London Software Conference

No. of delegates: 250

Location: London, UK

Event type: Conference and Community Reward Dinner

Industry: Software

This US-based software company operates all over the world, and boasts a global community of engaged supporters. Tasked with bringing to life an event to further engage their UK audience, we created a two-day conference and community reward dinner as an opportunity for this client to celebrate the successes of their valued supporters.

Understand:

Having worked with this client since September 2022, supporting the delivery of their Australian conference, we already had an in-depth understanding of their customer base and opportunities for growth. With this knowledge, we were able to focus on understanding the goals for this iteration of the UK conference in particular. We quickly understood that the goal was to create a sold out event. An event aiming to boost the loyalty of their executives and existing customers while showcasing their latest products and services.

Translate:

Being an already engaged audience of existing customers, the main focus of the event was less about expanding the reach of the client, and more about consolidating the existing relationships through strong shared experiences.

Building on our research, we mapped out this conference and dinner as a platform to exchange ideas, share best practices, and gain firsthand insights into new products and services. In order for this to be a real opportunity for relationships within the community to deepen, we knew a key part of the translation of this message lay in the celebrity treatment we extended to attendees.

Plan:

In total, we planned and executed this event across a 6 month lead time, and our planning process spanned across our AV team, creative and logistics.

With the celebrity treatment and elevated experience in mind, we set about planning the conference and the dinner, starting with the location and venue. With its strong travel connections that would facilitate a smooth and seamless event experience from start to finish, we decided upon London as the host city. We then needed a venue that could offer our client the exclusivity and elegant feel that they were looking for for their event. The client had selected Leonardo Royal City, as the venue for their conference, with the Banking Hall successfully suggested as the venue for the customer appreciation dinner. Building on the atmosphere and existing architectural themes of the venue, we designed a subtle and elegant Great Gatsby theme to elevate the features of the location, and create an immersive, luxury feel to the event.

Wanting the experience to be seamless and elevated for the executives in particular, our operations team organised the hotel transfers and upgrades, with branded, personalised room drops to really drive home how much our client valued their support.

Deliver:

The event consisted of two days of panel discussions, product updates, company and peer-led sessions, executive and special guest keynotes, an interactive exhibit hall and networking opportunities.

A key part of the success of this event was delivering a VIP experience that didn’t detract from the attendees’ ability to immerse themselves in the event. We liaised with the hotel regularly to make sure that we had several contingencies in place, in case of any unforeseen challenges. Thanks to this thorough planning, the last minute increase in attendee numbers (as a result of the sell out nature of the event) didn’t affect the quality of the attendee experience.

Measure:

As a result of our planning and delivery, we created an event that met client objectives. Delegates expressed feeling valued, as evidenced by their participation and positive feedback throughout the event. We exceeded the client’s goal capacity of 150 attendees, and instead created an experience that catered to 250 people. Overall, this experience showed to our client the importance of working with a creative event agency. We are already in talks with them to discuss our involvement in next year’s conference, equipping us to deepen our existing relationship and understanding of this client’s goals and objectives