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Event Overview
Trying to satisfy the millions of individuals who come to large sites results in feature creep: interfaces so dense with controls, content, and functions that even expert users struggle to manage them. Instead, design teams can use personas to focus on the essential content and function for the most important user groups. Personas start where market segmentation models end. The most effective personas are based on a direct study of individual users.
Please note: This course is designed for pairs of attendees from the same company.
This two-day hands-on workshop brings together an intimate group of Forrester clients to learn persona best practices. The workshop provides:
- An understanding of what goes into the creation of a valid persona.
- How to spot a flawed persona.
- Where to find vendors that create high-value personas.
To register or for more information, please contact events@forrester.com or +1 617.613.5905.
During this full day of presentations, hands-on exercises, and discussions, Forrester analysts will teach you how to:
- Learn why personas are key to design success. Personas are valuable tools that enable firms to correct misconceptions about users and make quicker, more reliable design decisions. We¿ll discuss which design problems personas help solve, how personas are created, and ways to maximize the their value.
- Learn how to spot a great persona. Despite increasing persona usage among design agencies, the quality of those personas differs drastically. We¿ll look at basic requirements for a valid persona, recommend best practices, and evaluate actual personas.
- Watch and analyze field interviews.
Valid personas are based on ethnographic research ¿ either interviews or observational field studies ¿ conducted with the intended users of a product. We¿ll watch interviews with actual users and analyze the target user¿s key attributes and goals, then select the most significant factors that will influence the design process.
- Practice creating personas. Experience the persona-creation process from beginning to end, including choosing a name and photo, writing a ¿day in the life¿ scenario, and identifying the persona¿s key attributes and goals. Attendees will present their personas and receive feedback from their peers and Forrester analysts.
- Create a persona action plan. To get the most from personas, firms should make sure that they include the right information to guide marketing projects and prioritize efforts by tying persona segments to quantitative data. Attendees will develop a road map for developing and integrating personas into the design process and communicating their value internally and understand emerging persona formats, extensions, and uses.
Who Should Attend?
Directors/VPs of marketing or IT; eBusiness decision-makers who hire, manage, or approve the work of online designers and design firms.
Why Attend?
- Work closely with Forrester analysts. Attendance is limited to maximize client-analyst interaction.
- Understand the trends and technologies that matter most to your role, so you'll be able to make informed decisions and gain a competitive advantage.
- Complete hands-on exercises applying the same methodologies that Forrester analysts use for their own research.
- Network with peers facing similar goals and challenges.
- Leave with an action plan and strategy that will generate new growth for your company.
