Entrepreneurial Operating System Worldwide Conference
Challenge
Forty-six days. That’s the amount of time that Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), with the help of Wellington, had to pivot a highly anticipated annual worldwide in person conference to an all-virtual event. Transitioning from an in-person gathering to a virtual alternative presents a number of logistical challenges and considerations. You can’t simply flip a switch and move an event with 20+ speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, and multiple keynotes online. While juggling this critical pivot, Wellington needed to help EOS quickly achieve buy-in and excitement from all parties involved, including speakers and attendees. The EOS annual conferences typically eschew technology in favor of whiteboards and note-taking. Attendees usually turn in their phones at the beginning of sessions in order to fully focus on what’s happening in front of them. This year, however, attendees and speakers needed to use—and hopefully embrace—the technology required to execute a virtual event, including a comprehensive online conference platform. Amid a flurry of planning, building, and testing, Wellington and EOS needed to reassure attendees that their investment in the event—both time and money—would be worthwhile. All in just 46 days.
Solution
With the decision to pivot to a virtual event confirmed, the Wellington team leaped into action. Urgent logistical details, including hotel cancellations and updated communications, were quickly handled. Other Wellington team members focused on building a digital platform with the robust functionality to host a complex conference like EOS and provide an intuitive, enjoyable user experience, a key goal given a sometimes tech-averse audience. Speaking of the audience, more than 1,000 attendees had already registered for the conference. Virtual registration prices were reduced, with options for attendees to apply credits to next year’s event. Additionally, a waitlist of several hundred people had an opportunity to join the virtual event, significantly increasing the attendance from what an in-person conference could accommodate. More than 20 conference speakers received individual outreach to introduce them to the platform, assess their virtual speaking set-up, and answer questions. Because the event changed to a virtual format without much time to spare, a packed programming agenda also needed to make the virtual transition. Concurrent breakout sessions were slightly scaled back (from six to four per session) to better align with the new event format. Simultaneous outreach, directed toward attendees, happened as part of the pre-event communications strategy. Pre-conference surveys were deployed to identify attendee priorities, which sparked a decision to put attendees in small groups. Just as speakers were educated on the digital platform, attendees received Wellington-led education on how to use specific functions, such as live chat, to get the most value from the event and other attendees. The conference platform itself served as the virtual event hub and needed to reflect EOS’s priorities, brand, and intended experience. Using a platform’s framework, Wellington built a customized hub with functionality ranging from build-your-own agendas, a swag shop, attendee forums, and a complete attendee directory. With the conference platform in place, the team engaged an experienced emcee to keep sessions moving and facilitate lively conversation. The production team strategically determined that live keynotes and pre-recorded breakout sessions with live Q&A would be the optimal format, offering plenty of opportunities to virtually engage and participate. As a result, conference speakers worked on a faster timeline to prepare and deliver content to allow time for recording and post-production.
Results
Wellington opened the EOS conference platform five days early, giving attendees a chance to explore the virtual venue and participate in a practice session. Once the two-day virtual event concluded, attendees overwhelmingly agreed that the conference was a hit. Not only did the conference audience increase as a result of the virtual pivot, but attendees also continued to engage with the platform and content once the conference concluded, taking advantage of 30 days of post-conference access. One of the most anticipated benefits of the EOS conference is organic relationship building. Thanks to abundant connection and communication resources within the conference platform, virtual connections were made and solidified that will help propel offline discussions and work. And although EOS plans to return to an in-person conference format in 2021, they’ve fully realized the potential and value of virtual solutions and have committed to embracing this technology for future solutions.
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