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Telia, the Nordic region’s largest telecommunications company and one of the largest in Europe, is so passionate about learning that it set out to create its own annual conference. From an in-person conference to a virtual event in just three days, we’ll share with you some of the valuable lessons we learned along the way.
Background
Telia Estonia launched an initiative Digital Hub with the aim to become the most important annual technology and innovation event in Estonia. As the preparations started in spring at the same time as the coronavirus outburst, it was immediately decided to work simultaneously on traditional, hybrid, or virtual event scenarios. Team member, Worksup CEO, Endrik Randoja stated: “During this pandemic, it is essential to deliver the event in a format realistic at the particular time”.
Challenge
As it happened the coronavirus curve took a sharp turn up just a week before the event date. Three days before the event it was decided not to accommodate any audience and engage participants remotely.
Instead of hosting guests at the event it was now necessary to deliver the virtual event 200% to remote participants. It was also essential to meet the expectations of partners who were an important part of the event with their solutions and offerings.
Solution
As the event setup was designed from the scratch in a way that supports any given format, the change from a traditional event to a virtual event was rather seamless. From the content and program perspective, the presentations and discussions were already designed to be short and to the point with Worksup tool for interaction and Q&A.
The technical production required a slight change of emphasis from on-site sound amplification and lighting to additional camera arrangements. The expo was organized in a way that each exhibitor had reserved both traditional booth on-site and in parallel the virtual booth on virtual event platform Worksup. The only thing exhibitors needed to do was to concentrate their attention on the virtual platform.
Value Delivered
With the virtual event becoming the main channel, an event platform rose to the spotlight. A modified version of Worksup was used to deliver the experience accustomed to the top technology event. Participants entered the platform with a personal link that also pre-filled their basic profile data, name, and organization.
Platform greeted guests with a custom design derived from Telia’s CVI, a three-stream broadcast, networking, and expo module. The enhanced analytics provided exhibitors with statistics they needed to pursue their goals and organizers with a clear understanding of participant behavior at the platform.
