09/17/2020
We had the pleasure to participate in the Dallas ATD Chapter’s annual learning conference Southwest Learning Summit, as project manager of the concurrent sessions of the conference. This event covered four learning tracks, has 16+ speakers and 20+ sessions to network, interact and learn about the latest in the Learning and Development field. Annually this conference serves 400+ people from around the Dallas/Fort Worth area, due to COVID-19 challenges we held this conference 100% virtual for the first time.
We managed selecting, communication, training, and delivery of the speakers. We led the RFP process receiving, tracking, and organizing over 80 applicants. We selected speakers and confirmed their content was online/virtual appropriate. We then trained, guided, and prepared speakers to use the online event platform while also coaching them for the best online engagement/interactions we could provide.
We did deep research and testing of the event platform and communications tool to ensure that we provided the best possible viewer experience and speaker engagement. We optimized the tools, allowing extra capabilities and created work around's for difficult scenarios leading to an 8% gain in quality based on user feedback, I am incredibly pleased with the achievement!
Day of production for the sessions - making sure that all sessions were happening and had no technical issues. We coached the four producers on working with the speakers, insuring all technical items were checked off for each session and supporting them with any needed platform or content/speaker information.
Accomplishments:
• Nearly all stats were higher year over year, notably - speaker quality +3% (92%), content quality +5% (95%) and set up of sessions +2% (89%)
• Feedback from presenters on training they received for the event was positive @100%
• All sessions started on time – finished on time or a little early
• Every speaker had some type of engagement activities and was interacting with the audience throughout session
If you are looking to do a virtual conference and need some pointers or help, please reach out. We would love to help you make your event as engaging as it can be.