BEST ASSOCIATION / NOT FOR PROFIT EVENT
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition
The CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition is our flagship event and the heartland of the people profession. As we started planning for 2021 – our first in-person event since 2019 – our objective was not simply to revert to what we did before, but to reinvigorate the event for our paying delegates, free visitors, sponsors and exhibitors.
We set out to provide new opportunities for engagement and networking, to feature world-class content and to create a truly hybrid event, with all content streamed to virtual delegates and delivered live and in-person in Manchester.
We attracted people who would not have attended in person and extended our international reach. We managed complete integration between the virtual and in-person experience. We achieved a total revenue and profit that an in-person only event would not have delivered at that time. And we received high net promotor scores from our delegates and exhibitors.
Our commitment was to give all delegates a high quality, inclusive and flexible experience, however they joined us, and to deliver great value to our sponsors and exhibitors. The result was an event of exceptional quality which delivered for all our customers.
Civil Engineering Contractors Association: 25th Anniversary Conference
When faced with the challenges of COVID our organisation tore up the rule book for how we would run our annual conference. We turned this into an opportunity, by completely reinventing our event as an ‘exploded’ conference that ran over a week online rather than a single day face-to-face. This responded to delegates desire to pick-and-choose the events they attended from our programme, while still enjoying the interactivity of a conference.
Edinburgh International Conference Centre and British Society of Lifestyle Medicine – British Society of Lifestyle Medicine Annual Conference 2021
2021 posed significant hurdles for organisations holding conferences under Covid restrictions, especially with the natural public concern that entailed. BSLM took the bold decision to go ahead with their hybrid conference, with the aim of getting people back together for in-person, meaningful and safe academic interaction. The social benefit this had in terms of networking, the rekindling of friendships and the positive impact on the mental wellbeing of all involved, was significant.
The conference succeeded on many levels: from the technological and system innovations, which allowed speakers in Edinburgh to share a platform in real time with speakers across the world; to sponsors willing to travel during Covid restrictions to meet delegates face-to-face; and the world class speaker list such as Professor Tim Spector; to the overwhelming support of delegates thrilled to be able to interact with colleagues.
One great success of the conference was the relationship forged between the BSLM and EICC. The BSLM reported that the EICC team handled some significant technical challenges – due to the nature of the hybrid format – but always with professionalism and good humour. The collaboration between BSLM and EICC was truly successful, and the conference was all the more successful for it.
European Flavour Association – Virtual FlavourDay
In the midst of a pandemic, with increasing zoom fatigue, we managed to bring a sensorial and physical experience to the virtual world. We translated into a virtual event our association signature receipt for success: community feeling, connection with memories & emotions and passion for food.
Haymarket Media Group – Royal College General Practitioners Annual Conference and Exhibition 2021
It was 18 months since our last in-person event and a major challenge to return to the ACC Liverpool in October 2021 and deliver the RCGP’s Annual Conference and Exhibition. This complex, large-scale event for more than 1,000 paying delegates was further complicated by the need to seamlessly deliver a virtual version – and all during a pandemic with an audience and speakers who were almost entirely doctors.
The fact that we achieved all of this and smashed our targets in our first hybrid event, is testament to the hard work, agility, and innovation of an incredibly professional team.
As our client said after the conference: ‘Despite the harshest 18 months for the event industry that I’ve ever been through, we managed to deliver an amazing conference with unbelievable delegate numbers. Earlier in the year I was the most worried I’d ever been about a conference, so how well it went feels all that more special!’ (Ben Clacy, RCGP Executive Director)
Institution of Engineering and Technology – CIRED
CIRED, the Leading Forum where the Electricity Distribution Community meets, holds the major International Electricity Conference & Exhibition every two years in different venues in Europe with a worldwide perspective and participation.
CIRED works for the purpose of increasing the business relevant competencies, skills and knowledge of those who see themselves as a part of the electricity distribution community, whether they are from the utility, product, consultancy, service, business or Academic sector.
CIRED 2021 was supposed to take a place in June 2021 in Geneva and the events team had 3 months to turn the conference from a large scale physical event to large scale virtual event – ‘A major Achievement for the team’.
National Council of Teachers of English – 2021 NCTE Annual Convention
The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is the professional home for English educators. The 2021 Annual Convention theme, “Equity, Justice, and Antiracist Teaching,” originated in a vision for bringing together language and literacy professionals to co-create a humanized, more just world for students, families, and teachers.
After thorough strategizing and planning in the areas of virtual event planning, marketing, and the attendee experience, the 2021 Convention exceeded expectations. Some of the highlights include the following:
- 5,451 attendees, amounting to a 21% increase from the previous year, and a 10% increase in first-time attendees from the previous year
- A General Session speaker lineup headlined by Michelle Obama, Amanda Gorman, Colson Whitehead, and George M. Johnson
- A 19.8% year-over-year increase of visitors to our website, and a 13.4% increase of new visitors
- Coverage leading up to Convention from prominent news organizations including, but not limited to, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and Education Week
“Through the voices of 5,000+ educators across the country, NCTE’s Convention continues to push boundaries and open pathways for students and teachers, to learn, grow, and create lasting opportunities and connections, which couldn’t be more critical during these unprecedented times.” Emily Kirkpatrick, Executive Director, NCTE
