More Spaces. More Meetups.

Helping meetup organisers find the perfect venue. A UX design case study for the networking portal Meetup.

The brief

Our team of three UX Designers (Jack Roche, Andy Bunyan, and me) was briefed to help meetup organisers and hosts of available spaces to find one another through Meetup’s existing website and app. Over the course of two weeks we took on the challenge.

Our high-fidelity prototype at the end of the journey.

The problem: no space, no meetup

Struggling to find a space, meetup groups are frequently forced to cancel their events. However, dozens of companies are willing to open their doors — but neither side is aware of the other.

“Sorry folks. We couldn’t find a venue and will have to cancel our meetup.” –Sales Hacker Club, Bellevue

The opportunity: a different point-of-view

Conducting a business and competitive analysis we found a clear gap in the market: Neither dedicated services like Hirespace nor platforms like Airbnb or even Craigslist actively connect organisers and venues around shared interests. In order to help meetups and companies (and Meetup to stand out) we needed to understand that we are playing a different arena:
We’re not in the hotel business. We’re in the dating business.

Two user groups, one shared goal: finding the perfect match

Through an online survey targeted at organisers and venue mangers we recruited 8 participants (5 organisers, 3 managers) for personal interviews and contextual enquiries — helping us to observe and understand their current experience in their everyday. I developed the questionnaire and conducted 3 of the interviews.

Conducting interviews with real users (organisers and hosts) at their work place to understand their needs and current experience.

Key findings: Organisers and venues are basing the perfect match on ‘shared interests/operating in the same field.’ Essential information (i.e. availability, capacity, etc.) and reliable reviews are too hard to find. Location is a key decision factor for organisers. The app is only a companion, used to manage notifications.

“I wish all information would be compiled and available in one place… I don’t have the time to call and visit each and every venue.” — meetup organiser

“I am picky with who comes here, I don’t want to damage my brand” — venue manager

Designing for the pro, paving the road for everyone else

I destilled our research findings into three personas (exemplary representations of groups of users with shared goals and behaviour). We focus on Joan, the Meetup Guru who organises meetups as part of her job. Helping her would help paving the road for less proficient users and attract the interest of companies. I then mapped out her typical tasks when searching a venue and her current experience to understand where our design could positively impact her experience.

Our main persona Joan (= an exemplary representation of our user group of frequent meetup organisers) and her current experience with organising a meetup.

As finding a venue is part of her job, Joan doesn’t want the decision taken out of her hand — but we can assist her by providing inspiration at the beginning of her journey and helping her compare potential options to make a self-determined, informed decision.

The concept: discovery beats search

Based on our research we focused on developing a match-up based on shared interests — allowing us to serve up recommendations beyond what users are currently searching and to introduce companies that weren’t on organisers’ ‘radar.’

Rapid prototyping to test and refine our concept

Involving real users throughout the exploration and design process we utilised prototypes to test our approach and further understand how the concept would meet Joan’s needs and fit into her work life. Over the course of five days we developed three iterations with increasing fidelity. My role was to design a fully working prototype based on our initial sketches and test it with 4 participants.

Prototype iterations with increasing fidelity.

Repeated user testing followed by synthesising and prioritising results to inform the next iteration of the prototype.

Presenting: a match-up function for Meetups and companies

After our final rest of testing, it was time to present our thinking, approach, and concept to our client. My role was to develop the storytelling and build the presentation.

The result

A working prototype that shows how organisers and venues can find each other based on shared interests.

Adding map search to improve search by location || Implementing review system for organisers and hosts to build trust || Venue profiles with all information in one place.

One unified service instead of two separate websites || Allowing venues to find matching groups || An element of surprise to go beyond the expected.

What lies ahead

To make the feature a reality, I took the lead in defining next steps and developing our design recommendations. Aside from further usability testing to improve navigation, I identified five major areas to focus on next.

Develop a clear visual and functional separation between the venue and the organiser section on the website to avoid confusion.
Clarify the language. During user interviews and testing we learned that “host” is associated both with a meetup organiser and the host of a venue.
Develop and implement a review system for both organisers and venues.
Roll-out the feature in a test city. This will allow to field test the feature and build critical mass before a national or even global implementation.
Develop a business model. We did not include any payment functionality as Meetup will first have to decide on the business model for lsting spaces on their website.