Informa Webinars
Connecting audiences and producers through a seamless virtual stage.
Informa Webinars is a browser-based platform designed to bring audiences together for live talks and presentations. For attendees, it offers an easy way to join, follow along, and interact. For producers, it provides the backstage tools needed to keep everything running smoothly under pressure. The challenge was to make one product serve two very different groups. Attendees wanted clarity and simplicity. Producers wanted control and flexibility. Our task was to design a stage that felt effortless on the surface but powerful behind the scenes.
Connecting audiences and producers through a seamless virtual stage.
Informa Webinars is a browser-based platform designed to bring audiences together for live talks and presentations. For attendees, it offers an easy way to join, follow along, and interact. For producers, it provides the backstage tools needed to keep everything running smoothly under pressure. The challenge was to make one product serve two very different groups. Attendees wanted clarity and simplicity. Producers wanted control and flexibility. Our task was to design a stage that felt effortless on the surface but powerful behind the scenes.
My Role
I worked across both sides of the experience, from shaping the live stage interface to designing producer workflows for speakers, slides, polls, and Q&A. My role was part product design, part systems thinking: making sure every interaction fit within the design system, felt polished, and worked under real event conditions. This wasn’t just about designing screens. It was about understanding what it feels like to be in the moment. For attendees, that meant cutting friction so they could focus on the content. For producers, it meant reducing cognitive load in high-pressure situations. The hardest part was balancing both perspectives in a single product.
My Role
I worked across both sides of the experience, from shaping the live stage interface to designing producer workflows for speakers, slides, polls, and Q&A. My role was part product design, part systems thinking: making sure every interaction fit within the design system, felt polished, and worked under real event conditions. This wasn’t just about designing screens. It was about understanding what it feels like to be in the moment. For attendees, that meant cutting friction so they could focus on the content. For producers, it meant reducing cognitive load in high-pressure situations. The hardest part was balancing both perspectives in a single product.
Accessing the Stage
We started with the moment of entry. Attendees needed to get in fast, without wrestling with settings. The stage opened into a clean two-column layout: content and speaker details always visible on the left, interaction tools on the right. A dark-mode interface created continuity with Informa’s mobile products, while role-based menus meant attendees only saw what they needed. Early prototypes crammed everything into one screen which overwhelmed viewers. By stripping it back to essentials and hiding producer controls from attendees, the experience felt calmer and more focused.
Accessing the Stage
We started with the moment of entry. Attendees needed to get in fast, without wrestling with settings. The stage opened into a clean two-column layout: content and speaker details always visible on the left, interaction tools on the right. A dark-mode interface created continuity with Informa’s mobile products, while role-based menus meant attendees only saw what they needed. Early prototypes crammed everything into one screen which overwhelmed viewers. By stripping it back to essentials and hiding producer controls from attendees, the experience felt calmer and more focused.
Engaging with Content
Keeping people engaged online is notoriously hard. Our first designs scattered polls, resources, and Q&A across different areas of the interface, which caused confusion. We pulled them together into a single side menu so attendees could interact without leaving the stage. Every action fed back into analytics, giving organisers valuable feedback without distracting from the live experience. The struggle here was resisting the temptation to “surface everything at once.” Producers wanted visibility for all tools, but testing showed audiences dropped off when the stage felt cluttered. By making engagement tools available but not overbearing, participation went up.
Engaging with Content
Keeping people engaged online is notoriously hard. Our first designs scattered polls, resources, and Q&A across different areas of the interface, which caused confusion. We pulled them together into a single side menu so attendees could interact without leaving the stage. Every action fed back into analytics, giving organisers valuable feedback without distracting from the live experience. The struggle here was resisting the temptation to “surface everything at once.” Producers wanted visibility for all tools, but testing showed audiences dropped off when the stage felt cluttered. By making engagement tools available but not overbearing, participation went up.
Managing the Event
For producers, control needed to feel seamless. They saw the same stage view as attendees, but with hidden controls layered in: queueing and launching polls, curating Q&A before it surfaced, and monitoring attendance with the room radar. Early on, we explored building a separate “producer dashboard,” but it created silos and forced teams to context-switch. By integrating producer tools into the same stage view, we reduced the learning curve and let organisers focus on running the show. The trade-off was complexity: we had to work carefully to avoid exposing those tools to attendees or overwhelming producers with too many options.
Managing the Event
For producers, control needed to feel seamless. They saw the same stage view as attendees, but with hidden controls layered in: queueing and launching polls, curating Q&A before it surfaced, and monitoring attendance with the room radar. Early on, we explored building a separate “producer dashboard,” but it created silos and forced teams to context-switch. By integrating producer tools into the same stage view, we reduced the learning curve and let organisers focus on running the show. The trade-off was complexity: we had to work carefully to avoid exposing those tools to attendees or overwhelming producers with too many options.
Managing the Event
For producers, control needed to feel seamless. They saw the same stage view as attendees, but with hidden controls layered in: queueing and launching polls, curating Q&A before it surfaced, and monitoring attendance with the room radar. Early on, we explored building a separate “producer dashboard,” but it created silos and forced teams to context-switch. By integrating producer tools into the same stage view, we reduced the learning curve and let organisers focus on running the show. The trade-off was complexity: we had to work carefully to avoid exposing those tools to attendees or overwhelming producers with too many options.
Presenting Slides
Slides are still the backbone of most webinars, but in early versions, producers struggled to keep track of where they were. We introduced a thumbnail sequence for uploads, with a side panel that worked like a digital clicker: showing the current slide alongside a preview of the next. It sounds simple, but in practice it solved a big problem: producers no longer had to guess what came next, and speakers felt more confident knowing they wouldn’t lose their place mid-presentation.
Presenting Slides
Slides are still the backbone of most webinars, but in early versions, producers struggled to keep track of where they were. We introduced a thumbnail sequence for uploads, with a side panel that worked like a digital clicker: showing the current slide alongside a preview of the next. It sounds simple, but in practice it solved a big problem: producers no longer had to guess what came next, and speakers felt more confident knowing they wouldn’t lose their place mid-presentation.
Presenting Slides
Slides are still the backbone of most webinars, but in early versions, producers struggled to keep track of where they were. We introduced a thumbnail sequence for uploads, with a side panel that worked like a digital clicker: showing the current slide alongside a preview of the next. It sounds simple, but in practice it solved a big problem: producers no longer had to guess what came next, and speakers felt more confident knowing they wouldn’t lose their place mid-presentation.
