We are proud to be the exclusive TEDxBeirut communication and design partner.
This includes creating the TEDxBeirut website; running on wms* (code name) – a secret product of .:there for design…

Most websites are isolated from their community

The TEDxBeirut website is designed around a simple premise. There’s the website, and there’s the community. Most websites, including those of other TEDx events are isolated from the community. A member of the community eventually visits the website, takes a piece of information, and leaves. We changed this.

The TEDxBeirut website is a virtual space where the community is gathering, sharing ideas and information, and networking together around these ideas. Just like TED speaker Steven Johnson said:

“Chance favors the connected mind.” — Steven Johnson. Best selling author and three-time TED speaker

 

 

At the heart of the website is a unique social area

What’s unique about this area is that it has Facebook comments fully integrated and unique to each page. For example, as we’re adding a bio on a TEDxBeirut speaker, the community is discussing the speaker, voicing their concerns,  and sharing each others thoughts and ideas.

In as close to real-time as possible, the TEDxBeirut social media team, in partnership with SMEX, is answering questions, revealing new info, and noting down suggestions. All of this interaction is posted to Facebook in parallel. All replies from within Facebook, automatically appear on the matching TEDxBeirut webpage.

 

 

With many opportunities to share

Naturally this social area also contains the tweet button, the twitter feed, the faces of the TEDxBeirut Facebook community, the Facebook ‘Like’ button, and the new ‘Send’ button; Unlike the public ‘Like’ button, the ‘Send’ button allows you to send the link and your message as a private Facebook message (for those ideas that you’d like to keep to yourself.)

 

 

Few people have reservations about Facebook

We understand that a few people have reservations about Facebook comments. We could have implemented other commenting systems, yet we didn’t want to impose a tool on our community, thus alienating them. The majority of our TEDxBeirut community is mainly on Facebook; we wanted to give them the tool they naturally use most. You don’t need a Facebook account to comment, and you can choose not to post your comment to Facebook.

 

 

Powerful design and structure for three types of visitors

Yet all this, without a powerful interface and design, is useless. That’s why everything within the website is designed as a cohesive whole. Text sizes, colors, white spaces, and interactions are all calculated, to allow the visitors to flow effortlessly through the information. The interface and content structure catering for these three types of visitors, from the lightest reader to the heaviest:

1. Skimmers skim through titles, capturing the general idea,
2. Jumpers jump to titles that interest them, then dig deep into the content of those titles
3. Book worms can read every word from start to finish.

 

 

Related content after every page 

Every page ends with a section showcasing other pages/speakers/info that are relevant to this page (to be launched in a bit). This helps the visitors find more relevant content, and stay longer on the website, thus connecting more (remember: chance favors the connected mind.)


Now that you know all this, why don’t you experience the TEDxBeirut website from a new perspective:
http://tedxbeirut.com

Much love,
Will

Founder
.:there for design…