First-hand experiences of digital event transition from association meeting and event planners
AH's meeting and event planners are making the swift pivot from planning in-person meetings to now creating virtual experiences for their associations and credentialing bodies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They talk about their experiences and what's changing.
The hardest thing to replicate in a virtual environment was ... a sense of inclusion. Earlier this year we offered a virtual attendance option for first time as a live stream in conjunction with our in-person annual Symposium. We specifically welcomed and acknowledged the virtual audience during sessions and answered their questions during the Q&A portion of sessions during the live event via a designated Virtual Event Moderator.
The best thing about going virtual with our event is ... that it provided those who normally wouldn't be able to attend the in-person event an opportunity to experience the high-caliber education and idea-sharing that takes place at the live CCMC's New World Symposium. Incorporating a virtual component helps remove some of the barriers to attendance at an in-person event and widens our reach, which ultimately furthers our goal of developing a well-prepared case management workforce.
This experience is changing meeting planning by ... expanding the skills we have in our planner toolboxes. The more we do to understand the elements of creating meaningful virtual events and how best to adapt those elements to fit our association’s needs, the better able we are to help provide valuable education, resources, and opportunities to members and certificants.
The best thing about going virtual with our event is ... making our event available to more people. Those who have never been to our conference or wouldn't have been able to come this year can now participate!
We choose to go virtual over rescheduling the in-person event because ... while we all hope to be out of quarantine soon, we don't know what the new normal will look like and for our members —nurses — we don't know if or when they will be able to travel.
The hardest thing to replicate in a virtual environment will be ... the fun and networking! While we are working hard to include gamification and chat rooms, there is no replacement for in-person networking, idea sharing, and enjoying a drink together.
The hardest thing to replicate in a virtual environment is … the social networking and face-to-face interactions.
The best thing about going virtual with our event was … it safely allowed our participants the ability to capture attention for their brand, products/services, and the innovations that would have been featured at the in-person show.
The experience is changing meeting planning by … removing limitations on attendance numbers, travel costs, and overall expense.
We chose to go virtual over rescheduling the in-person event because … we wanted to continue to provide a sense of community along with the amazing content provided at our meetings. We felt we could provide the same service virtually and did not want to wait until we could all meet in person.
The hardest thing to replicate in a virtual environment was/will be … the strong networking opportunities we usually host at our in-person meetings.
The best thing about going virtual with our event is … we can now open up our Regional Workshop to our global audience!
The hardest thing to replicate in a virtual environment will be … creating networking opportunities. We are managing this challenge by creating different forms of interaction that are topic driven and non-topic driven for more "spur of the moment" conversation.
The best thing about going virtual with our event is … providing year-round access to sessions and more than three times the amount of education credits than in-person. Our reach has expanded to a much larger audience.
This experience is changing meeting planning by … creating new ways of interacting and delivering education.
