2020 was nothing like organizations expected. Many teams had long-term goals and plans already in progress when suddenly, the world shut down. Face-to-face interactions were canceled, but companies still had to find a way to operate and move forward. Everyone turned to digital options to maintain workflow and productivity out of the office.
It’s no surprise that many physical events also shifted to the digital realm. With COVID wreaking havoc on face-to-face events around the world, AlphaSense, an organization specializing in augmented market intelligence transforming how decisions are made by the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions, had to find a way to convert its in-person event — an intimate dinner event with a featured speaker from Morgan Stanley — into a pandemic-friendly virtual event.
Making the Shift to a Virtual Event
To keep its event going in 2020, AlphaSense had to quickly re-imagine its small group get-together and come up with a socially-distanced event. The team ended up turning the dinner into a three-day virtual summit. Instead of a single Morgan Stanley analyst speaking to a small group, AlphaSense created three sessions where several Morgan Stanley analysts discussed emerging themes to watch for in a post-pandemic world.
With a topic that’s universally relevant, the event planners at AlphaSense envisioned an event that could attract many more participants. As a result of the online availability, AlphaSense’s virtual event now had the potential to host a much wider audience than the initial dinner. By moving the event online, the team saw more than a 7,000% increase in registrations compared to their face-to-face dinner.
What was once an in-person event for twenty people, now hosted almost 1,500 participants virtually with the capacity for even more. With content that appeals to a wide range of groups, AlphaSense increased its reach into new industries and found new audiences.
With ON24’s virtual event platform, registrants were treated to digital experiences that connected them to the virtual event’s content and AlphaSense’s branding from start to finish. AlphaSense provided participants with high-value content before, during and after the virtual seminars, leading to increased interest in AlphaSense’s products.
AlphaSense’s Virtual Event Results
Before the three-day virtual event finished, the AlphaSense sales team saw a 12% increase in the company’s free trial program from event participants — even before the sales team started to reach out to participants.
The results from the virtual seminar kept growing. A week after the event, AlphaSense saw double the amount of interest in its products compared to all of its physical events in 2019, equating to a 200% increase in pipeline within one week of the three-day virtual event when compared to every in-person event AlphaSense hosted in 2019.
Finally, AlphaSense’s inbound SDR team was able to capitalize on the momentum generated from the virtual event. They had their best month ever in the history of the company following the three-day seminar and were able to secure more meeting appointments than ever before.
AlphaSense is one of numerous organizations that were able to transition an in-person event into a virtual event and become even more effective. Having a virtual event instead of a physical event doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your event’s goals or success. Oftentimes, virtual events provide benefits and opportunities that aren’t possible with face-to-face events.
To learn more about AlphaSense and what it can do for your organization, visit www.alpha-sense.com.