Product: ON24 Virtual Conference
Use Case: Event Marketing
Industry: Professional Services
ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. The ACCA haa more than 241,000 fully qualified members and 542,000 future members worldwide. They’re among the world’s best-qualified and most highly sought-after accountants – and they work in every sector you can imagine.
ACCA used the ON24 virtual environment platform to deliver its annual conference. Using pre-recorded video, live audio webcast panels and practical workshops, members heard the latest ACCA research and earned CPD credits. The online event delivered on all of ACCA’s goals and was its most successful conference to date.
Support for those who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance and managementÂ
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants is the global body for professional accountants, with more than 162,000 members and 428,000 students in 173 countries and a network of over 89 offices and centers across the world.
ACCA delivers support services for its members, including continuing professional development, regulating its membership and working with regulators and other organizations to strengthen the profession. The organization boasts a strong history of advancing the profession in developing countries around the world.
ACCA turned to ON24® for a stable platform to deliver its CPD content in a persistent online environment. With ON24, ACCA could run video and audio CPD webcasts year-round and deliver both live and on-demand events. The ON24 platform also gave ACCA a global reach, enabling the organization to stream the event globally while running it from one office.
Bringing worldwide members together via virtual technology
ACCA had offices and members around the world, making it impractical to hold a physical annual conference. To compensate, the association decided to take the conference completely virtual on the ON24 virtual environment platform. The organizers decided to change the format with a renewed focus on increasing the conversion of registrations to attendees.
The team focused on the event’s objectives and intended outcomes, the audience, their needs and the desire to showcase ACCA research. As a result:
In expanding the conference, ACCA was confident of the ON24 virtual environment platform’s ability to handle increased registrations, deliver five days’ worth of live and pre-recorded content and support an expanded resource library.
Turning the virtual event on its head, backed by ON24 technology
ACCA took the lessons learned from prior online events to maximize the return on the conference:
Events delivered on the ON24 virtual environment platform were offered as:
The ON24 virtual environment platform’s functionality, from automated registration to data capture on each participant, was key to helping ACCA focus on marketing activities and improving conversion rates, including re-targeting participants to attend specific sessions.
Success measured by attendance, participation and ROI
This thematic format gave each day more clarity and relevance and more closely mirrored the structure of a physical event, where attendees could pick the day(s) and most relevant topics. The strategy for the ACCA “Accounting for the Future Conference” delivered more than:
ACCA credits the conference’s success to the revised format, quality of speakers and theme-based content, all flawlessly executed on the ON24 virtual environment platform. Selling sponsorships to the virtual exhibition hall helped to further reduce the cost of the event from £5.30 per delegate the previous year to £2.20 per delegate.
Brand reach was another measure of success for ACCA. Attendees were given brief questionnaires at the end of every session and asked to rate the event on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being completely satisfied. Nine out of 10 respondents rated the sessions 4 or 5, indicating they would recommend the event to colleagues.
Such word-of-mouth marketing efforts, combined with ON24 globalization and localization capabilities, will allow ACCA to further market and deliver events to member audiences around the world.
