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TEDxSãoTomé

A) Kevade hook

Late afternoon heat, speakers in rehearsal, people deciding whether to come. The website had to feel ceremonial and clear at the same time.

Intent

Give São Toméan ideas, voices, and experiences a platform that connects local knowledge with a global audience.

Why

The project began as a visibility mission for São Tomé and Príncipe: make local expertise visible, invite global exchange, and create continuity beyond one event cycle.

conferencelivestreamcommunitytalksstorytellingcultureclient project

Reviewed June 20, 2026

Interaction design and product management

A current-state review of TEDxSãoTomé, separated into the experience decision and the product decision.

Interaction Design

Current assessment

The one-page event structure communicates theme, speakers, programme, partners, date, and location efficiently. It now functions as an archive while still resembling promotion for an upcoming 2018 event.

Next interaction-design decision

Label the site as the TEDxSãoTomé archive and make “Watch the talks” or “Meet the speakers” the primary action.

Product Management

Product job

Give São Toméan people and ideas international visibility while building local networks around a time-bounded event.

North-star metric

Continued reach and downstream opportunities generated by speakers and ideas after the event.

Next product-management decision

Reframe the product around talks, speaker outcomes, thematic collections, educational reuse, and the status of any successor initiative.

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Live websitetedxsaotome.com

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Project delivery notes

Project year: 2016

D) Story

TEDxSãoTomé started because São Tomé and Príncipe is still widely unknown and needed a platform to elevate local specialists in science, arts, and other fields while also welcoming foreign talent. After attending TEDxTransmedia in Rome, I called my friend Katya Aragão and said, "Let's do it." We built the site and program to turn that intention into a recurring public stage that connects local and international voices.

B) Site + Situation

  • Site: São Tomé and Príncipe cultural-event context with social-first traffic bursts.
  • Condition: Short campaign windows, mixed device quality, and multilingual audience needs.
  • Ritual: Verify program, decide to attend, and share with community.
  • Material: Sponsor constraints, rapid updates, and mobile-first communication.

C) Kitchen Notes

  • Dish: A stage-ready event website that carries presence and clarity.
  • Ingredients: Speaker stories, event archive, sponsor obligations, and campaign channels.
  • Heat: Countdown deadlines and moving details close to launch day.
  • Taste test: Landing-flow reviews plus campaign event tracking for speaker/profile/schedule engagement.

E) Signals

  • Analytics signals: baseline was fragmented; event instrumentation added for join-intent and schedule interactions.
  • Research signals: users wanted clearer speaker context before committing to attend.
  • Performance signals: heavy visual assets converted to lighter poster-first media strategy.
  • Accessibility signals: contrast and alt-text coverage improved for core event pages.

F) Decisions

  • Reframed homepage into a clear invitation arc from meaning -> people -> logistics.
  • Modularized speaker and schedule blocks for faster non-technical publishing.
  • Consolidated sponsor visibility without disrupting the primary attendance flow.
  • Tuned pacing so tone remains cinematic but task completion stays immediate.

G) Score

  • Receipt: Source-tagged campaign traffic can now be tied to join-intent interactions.
  • Receipt: Schedule and speaker engagement metrics support content prioritization by edition.
  • Receipt: Accessibility checks now protect readability in bright-light, mobile-first contexts.
  • If multi-year baselines remain partial, keep instrumentation stable across at least two future editions.

H + I) Artifacts and Leftovers

  • Artifact: Event funnel diagram from discovery to attendance intent.
  • Artifact: Component set for speaker cards, agenda modules, and sponsor blocks.
  • Artifact: Launch-week checklist for content, QA, and measurement.
  • Leftover: Next iteration should compare schedule-first vs speaker-first hero sequencing.

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