Increase in virtual summit attendance over the in-person event.
Business days to transition an in-person event to a virtual summit
Increase in attendee engagement data collected compared to annual in-person experience
Name: Benefitfocus
Headquarters: Charleston, South Carolina
Founded: 2000
Employees: 1,001-5,000
Industry: Computer Software
Benefitfocus unifies the entire U.S. benefits industry on a single technology platform to protect consumers’ health, wealth and lifestyles. The company’s powerful cloud-based software, data-driven insights and thoughtfully-designed services enable employers, insurance brokers and carriers to simplify the complexity of benefits administration and deliver a world-class experience.
Benefitfocus is an AI-powered platform that connects customers to the employee and health benefits that improve their lives. The solution simplifies the benefits journey by bringing consumers, employers, brokers, health plans and product suppliers together on one platform— creating value across the entire benefits ecosystem.
The Benefitfocus One Place Conference is the organization’s flagship annual event. Customers and partners gather together at the conference to experience Benefitfocus in real time, including everything from the company’s values to its technology. The One Place Conference educates Benefitfocus’s audience on the its products, and facilitates powerful conversations about industry trends and solutions for delivering an enhanced employee experience.
Benefitfocus knew the 2020 One Place Conference would be different than in previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic, so the organization embarked on a journey to pivot its conference delivery model.
A global pandemic disrupts business as usual
As the COVID-19 crisis rocked life as we know it around the world,
the conference industry was one of the first to feel the effects of the pandemic’s disruption. It quickly became clear that Benefitfocus’s One Place Conference would not be able to move ahead under a face-to- face model, and the company needed to figure out its next step.
To protect the health and safety of its community while still delivering a valuable learning experience, Benefitfocus decided to find a solution to run the event virtually. This meant that the organization had to rework the entire conference, even changing the length from two days to one- and-a-half days.
Benefitfocus needed a technology solution that could help facilitate the transition from a face-to-face conference to a digital event quickly
and easily.
“We assembled a dedicated team to transform our in-person event into a digital one. In just eight business days, we worked fast and alongside ON24 to make the digital event possible”.
HUNTER SMYTHE
DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE EVENTS BENEFITFOCUS
An on-demand virtual summit increases engagement and delivers valuable insights
Benefitfocus chose the ON24® Platform to transform its One Place Conference into a digital experience because of the platform’s ease of use, ability to deliver content on demand for various audiences and its flexibility. This agility enabled the Benefitfocus brand to remain front and center throughout the entire experience.
The company pre-recorded the conference’s keynote speech and each of the 14 breakout sessions, and scheduled them to run “live” using ON24 Webcast Elite’s simulive feature. Benefitfocus also used the ON24 Engagement Hub to store all of the breakout sessions in a centralized location, which facilitated a seamless registration experience.
Once an attendee registered for the One Place Conference, they received access to all of the content in the event hub, which meant they could watch any session, anytime, without having to input their login information again. Now, Benefitfocus’ customers and partners have access to resources from the event year-round.
With the ON24 Engagement Hub, Benefitfocus created different breakout session tracks designed for their various audience personas to run concurrently after the keynote, making the most of each attendee’s time.
Additionally, with ON24 Webcast Elite, Benefitfocus collected real-time audience feedback based on each breakout session. This helped the company understand which sessions resonated most with attendees and who might be interested in more information on its products. Benefitfocus received more feedback than ever compared to the in-person conferences.
When the One Place Conference concluded, Benefitfocus used the ON24 platform to chapterize each breakout session, enabling on-demand attendees to quickly and easily engage with the event’s most powerful moments.
Benefitfocus transformed its in-person One Place Conference to a virtual summit in just eight business days with ON24. By taking a digital experience approach, the event achieved a 200% increase in attendance over registration numbers for the in-person version of this year’s conference.
With ON24, Benefitfocus had the advantage of real-time data during the event, which simply isn’t an option during an in-person conference. These insights instantly gave the company visibility into attendees’ digital body language.
Benefitfocus now knows that a majority of attendees gave the virtual event a high rating, and knows how many minutes each attendee spent consuming content. The organization can even drill down to find out which sessions saw the highest number of people raise their virtual hand to learn more. Even now that the conference is over, engagement with the virtual sessions has continued through on-demand viewership as customers and partners revisit the One Place event resource hub.
The success of the virtual One Place Conference has prompted Benefitfocus to think more about its digital strategy as a whole, and how it will use this event as a resource year-round.
“By pivoting to a digital-first event strategy, our virtual conference saw a 200% growth in attendance and engagement from registration for the physical event. The ON24 platform continues to deliver a robust look at our customers’ digital body language and overall immersion in the event”.
HUNTER SMYTHE
DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE EVENTS, BENEFITFOCUS
