topic
Sellers quickly identify relevant events to publicize to customers

Insight-driven strategic event planning

Real-time event insights during and post-event
Ability to cut insights by multiple factors
Quickly collate event data to share with the team

I conducted workshops with key stakeholders and business teams to define the "As-Is vs. To-Be" process, identifying opportunities for improvement such as new vs. old features, automated vs. manual tasks, and optional vs. mandatory steps.

ANALYSIS OF " AS-IS VS. TO-BE" PROCESS

I used the card sorting technique with key stakeholders to define the high-level information architecture and navigation structure, which was later validated through a study conducted by researchers.

Defining Information Architecture and Navigation

Information Design Explorations

Marketing Coordinator, India

“It [EMC] is helping me move out

of excel with a central view of all the events happening. Optimistic for an even more complete view as it progresses.”

Integrated Marketing Manager, CEE

“EMC will help me have conversations with local leadership and guide them to the right execution.”

Marketing Coordinator,
Australia

“Post event information will be great, especially the email insights. My preference is for the Demand

Gen insights - that would be

extremely helpful. As would thank you email insights and any other thank you emails that are sent.”

Integrated Marketing Manager, CEE

“EMC improves the experience so

it’s not just a 5-minute in and out

tool. I’d spend more time here and come back and look at my events in more depth.”“You are on the

right path.”

VALIDATION AND USER FEEDBACK

FINAL DESIGN

Marketing Coordinator, Australia

“Overall, EPC is the right direction for us to go as a marketing

organization and it serves marketing goals.” – Marketing Coordinator, Australia

Integrated Marketing Manager, GCR

“For local marketing view, EMC can be the one place to track the data and how the event plan is going and what the status is and what the impact is. It could make sure we meet the business objective.” – Integrated Marketing Manager, GCR

PRASAD NEURGAONKAR