Website Redesign San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

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The San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) is the largest and most prestigious breast cancer research conference in the world. Each year, researchers, physicians, patient advocates, students, and industry professionals from across the globe come together to network, learn, and advance breast cancer prevention and treatment.

Aten partnered with SABCS to transform their website into a modern, accessible, community-focused digital experience that serves users before, during, and after the event. The new site saw double the number of page views year over year leading up to the annual conference.

Conference attendees working and networking in a convention center hall

Understanding Real Attendee Needs

To begin the project, our UX Strategist attended the symposium in person to talk with attendees about their challenges and test a navigation prototype to validate the new sitemap.

Key pain points emerged:

  • Difficulty registering for the event
  • Confusion around hotel booking
  • Reliance on a 600-page PDF for the full program
  • A need to support an active, year-round community rather than a single annual event 

Insights from this discovery phase shaped a task-based information architecture that supports the full lifecycle of engagement: helping people register, participate, and stay connected long after the symposium ends.
 

Colors and typography documentation

A Design System Inspired by the Symposium and its Community

Our design approach focused on keeping users on task: registering, finding event information, and applying for presentation opportunities. We introduced clear calls to action throughout the navigation and homepage to guide users through priority tasks.

We refreshed the SABCS visual identity using elements from existing brand materials and prior conference collateral. The updated design language is bold, modern, and aligned with younger audiences. High-quality event photography immerses users in the SABCS experience and tells the story through real people and real moments.
 

Reimagining the Conference Program for Both Users and Staff

At the core of the new WordPress site is a fully reimagined event management system.

Historically, the event program existed only as a single, 600-page PDF that was static, unsearchable, and inaccessible. We replaced it with a dynamic event calendar that is searchable, structured, and built for a fully accessible user experience.

Event Calendar Plugin

We built a custom WordPress plugin that enables users to filter sessions by presenter, time, session type, and category. It includes:

  • Advanced time logic
  • Dynamic tagging
  • Google Calendar and iCalendar integrations
  • Support for both upcoming and past events

Automated Event Importer

To reduce manual work for the SABCS content team, we developed a custom importer that connects directly to the organization’s scheduling software. It:

  • Automatically syncs new speakers, sessions, and abstracts
  • Maps existing tags and categories into WordPress
  • Allows staff to run updates weekly with a single action
  • Eliminates hours of manual entry

The result is an efficient, scalable system that supports SABCS’s most important content and helps the team stay focused on delivering a world-class research conference.
 

Program session details and program highlight listing

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