This project was a ton of fun for me. Before being contacted by this client, I was considering developing a single page theme to be used for events or conferences. So I was excited to have a real case study for this theme idea I’ve been kicking around.
This theme is a child theme built on the Genesis Framework (affilink).
After about 2 weeks of research, sketching out ideas and then running through the different use cases, I came up with this design concept.
The client loved it! He has installed it on all three of his conference sites.
Now I’ll do a little explaining about why I did the things I did.
The Navigation
I used a fixed navigation bar, because this is a single page minimalist site, it was important the user have easy access to the navigation options.
The Large Image
The two most important things I want to know about a conference I’m interested in is where and when! If the where and when work for my schedule, I’ll spend time reviewing the rest of the event to determine if I’ll actually go.
My concept for the large image was to highlight a landmark that would make it easy for the viewer to quickly identify the where.
The overlay text, would be used to quickly display the when.
First Call to Action
In this client’s case, most of the attendees, go to his conferences every year. So once they know the where and when, they’re ready to buy their tickets.
Which made a nice large call to action section appropriate and important.
Speaker and Schedule Sections
Knowing that conferences typically have multiple speakers and sessions, I wanted these sections to be flexible and dynamic, which adds a level of simplicity for the site owner.
I also thought it was important to have individual pages that displayed more information about speakers and the different sessions to provide attendees with plenty of info without cluttering the homepage, too much!
I use custom post types for these two sections with some custom fields to collect and display additional information. I then created two templates for displaying the data.
For example, the homepage template displays only the image with the name as a link to the individual speaker bio.
The bio template shows the speaker name, bio, image, company name, and website url.
The templates for the schedule section have the same method in play.
Call to Action on all Pages
Because you could be distracted by additional information and taken away from the homepage, I added the same call to action that is on the homepage to the top of every page. Additionally, the navigation bar has a different call to action. Different color and different text. My intent was to find a way to reach more people and increase registrations.
Look like something you’d use?
I’m considering making this my first premium theme. Would appreciate any feedback.
What would make this theme better, and more worthy of your use?
Yea, sure where do I buy it?
This sounds like just what I’m looking for, i.e. a decent events theme based on genesis. How can I get hold of a copy?! 🙂
Unfortunately I’ve pulled this theme because it needs some updating. But if you’re interested I can build you something? I don’t even know if there is an genesis event theme on the market. Let me know if you’re interested in a custom theme.
– Chris