The platforms behind the work, built instead of bought

Role: Designer and developer of the website and CMS, then director of the platform’s development
Scale: Corporate website, custom CMS, online quoting, customer dashboards, event registration

The Problem:

Creative consistency at speed is a systems problem, and the tools we could buy were not solving it. Third-party event platforms cost too much and did too little.

How I think about itBuild when the need is specific and the capability is in-house. Buy when it isn’t. Research decides which.

A small team with specialized needs can’t afford to be trapped by generic tools. Every new system started with research into what could be bought. Where an off-the-shelf product fit, we bought it. Where the need was specific and we had the skills, we built, which gave us exactly what we needed, our own support, and changes in days rather than quarters.

The website and CMS

I designed and developed Potter’s corporate website and its content management system from scratch around one principle: product information should be effortless to reach. A fast search spans the entire product database for people who know what they want, and a clear path from category to product serves people who browse.

As the platform grew beyond one person’s capacity, I hired a full-time developer who extended it into a customer-facing platform with online quoting and customer dashboards. I directed that work closely, set the priorities, and encouraged collaborative feedback; the platform is better for the ideas we worked through together.

A product record in the custom CMS: product information, image, approvals, documents, part numbers, literature, search settings, related products, gallery, videos, and links, each in its own editable panel — One product record in the CMS builds the whole public page: description, approvals, documents, part numbers, videos, related products, and search details are managed in one place. Scroll each window to compare, or open the live page.

The same product on the public website: photos, description, approvals, documents, videos, literature, training, and related products — One product record in the CMS builds the whole public page: description, approvals, documents, part numbers, videos, related products, and search details are managed in one place. Scroll each window to compare, or open the live page.

What the website and CMS does

Product administrationCategories, sub-categories, and product relationships
DisplayProduct ads, carousels, and event listings
SEO and searchSearch optimization and site search management
Digital assetsDocuments, images, and literature in one library
News and alertsNews, blog posts, and page alerts
Rich contentMultimedia, articles, and rich content
Employee dashboardTools for internal teams
Customer dashboardCustomer tools and the quoting platform

The conference platform

For the annual conference, leadership favored a commercial event platform. Research and two trials showed those products carried too much we didn’t need, too little we did, and were slow and costly to adapt. I made the case for building our own, and it has run the event since.

The conference app on a tablet and a phone: a personal schedule page and a breakout session listing, in the New Frontiers theme — The conference app and website frontend are driven by the custom dashboard.

The website and app sit on a back end we control, giving attendees a personal schedule builder, on-site check-in with badge printing that drives activations, digital signage and wayfinding, and custom QR actions. Because the system is ours, we can design bespoke plugins and features around each year’s event, a flexibility no vendor would have allowed. The event itself is covered on the conference page.

Analytics view in the conference back end: charts of attendee types, app users, check-ins, breakout subscribers, and breakout feedback — The back end of the conference platform. Its analytics track registration, app adoption, on-site check-in, and breakout feedback as the event runs.

What the conference dashboard does

Website and appPopulates both with event info
SchedulingTimelines, sessions, and physical locations
SessionsSession information, presenters, and required materials
MeetingsPrivate meetings and round tables
SponsorsSponsorships and vendor relations
RegistrationAttendee sign-up, on-site check-in, and badge printing
Live feedbackOn-site behavior and post-event impressions
WayfindingDigital signage and in-app directions
Contact sharingContact exchange and lead capture
Custom pluginsBespoke activations for that year’s event

Smaller tools, same approach

The same build-when-it-fits thinking produced smaller tools too. They are covered on the video, trade shows, and conference pages.

TeleprompterDesktop teleprompter software with a phone remote, developed for the video studio
AI photo boothTurned conference attendees into astronauts; I built the software and the hardware
Interactive kioskLets trade show visitors explore brands, products, and live demos around the booth
Solar system displayA planet for every conference attendee, created at check-in and found by badge scan

The Results

Built around the needa website, CMS, and event platform shaped to how customers and the team actually work
Changes in days, not quartersnew features built and supported in-house, on our own schedule
Budget kept for the experiencevendor costs avoided and put back into what customers see