M A N A G I N G T H E C H A O SO F E X P E R I E N T I A L E V E N T S

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When creating innovative experiences on location….

Logistical planning … EssentialReacting to change … Unavoidable

Atlassian tools provide structured workflows and support for improvisation.

We use both!

T H E C H A O S

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

— Mike Tyson

Devin HunterHelios Director of Operations

A B O U T H E L I O S

W H E R E W E S TA R T E D

S A L E S P I P E L I N E

K I C K O F F

P R O T O T Y P E

F I R S T I T E R AT I O N

S E T U P + L I V E

A B O U T U S

Eric Ruud Ben McChesney

AT L A S S I A N TO O L S U S E D• Using JIRA for Sales Pipeline leading to project

• Using JIRA for Task and Story Tracking (Scrum or Kanban) during development

• Using JIRA for hardware and shipping during dev and deployment.

• Using HipChat for day-to-day communication all the way through• Using Bitbucket Server for Code

• Now using Confluence, but weren’t for this project

S A L E S P I P E L I N E• How we got the job

• Custom JIRA workflow for pipeline:• 7 steps from “potential opportunity” to

“signed SOW”

• Defined the experience to the best of our ability in Statement of Work

S A L E S P I P E L I N E

I N I T I A L A S S U M P T I O N S• At SXSW

• IBM and GPJ as Client• Knew it would involve VR + Physical

Bicycles

• Live Dates• Wind Fan control

• Linear “on rails” experience• Messaging: “Using IBM Data to optimize your

performance”

C L I E N T E X P E C TAT I O N S• No guest gets injured or has a bad IBM brand

experience• As close to 100% uptime as possible (no black

screens)

• No Lost leads• Unique, Innovative Experience

• Socially Shareable Tie-in for those outside the event• Communicate the Brand Story

A D D I T I O N A L I N F O L E A R N E D• Integrating with a third party lead gen system — FISH

• Three paths (pro rider, urban cyclist, weekend warrior)• Physical Bikes: road bike, mountain bike, beach cruiser

• Static data vs your ride’s data in the photo social shareable

• Wind fan integration removed• 5 recommendations on the path

• Addition of bike trainers• Added Audio to scope

• On site support for duration of festival added

• Now on six bikes instead of three• Celebrity Cyclist may be present

P R O TO T Y P I N G P H A S E

P R O TO T Y P I N GDiscovery on Bike Hardware integration:

§ Previous solution has used ANT+ <-> Android <-> PC

§ New solution proposed as ANT+ <-> PC

§ Concerns with wireless signal strength with crowd of people

§ Stability Concerns given timeframe

§ Lack of backup options on site

§ Lots of unknowns — likely to run out of scope

§ Wired connection

§ Good Build Quality

§ C++ Integration via vendor .dll

P R O TO T Y P I N G

§ “Where are these bikes going”

§ “How much room do we have”

§ “How do these tie into the brand story?”

P R O TO T Y P I N G

P R O TO T Y P I N G

§ “Does this feel right? Does this feel like cycling?”

§ Scale in VR

§ “Can we add in coasting?”

FIRST ITERATION

F I R S T I T E R AT I O N

F I R S T I T E R AT I O N

§ Motion Sickness on turns

§ Office “Dogfooding”

§ In the deployment space

§ In the Trainer

§ In a car for transport?

F I R S T I T E R AT I O N

§ Does the brand story match the environment?

§ Unnerving when environment changes happen quickly

§ Bikeshedding* on Clouds

• Tried a few iterations results didn’t feel convincing and reverted

• Accepted solution is what the subject matter expert suggested, not what the client thought they wanted

SETUP + LIVE

S E T U P + L I V E

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Electricity being run

§ Walls Painted

§ Construction

§ Wires could not be visible

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Plastic sheets over the front windows to protect electronics

§ Plastic sheets blocked sight-lines

• BA on Bicycle on inside as a draw

S E T U P + L I V E

§ People thought it was cool, but didn’t understand why

§ Powerful tie-into a personalized journey to the IBM story

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Not part of original scope

§ Guests who did not want to ride had brand ambassadors cycle for them while they stood behind

§ Parents Cycle with Kids standing

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Used collaborator internet

§ Our internet was blocked while Obama was in town

§ Tape to the rescue!

§ Carpenter onsite had to drill air holes in cabinets

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Needed them to be self-organizing and self-managing for the duration of event

§ High temperature and humidity on porch in Austin

§ Goggles fogged up faster than normal

§ Picked up anti-fog wipes from a local store

§ Thunderstorms at night, covered patio and gear

S E T U P + L I V E

§ Full footprint / strategic goals revealed once onsite

§ “Thought this would be the hardest, was the easiest to manage with team”

§ Put ourselves in a position to succeed by mitigating the important risks beforehand

R I S K S M I T I G AT E D

§ Issues would generally be fixed in <5 minutes

§ Using Development Kits in production

§ Heat + Alcohol + Physical Effort = Bad Brand Experience

The tools and processes allow us to create innovative experiences with constantly changing requirements and external risks.

T H E C H A O S

THANK YOU

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