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Online UC-agenda schiet tekort voor mij - laten we verbeteringen bedenken

SteveGoldman

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Het moeilijkste voor mij op de Esri User Conference is ervoor te zorgen dat ik mijn tijd zo goed mogelijk gebruik en zoveel mogelijk sessies kan bijwonen. Gemakkelijke toegang tot de Agenda is hierbij essentieel. Ik bekijk deze altijd van tevoren en markeer een aantal "mogelijkheden", maar er zijn altijd meerdere sessies in veel tijdslots die ik graag zou willen bijwonen, en het komt vaak neer op andere factoren, zoals wie ik uiteindelijk tegenkom en de gesprekken die daaruit voortvloeien. Ik vind het fijn om enkele potentiële sessies gemarkeerd te hebben, maar ik wil ook live toegang tot de informatie zodat last-minute keuzes gemaakt kunnen worden.<\/P>

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De huidige online Agenda is zeker beter dan geen online Agenda, wat een paar jaar geleden nog het geval was, maar ik denk dat het veel nuttiger kan zijn zonder al te veel werk. Ik weet niet zeker of deze online versie nieuw was dit jaar, maar ik herinner me niet dat deze beschikbaar was twee jaar geleden toen ik voor het laatst deelnam.<\/P>

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Ik zou graag willen dat mensen reageren of ze het leuk vonden of niet, en welke ideeën ze hebben om het beter voor hen te laten werken. Hopelijk zal Esri met wat doordachte discussie het dan een beetje herzien.<\/P>

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Mijn kritiek is dat deze versie niet erg gebruiksvriendelijk is, noch op mijn desktop voor de planning vooraf, noch op mijn iPhone voor live toegang.<\/P>

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Ten eerste hebben ze een kaartwidget in de agenda opgenomen. We zijn allemaal map geeks, dus het is leuk om een kaart van de locaties van de zalen in het congrescentrum te hebben, maar het zou niet altijd aanwezig moeten zijn op de webpagina van de Agenda. Voor het grootste deel, terwijl je door de sessies gaat en beslist welke je wilt bezoeken, is de locatie van een bepaalde sessie onbelangrijk omdat er voldoende tijd is tussen sessies om van het ene naar het andere einde te gaan. Maximaliseer de schermruimte voor het Sessies-rooster en maak de kaart een optioneel venster dat kan worden geopend.<\/P>

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Bovendien heeft het een scrollbaar gebied binnen de hoofdpagina. Op de iPhone zorgt dit voor dubbele verticale scrollen, wat moeilijk te navigeren is. Ik denk dat een lijst op één pagina veel beter zou werken. Er kunnen inklapbare gebieden zijn voor de dagen en ook voor de tijdslots. Daarnaast kan alle informatie over de sessie ook een inklapbaar gebied zijn. Op deze manier staat alle inhoud op één webpagina. Geen dubbele inhoudsgebieden, geen pop-ups, enz.<\/P>

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De Pocket Agenda is nuttig en ik ben blij dat ze gestopt zijn met het afdrukken van de grote Volledige Agenda om bomen te sparen, maar de Pocket Agenda bevat niet de details van elke sessie, wat vooral cruciaal is voor de paper-sessies, aangezien de titel van de sessie weinig zegt over wat de drie presentaties zullen behandelen.<\/P>

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Een eenvoudige zoekfunctie is cruciaal en de bestaande site deed het hier redelijk goed, maar kan beter.<\/P>

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Welke andere ideeën zijn er? <\/P><\/BODY><\/HTML>

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danielri

Well the ESRI preconference planning tool was pretty hard to navigate, even on a dual monitor PC, so trying to use it while actually at the conference was out. To be honest, the thing that needs the most work is access to the session descriptions or paper abstracts. Instead of focusing on bling and fancy code they need something that is fast and easy to use, like this example for the AAG -> http://meridian.aag.org/callforpapers/program/index.cfm?mtgID=59

AntGiles

I Personally always find the paper version a lot easier to use than any of the different apps I have tried. You can just strike through sessions you don't want to go to, see what's left then make a choice. It's too much effort on the app to add things to your calendar then see what clashes

SteveGoldman

Yes, but since they no longer provide the full agenda in print form, you need to look online to see full session descriptions and paper abstracts, which I think are critical.

AntGiles

There was a paper pocket book in the registration pack which was the same as the online PDF:

http://www.esri.com/~/media/Files/Pdfs/events/user-conference/pdfs/uc-pocket-book‌

but I know what you mean it didn't have too much detail

JackMillar

I was wondering if during the registration process they could have used the information from attendees' desired sessions to better schedule sessions? I felt like I missed a bit since I use these conferences not just to get caught up with trends in my field but also in other fields. A broad approach can help bring new ideas.

My only other thought was that the special activities (speed geeking, gis manager summit, etc) overlapped too much with the sessions. I would have really liked it if the mornings focused on sessions, and then the afternoons were open to visiting the exhibit hall/activities/technical training.

Of course the evening in Balboa Park was pretty well done

evtguy

This year's agenda failed spectacularly. The printed pocket agenda was completely missing any workshop/presentation that was located downstairs in ESRI-land (this was not the case last year and in previous years). The ESRI Events app was inconsistent between OS versions (iOS *would* add a workshop to your calender but the Android version would not add them on my tablet). The plain web agenda planner was also lacking the ability to add sessions to your calender. In previous years, you could add them to your Outlook calender, ICal, etc. Not this year.

If it's not broke, fix it- just like the forums.

RuiSantos_EsriPT

I wonder how you make it before all wireless smart devices

I will try to get this point of view before I organize the next event.

I believe Esri will improve a lot on the next year.

Regards.

AlixBakke_SNC

I attended both the ESRI UC and the SCGIS conference this year, and I would agree I found the UC agenda a bit tricky. The SCGIS conference used "guidebook", which worked very well.

evtguy

Well, the old agenda planners allowed you to search by track. industry, etc so it was easier than using this year's attempt. What I used to do was search for keywords, copy abstracts + room info into a Word file, organize by date/time blocks and print it out for the conference. I am well versed in the "old school" method of conference planning.

The creation of an app a few years ago was a huge step forward. Why it has to get continually changed, however, is beyond me.

Oh- one more thing missing from this year's pocket agenda- daily times for the map gallery, exhibit hall, etc. The plenary session also seemed "sparse" at best.

SteveGoldman

Thanks Liz! Yeah, I figured there had to be COTS solutions out there that did this well.

Mobile Apps Made Easy | Guidebook‌

AlixBakke_SNC

It's very easy to use provides and provides general info, schedule, list of presenters, maps, to-do, schedule, inbox and attendees...

RandyKreuziger

Hated the waste of space in the session planner this year. It was designed for a touch screen with only I think 5 sessions titles on screen at a time. But I don't have a touch screen so all it was a big waste of space. On my iPhone 4 it kept crashing.

I had a problem adding to my session planner and contacted ESRI. I heard back that there were problems with IE but they were fixing them. Unfortunately, they didn't mention that on the site. Some how I sessions I never tagged started showing up. I contacted ESRI again the asked for my useridbut I never heard bad from them. THis was like 2 weeks before the conference.

AlexPage_0-1728600371318.png

TimothyHales

FYI - Jennifer Ortiz‌ Frank Garofalo‌

Anonymous User

Thanks for starting this thread, Steve, and for doing so in a generous spirit.

Above you say,

Additionally, it has a scrollable area inside the main page. On the iPhone, this creates dual vertical scrolling, which is difficult to navigate. I think a single page list would work much better. There could be collapsable areas for the days, and then also for the time-slots. Then additionally, the full info for the session could be a collapsable area. This way, all content is on a single web page. No dual content areas, no popups, etc.

Could you maybe post a screenshot of the area you are referring to as the "main page"? Especially as it relates to scrolling.

RaajRaaj_0-1728601244613.png

idcrickmore_0-1728602435434.png

Anonymous User

that's a great thought, Jack. I too think it would be very helpful if when users registered for sessions we promoted items based on their desired sessions. Just a thought, but would you also find it useful if we promoted items based on your professional background as well?

Anonymous User

thanks for sharing!

Anonymous User

Hey Steve,

You say,

The creation of an app a few years ago was a huge step forward. Why it has to get continually changed, however, is beyond me.

Which version are you referring to? How long ago? Was it a version of the native app? (i.e. the one downloaded from itunes/google play?)

JackMillar

I would think so. I'm straddling many different roles at the moment, so for me a broad spectrum approach is best (develop, manage, curate). But for others I attended with a more focused approach on agriculture, field collection and cartography would have been better, so if items were promoted that way it would have been very helpful for them.

Anonymous User

Thanks for the feedback Steve Cole. QA/QC on Android apps is a challenge due to differences between devices and OS's. I believe that adding a workshop worked on some Android tablets but not others. Please let us know which Android device/OS combination you were using so we can fix it in the next release. Josh Northcott‌

Anonymous User

Great, thanks for the feedback

RandyKreuziger

The application didn't work that well on the iPads at the UC that were sitting out for attendences to use. What I found the best were the hard copies of topic specific tech sessions that the ESRI employees had at the different islands. There where no details but at least all the sessions for a topic were layed out in a easy to scan fashion The ESRI folks gave me copies whenever I spotted one of the lists at an island it would have been great to have had access to them on line in the same format.

Anonymous User

You mentioned the Search could be better. We're always looking to improve it. Do you have any specific suggestions? I have a few questions that may foster some.

- Did you realize that Search is contextual? If you are on the Events screen, it searches Events. If you are in the Activities tab of an Event, it only searches Activities. And so on.

- Did you realize the Search filters are also contextual? For example, the Search filters for Sessions are different than Activities.

- Was the feedback adequate on selected Search filters?

Thanks,

--Dave

SteveGoldman

Steven Nelson,

First, thanks for engaging on this in a positive way. It is much appreciated to have the conversation acknowledged.

Below is a screen shot from my iPhone showing the dual-scrolling. The purple "Sessions" header is the bigger container and as shown here is partially scrolled up. The list with the "Saturday" header is the inner container, which is also shown partially scrolled up within it's container. To manage this, once I figure it out, I had to try to differentiate scrolling from the extreme edge of the screen (for the outer container), or from a point close to the edge, but not all the way (for the inner container).

I will say that playing with this now, I accidentally hit the "Full Screen" button (which I had previously just dismissed as not likely to be helpful on my phone), and it actually provides a pretty good experience and solves this dual-scrolling issues. Wish I had seen that while at the UC.

Additionally, after reading it from the comments here, I wasn't even aware that there was an actual mobile APP that I could be trying out. I did once or twice see a booth labeled "Esri Event App" or something similar, and that title just didn't strike me as being an Agenda App for the UC.

So, I can't speak to the App, as I haven't tried it, but it does seem like you guys have the technology mostly in place, and it's possibly a matter of some tweaks, and more importantly, better marketing. For instance, if there is a mobile app, why isn't there mention of it on the regular web Agenda page? Wouldn't that be the obvious place to mention it? And why is it called the Esri Event App? Why not Esri UC Agenda App? Additionally, if you could better label the "Full Screen" option to be more like "Mobile/Tablet Optimized" or something like that, there would likely be more usage and happier users.

Thanks.

-Steve

SteveGoldman

Dave,

Truthfully, most of the difficulties I had with Search had to do with the dual-vertical scrolling areas, making it hard to get to the search tool and then back to the results. That addressed, I think the Search worked pretty well, and I did use the filters on my desktop, but I don't think I did on the phone. For me, the Search was especially helpful in looking up a paper session to get the real details.

Separate topic, but short of adding all of the details into the Pocket Agenda (not realistic), maybe look into printing small QR codes next to each listing in the Pocket Agenda that could be easily scanned with a mobile device and you'd be taken right to the detail page for that session? That would be pretty nice. Not sure if there's really space though, and that'd be a lot of QR codes to generate and manage!

Anonymous User

It's called the Events App since it has information for multiple events in one app. For example, there were six Esri Events in San Diego last week including the Business Summit and Education GIS Conference. The agenda for each can be accessed from the same app. Cheers!

Anonymous User

great, thanks for the added feedback and clarity Steve Goldman. There are a few quick wins here that I can take back to the team.

Best Regards,

Steven

Cam_Barnard

Here is a UX brainstorm idea. What about a hybrid solution allowing the paper medium and the device medium to work in collaboration?

Allow the paper pocket version to shine where it already does ... laying out the options in a given time slot clearly and easily to see.

Then for each item have a small QR code (or a ref# if there is no room for that) next to each session.

Then you can use the paper and your brain for the spatial analysis it is good for and your device as the 'more info' when you need it.

RebeccaStrauch__GISP

I too feel that a few changes, and bringing back a few options from last year in the browser app at least, would help.

i think last year's browser version was just about perfect. It did have its issues of going to another page to add to my agenda, and then having to return (or was that two years ago?). So I think that was an improvement this year, including the selecting of other options on the popup. And they did bring back a print option for "my agenda", which was nice.

The items I found to be missing are 1) ability to print to PDF or excel (unless you have local software thru the print command), and 2) the ability to add your personal/private meetings to you schedule, with details. Last year this included adding scheduled tech support meetings, or any freeform entry you'ld like.

As for the mobile app, I agree with Steve about the map not always being needed. It would be nice to be able to set an option in our personal settings as to turn on or off. I would also like that option for the grid format. With so many rooms, I found this view to be fairly useless on the mobile screen, especially when looking at "my agenda" which would make most of the grid empty. Maybe if if empty columns were filtered out, it would be more useful.

i know my ios app would do strange things once in a while, such as have Monday and Tuesday both before and after Saturday and sunday, with different sessions; sessions within a day not being in order; and one particular SIG on Sundaywing up almost every time I refreshed my agenda, even after deleting it and saving. Nothing that was too critical, but strange.

The "Update Conference [ ]" each time I started up the app...I wasn't sure if the agenda was changing that option, or if it was just reloading my agenda.

I too do my homework before headin to the UC, and adjust things throughout. I've very happy that I can search the full agenda and modify my personal selections on-the-fly, so I do appreciate the work that goes into it.

Thanks

MichaelNorelli

Thanks for picking up this issue, Steve Goldman. I had a few of those frustrating moments with the app and desktop agenda, and hoped to get back with Esri about them, so I welcome this opportunity. Thanks for your ears and brains, Steven Nelson and Dave Scheirer!

Using the web agenda on desktop, twice I got into a flow, madly adding sessions, then realized I wasn't logged in. Instead of asking if I wanted to apply what clearly were saved sessions to my account after login, all that work was erased. Shame on me, but Grr!

The Android app when looking at the time slots always started with Saturday, instead of the current day. Couldn't it default to show the agenda for the current day? Or at least expose a setting so the user could choose to do that? That would be a nice feature on the web version as well.

In previous years, I could make a "personal appointment," a reservation for time not affiliated with an Esri session, like when the Dept of the Interior had an "all hands" meeting -- not on the Esri schedule, but certainly needed to be on mine. Concurring with Rebecca Strauch, please restore that ability! I couldn't add a personal appointment on the app; didn't try on the web.

And I second Rebecca's comments about printing to PDF. Having the option would be good.

These comments are only possible because of Esri's continued efforts to make the conference experience easier and more to the point. I really appreciate the work on this!

Anonymous User

Thanks for the continuing to submit comments about the User Conference online agenda. The team is following this discussion and all feedback is helpful.

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