Pivoting to Hybrid ...While on site!
How a global sales conference in Nashville became a hybrid event…whilst on site! A demonstration of how operational excellence from our events team meant we were able to successfully transform an event to hybrid whilst 4,000 miles from the office.
“The conference was meticulously planned, and the team were able to adapt seamlessly to the changes of needing remote logins”
“Very much appreciate the strong support provided to us by senior management, especially those that joined remotely”
“It was just great seeing everyone finally after two long years working at home”
Situation
A global pharmaceutical client understood the importance of face to face events for their international sales team. Following a couple of years of uncertainty and virtual events, in summer 2022 they were keen to return to face to face in Nashville to deliver key training for upcoming financial year, celebrate the successes and provide essential networking and relationship building opportunities for the international team.
Challenge
Due to unforeseen circumstances, during pre-event setup it was established that a senior member of management was unable to travel in-person to the event. As a critical speaker and contributor to the event, this impacted the entire flow of the agenda and many sessions (including the celebratory evening).
Solution
The decision was made during the prep day on-site to pivot the event to a hybrid solution so all speakers could continue to present and participate as per the planned agenda.
In initial conversations this was only intended to be facilitated for senior management. However, upon further discussions BI WORLDWIDE recommend that this invitation should be extended to anyone within the Sales Team that had been unable to travel to make the event fully inclusive to the whole sales community.
This last-minute switch was challenging. However, leveraging our strong supplier and onsite relationships and in house capabilities meant we were able to swiftly bring in more technical kit and onsite crew to support the changes. The venue gave us additional flexibility with the event spaces so we could provide adequate rehearsal time for both on and offsite speakers. The onsite team roles were realigned to ensure all elements, both physical and virtual, had appropriate management including ensuring we had coverage constantly in the virtual plenary space to facilitate the communication with the virtual audience.
Outcome
All sessions of the formerly face to face event become available for remote particiption during the events. From the main plenaries to the coffee break and lunches all those attending virtually felt fully included and able to contribute to the content creating a true sense of togetherness that would not have been achieved in the same way in the originally intended format.
Want to know more?
Learn more about how to inspire with BI WORLDWIDE EMEA Events by contacting us today!
Choose a global site
Choose your region to find relevant solutions and information.
