This roundtable was a Part Two on Virtual Events.

Missed part one? Catch up here: Roundtable: Virtual Events

Novi customers shared how they're keeping their members engaged, pricing virtual events, battling Zoom fatigue, and creating new sponsorship opportunities! In addition, the Novi team did a quick recap of our Private Online link feature in event set-up.

Tip: If you're offering Continuing Education (CEU's) with your virtual event, check out our help article on Tips for Private Events with CEUs Attached

Of the attendees at the roundtable, about 60% have hybrid events (both in-person and virtual attendees) planned for 2021

37% of attendees think fully in-person events will be back in Q3 of 2021

It made a lot of sense for BAAA to partner with AAGO because the two associations share a lot of members geographically. Instead of recreating the wheel, they were able to pool their resources between the associations' staff and content.

BAAA provides three types of events: Networking, education, and informational meetings. In 2020 they ramped up their education and informational events, particularly ones involving the CDC guidelines for those in their industry who are operating businesses during the Covid-19. It's been a huge success and they've received great feedback from the members. Now that it's renewal season time, BAAA is hoping that the members will think back to all of the member services that they provided in the last year.

DPC offers Sponsors a Featured Blog Post on their Website

The Dairy Practices Council held their online conference late in 2020, just after launching with Novi AMS. This was the first year they'd held a virtual event, and yet DPC had more attendees to their conference than ever before! About 60% of those registered were first-time attendees. They found that with the virtual event, they were able to broaden their reach of participants - people who may not have been able to travel and attend the traditional conference in-person chose to register and attend the virtual conference.

In conjunction with the conference, DPC also offered a virtual workshop, which had learning via video and "office hours" afterward for the attendees to ask questions and discuss the content.

In addition, they were able to offer their Sponsors a new benefit: a featured blog post on the DPC website for 1-month. The Sponsor provides the content for the post, and DPC keeps it featured on their homepage for one month. It's a true win-win situation - the sponsor gets recognition, and the association gets content for their blog!

WMFHA offers Suppliers an opportunity to host a networking session at the end of their online events.

In the past, the Washington Multi-Family Housing Association hosted an in-person monthly networking event co-hosted by supplier members and properties. They'd provide food and beverage and the event was a networking free for all.

In 2020, they wanted to bring networking opportunities online, so they now have added a networking piece through zoom rooms, towards the end of their online events. Each one has a topic and 20 - 30 minute discussion follows.

Now they've opened it up to our suppliers to be subject matter experts and provide a topic. They have set some strict guidelines that it can't be a commercial for their business. Whether it is a flooring company, or a paint company, etc, they offer tips and tricks that they can give to the members. Since implementing this new networking piece to their member-only events, they've seen an increase in registrations.

Attendees can't be reminded enough! Some tips from our customers:

"Attendees are not receiving the emails." How can Novi customers combat spam filters?

Of the customers on the call, most kept their current pricing for education-related events, since the actual educational content is the benefit for the member, and only the delivery method has changed. Conferences were a slightly different story - some adjusted their pricing lower than the in-person rates.

Platforms Mentioned: