Campaigns/Foundation Product Team/Registration/V0 Feedback

In July 2022, the Campaigns team released V0 of the event registration solution to the beta cluster. We collected user feedback on V0 in a variety of formats, including: a Google Form, multilingual presentations at office hours and Wikimania, discussions on this project page, communication in off-wiki chat groups, and direct emails sent to us. People provided responses in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, and Swahili. In total, we heard from over 30 Wikimedians. This feedback is important to us because it helps us understand what is working and what should be improved in future releases. Below, you will find a summary of the feedback:

• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “Would you use this event registration tool, as an event organizer? Why or why not?” We received 25 responses (21 yes, 4 no). For “yes,” common reasons why were that it would save time and effort on the time of organizers. Of the 4 that said “no,” two said that they wanted to wait longer to test it out before making a decision, and 2 more said they had alternative registration solutions that they already used.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “In the test phase, were you able to complete the process of enabling registration on an event page? Did any part confuse you?” We received 25 responses (21 yes, 1 yes with some confusion and difficulty, and 3 no). The people who said yes said that the process was simple and they experienced no confusion. The 1 who said yes with some difficulty was confused about page translation. Of the 3 people who said no, 2 said they lost track during the training phase and one gave no explanation.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “In the test phase, were you able to complete the process of registering for an event on an event page? Did any part of the process confuse you?” We received 25 responses (19 yes, 3 yes with some confusion and difficulties, and 3 said no). The people who said yes stated that the process was easy and straight-forward for them. The people who had some confusion stated that they were confused regarding how to find event pages on the wikis or wondered if they missed part of the training instructions. The people who said no said that they were confused or they joined the training too late, so they missed the instructions on how to complete the steps in the training.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “Do you think you are more likely to organize campaigns if you have the event registration tool?” We received 25 responses (23 yes, 2 no). For yes, commonly cited reasons why were that the tool was simple and intuitive, and that it would help with tracking participants and their impact. For no, one said they had a registration solution they already use, and the other gave no reason why.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “Do you think event participants will have an easier time registering for events?” We received 25 responses (18 yes, 2 maybe, and 5 no). For people who said yes, they said that it was a simple user experience and could be easily adapted to work with their current tools. For people who said “no,” 2 said that the reasons extended beyond the event registration system; the problem was that Wikipedia itself was difficult for newcomers to get started using. 2 said that they wanted further feature enhancements, such as an automatic confirmation email, and 1 more said that they simply didn’t find the process to have any improvement in ease of use.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “What is your favorite thing about the new registration tool?” We received 25 responses, which included: the fact that the tool was flexible and easy to use, the ability for participants to easily register or unregister, the fact that registration information was in one place, the fact that organizers could easily share event information in one place, and the user interface.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers, “What do you NOT like about the event registration tool?” We received 26 responses total. Of these responses, 14 people said they had no negative comments and/or had nothing they didn’t like. 12 provided feedback on further features that they would want or expect from the tool, such as: the need for an event confirmation email, event page templates (or support in event creation), integration with the Programs and Events Dashboard, and a more sleek user experience. We also heard confusion about the training itself (i.e., wondering if they completed all of the steps properly) and skepticism about creating a new event namespace.
• We asked Wikimedia organizers for any additional comments, questions, or ideas they had. We received a total of 33 comments, which were collected in various channels. These comments included: a feature request to allow a limit for the number of participants, easier ways to search for and find event pages for participants, event reminders for participants, integration with the Programs and Events Dashboard, a way to collect the email addresses of participants, geocoding support, and the ability to view disabled registration on the part of the organizer.