So when one of the sisters in the wedding told me that beourguest would be really popular in Hong Kong, I brimmed with excitement. "Really?", I thought. That was such an encouraging comment and it made my day and had me smiling from ear to ear.
This lady here was the one who told me I should bring beourguest to HK!
As mentioned before, I helped to provide the guest registration service for a wedding at Fullerton Hotel yesterday (you can see the photos on the previous post). Congratulations to the bride and groom for getting married, and also thanks to Ivan and Vicky who gave us this great opportunity to let us try our 'system' as they like to call it. We deployed 2 mobile terminals (2 iPads) as well as a laptop that was connected to the monitor. There were a few goals in mind for this user testing: to find out the ease of usage for the iPad terminals, and to catch any bugs that could happen during a 1.5 hour long period for guest registration.
Firstly, after meeting the sisters of the wedding who were in charge of the guest registration. they asked me to show them how to use the application on both the iPad and the laptop. I spent only one minute to explain to them the different functions of registering and unregistering the guest, and the indication of table for the guest on the layout. I asked them whether they were okay, and they gave me the thumbs up saying that it was really straightforward. They were also able to add a new guest to a table just before the guests started arriving. beourguest allows you to make flexible changes to the guest list and it will all be updated on the terminals. Just hit the refresh button and the changes will be reflected on the other terminal. Real-time sync updates will be developed in a later update.
Interestingly, the mobile iPads were more utilized than the one laptop that was stationed at the reception desk. The main factor was mobility. At the desk, the guests were queueing up to register, but it was bottlenecked because of the invitation to guests to sign and give their blessings on a guestbook after queuing up. Because of this, the mobile iPads carried by the sisters of the bride went around and attended to the guests that were queuing at the back. Within 5 seconds, each guest was successfully registered and shown their table seating and number. During this time, there was also small talk made with the guests and everyone of them were appropriately attended to, helping them to feel at ease in the event. There was no frantic flipping of papers for the registrar in the guests' face, but the element of surprise awaiting both guest and registrar wanting to find out where he/she was seated. Sounds cheesy I know, but the guests were truly impressed and their eyes were just glued to the screen. No more awkward moments trying to scan the document looking for the guest's name. beourguest allows you to filter the guest list by name simply by entering the name, and you don't even need to type the complete name!
Another observation was that the emcees regularly checked with the registrars whether they could start the event and invite the guests into the hall. Fortunately, beourguest provides real-time information of the total number and percentage of registered guests. By the time it exceeded 70% (which is usually the number to signal that you can start calling the guests in), it only needed an 'ok' signal to the emcee to bring the guests into the hall. No need to count the guests mentally.
Of course, there were a few suggestions made by the users of beourguest during this user testing. One was to auto-clear the textbox of the search filter whenever they wanted to search for a new guest name. Yep, that is good feedback, and will be taken into account for the next update.
Also, when tables were full, they were coloured red on the table layout. Usually on the table layout, the tables are blue in colour. When the guests for the table has turned up, the table will change colour, to indicate that the table is filled. There was one guest who was shocked when the table turned red when he got registered. He asked, "Did I do something wrong? Why is the table red?" I realise that red may have been too strong a colour, and have misled the guest to be shocked. We will use something less intensive but still indicative of its difference from the other tables in the next update.
In all, the whole process was a smooth experience one with beourguest. I am glad that the application was simple to use and the sisters had no huge complaints using the application. And the core features of realtime statistics, and informing guests of where they are seated at and who they are seated with matched their needs.
I tried my best not to interfere with the process, and stood aside with my iPhone camera trying to take pictures in the crowd. I wasn't really successful in taking beautiful pictures to put up here, but I gathered really good feedback from the users.
Again, I want to thank the bride and groom for this wonderful opportunity for allowing us to use beourguest for their wedding banquet. If anyone else is interested in trying out, please do contact us at [email protected] :D
thanks and have a blissful marriage you 2! (if you are looking haha)
