Filed in: News Tag: MCE Trendspotting
In April 2022, Cvent hosted their annual CONNECT conference for meetings, events, and hospitality professionals, featuring more than 110+ networking and education experiences for attendees around the globe. For the first time, the event was hybrid, with around 1,800 attendees joining in Las Vegas, Nevada and more than 9,000 attending the virtual portion on the Cvent Attendee Hub. MCE’s Senior Manager of Event Services Operations, Lynn Kijowski, attended CONNECT virtually and shared the following takeaways to help our conference organizers shape their future events:
Diversity & Inclusion was a common theme throughout the conference. Not only were there sessions discussing the importance of this, but the attendee journey reflected this. For example: During the registration process, inclusivity was prioritized. There were questions related to accommodations such as mobility assistance and visual assistance, as well as the event’s diversity statements clearly on the website and registration site. A recommendation from a speaker to further this journey was to ask for feedback post-event to see if attendees felt they were accommodated.
Another key message was to look at Voices vs. Numbers. Instead of trying to fill a quota for diversity across your speakers, identify what perspective is missing from your table to enhance your overall program and sessions.
Additionally, the hybrid experience was enhanced by learning from prior years’ events. Following a full debriefing after last year’s event, Cvent made improvements not only to the conference, but also to their virtual platform, the Cvent Attendee Hub. They also prioritized testing the technology, advising planners to “test early & test often”. With multiple stages being streamed, they came prepared with 3-7 backup plans so they could be ready to respond regardless of the scenario.
And lastly, the organizers made sure to unify the audiences during the live programming. For example, after a Keynote Speaker ended, the MC addressed the virtual attendees and told them where to go next on the platform, followed by addressing the in-person audience and telling them their next steps. There was also a virtual moderator, allowing engagement and conversation to take place no matter how the attendee was participating.
To learn more about Cvent CONNECT, visit their website.
Thank you to Lynn for attending Cvent CONNECT and sharing her experience! If you want to learn more or have any questions about registration or planning your event, reach out to IEEE MCE.
This article was written by:
Lea Provost
Sr. Program Manager, Audience Development Strategy Services
IEEE Meetings, Conferences & Events