The event was targeted at their corporate clients and new prospects with the aim of building relationships and showcasing Illumio’s expertise in the field of ‘Zero Trust’. The event took place in May 2021 and was purposely online to enable Illumio to reach as large an audience as possible due to the difficult pandemic times. Invitations included people working in the corporate sector responsible for their organisation’s security and technology plus partner organisations who support and provide for the sector.
The Zero Trust event featured a combination of sessions from practitioners, customers and vendors. There was also dedicated 1-2-1 networking time built into the agenda for attendees to meet their peers, the Illumio team and speakers attending the event.
Critical to the success of the day was the perception of Illumio to their clients and prospects, therefore attention to detail needed to be high and consideration of the attendee experience was forefront of our minds throughout.
ZiaBia’s role
We were engaged to project manage all logistical elements for the event including support with delegate management, platform research and recommendations, speaker onboarding, creation of roles and responsibilities, rehearsals and production team management. Our production partners were TechPro, who were responsible for delivering the technical elements and ensuring all activity on the main stage was of the highest quality.
A key remit was to create and agree the timeline, manage the weekly project meetings, track and progress actions and monitor deadlines.
And of course, we were also there to manage the event delivery on the day!
The event platform
With any face-to-face event, the right venue is of high importance. For a virtual event the right platform is essential. So, for Zero Trust Summit it was crucial to find the right platform for the desired event format. The very first task was to select the event platform. Based on the required outcomes we narrowed down the options to two recommendations for Illumio and arranged a demonstration of both.
These demos helped Illumio visualise the look and feel of the event from both a speaker and an attendee perspective. It also gave them a good understanding of how the functionality could bring their vision to life and how they could maximise the delivery of their messages.
Hopin was selected as it offered the interactivity required and attendee experience sought, based on the event programme:
- The main stage was utilised throughout the day – the opening and close, pre-recorded sessions and the panel discussion. A Vmix plug-in to the stage was managed by TechPro which enhanced the production and branding of the event and elevated the overall feel
- Parallel education sessions, which attendees self-selected on the day, took place in individual session rooms with presentations and Q&A with the audience
- Organisations supporting the event were given further exposure to attendees with a booth in the expo area. This included information about the organisation, the speaker on the programme and contact details
- 1-2-1 networking was included at specific points in the agenda and allowed attendees to network in five-minute segments
From platform selection to event day, we managed the platform build based on the agenda. Ensuring event assets and event and company descriptors in place; schedule kept up to date and that the speakers were registered, bios and headshots uploaded and linked to their sessions; pre-recorded content received; and networking scheduled in correct timeslots and by ticket type.
We ensured all elements of the platform were tested ready for launch date, rehearsals built and the reporting required were set.
Speaker management
Another key area of the event was the speaker onboarding. The speakers were a combination of senior Illumio staff and external Zero Trust experts and Analysts both in the UK and America. The programme sessions were a variety of formats from plenary to breakout, fireside chat to panel discussion. Due to the profile of the attendees, and desired outcome of the event, it was critical that the content was delivered seamlessly so considerable care and attention was given to this element.
Of the nine sessions, six sessions were live and three pre-recorded with one of these speakers then joining live for a panel session at the end of the event.
To support the variety of the programme and the speakers, we produced bespoke speaker packs which outlined key information relevant to the particular speakers. A tailored complementary walkthrough video was shared with all as we were aware that people learn and communicate in many different formats.
We set up a rehearsal event on Hopin. Each live speaker had their own individual rehearsal slot to ensure they had dedicated time for their briefing, time for platform familiarisation and to test the experience from their perspective. As a contingency we also recorded their full sessions in case of an issue on event day. There was also a specific rehearsal for the participants of the panel session, as this is important to ensure everyone knew how the panel session would flow and expectations. All of these elements were critical in making the speakers as comfortable as possible when presenting virtually on the day.
On the day
On the day, it was our role to deliver the event and manage the attendee experience.
Attendee engagement was a key success factor for this event and we were using the new Slido integration on Hopin to help with this. Polls and word clouds were utilised strategically throughout the day and results discussed by the event host to demonstrate that Illumio were taking notice of the attendees’ opinions.
The ZiaBia team managed the chat function throughout the day. This involved encouraging people to participate, post questions and introduce themselves as well as signposting where they needed to go next in the schedule. In conjunction with this we also managed a separate help desk in the sessions area in readiness to scoop up anyone with technical issues and resolve quickly.
The ZiaBia team were the point of contact with Speakers and worked with them getting them to where they needed to be and in advance of their session time.
Another key role on the day, included the facilitation of two of the education sessions in the breakout rooms. This involved welcoming the attendees to the session and introducing the speaker. Then after the presentation we moderated the Slido Q&A and wrapped up the session. We were also on hand to share the presentation in these sessions as a contingency.
An integral part of any event is to have a support area for attendees and with this in mind, a ‘help desk’ was in place and the location communicated to the audience. This ensured a clear central point for attendee support – information on the event, a place to ask questions or technical support.
Post-event
Our work didn’t stop just because the event had ended!
The post-event work is just as important as the pre-event for the client.
- We downloaded the session recordings which were then edited by the TechPro team for Illumio to use for future use and marketing
- Data and reports were created from Hopin including attendee reports, chat messages, connections made
- Slido analytics were shared for review
And finally as with any of our events, a debrief took place to capture feedback and learning for future events and evaluate feedback.
We are delighted that the event feedback has been really positive and it was a great experience working with Illumio on their first online event. More importantly, we know that the event was a success for Illumio and has delivered over 6x ROI in pipeline development. This shows the measurable outcomes and success criteria.
