Is a great virtual conference possible?
It was Summer 2020 and a decision had to be made.
Would InterVarsity’s planting conference,Ambition, be virtual or delayed for two years? If it was virtual, the team had no idea how to make it happen.
Discover
Conference success redefined.
Team members who had planned the last Ambition were baffled by how we could possibly make what was a high-energy innovative conference virtual, and so I was asked to join the team to make what felt the impossible possible.
But, I asked the key question: what if we didn’t do what had been done before?
What if we made it feel like something new?
Old → A crazy, high-energy, innovative conference
New → An intimate, restorative, innovative conference.
Periodically we would ask ourselves — will this program element make for an intimate, restorative, and innovative experience?
Conference Timezones
Physical conferences, for all their pros, also have one major implication — they require travel and all the expenses that come with that.
If we’re breaking things apart, why not run the conference according to timezones? And in fact — knowing certain geographies struggle with certain planting elements, we could tailor their sessions, and have it all happen simultaneously.
What if we planned it in a new way?
Old → The same program for everyone
New → A mix of experiences of sessions that everyone attends together and personalized program elements
Define
Meet “Ambie”
She was a college student that was part of InterVarsity.
She had a heart for the unreached, but wasn’t entirely sure what to do to reach new campuses.
Ambition would inspire her and equip her.
She would go through these steps:
Awareness the conference existed → her InterVarsity leadership would tell her about it.
Ask questions about the conference → the conference landing page would answer these questions.
Registering for the conference → She would register via RegFox.
Being prepared for the conference → She’d get a series of emails, one a week, to prep for things to know in advance.
Getting into the conference platform → Her sign-up would automatically put her in it.
Experiencing a main session → She’d go to the conference platform and join the event.
Filling out the Planting Canvas → She’d join a meeting space with her friends and fill out the planting canvas digitally.
Go to any workshops or panels she was interested in → RSVP to these events in advance, and join the event through the conference platform.
Get away from the keyboard → use items mailed to her in advance for debrief and journaling activities.
Choosing the Conference Platform
As I worked with the program team, I had to keep reassuring them that the technology + program was going to push and pull on each other – the technology choices we would make would influence the content, and vice versa, the content and goals we had will influence the platform options.
Requirements
Email marketing
Marketing site
Conference communications
Segmented community groups
Group video watching
RSVP to sessions
Something to hold content for participants to work through prior to the conference
At first, we thought to create an amazing experience we were going to have to duct tape several pieces of technology together: webinar, group chat, online course, etc.
But then we found Mighty Networks and while it wasn’t the best online course creator, or the best at chat, the important thing was that it would keep the conference participants in one hub.
Design
Up until now, the process had felt uphill —
There were a lot of unknowns, a lot of discussions, and a lot of diagrams as we tried to feel our way through what this could be.
Deliver
Landing details on how all the session types would work + the conference platform put us at the top where we had enough decisions in place to build out the conference.
Create pre-recorded main session videos and set to go live for each timezone.
Create timezone groups with relevant communication prompts in their zone
Create all the events for the workshops and seminars
Sort students into small groups and assign them leaders
Train the Small Group leaders prior to Ambition
Create a Coaches group in Mighty Networks and train them through their own Mighty Networks Course.
Create Conference Handbook “Course” to orient everyone to the conference and to the MN platform
Order items for the boxes, assembling the boxes and mailing them out
the list went on. For several months :)
Testing
As we built out different parts and pieces we asked staff and students to test out the different parts of Mighty Networks.
“Wow, the scheduling, RSVPing in advance, is SO customizable! I’m excited to attend these sessions! I wasn’t all that excited before, but now I am!”
“I was able to do all the tasks you asked me to do, and I browsed around a little more beyond that too. I’m very impressed by how Ambition is being run this year!””
Overall, the feedback was really positive and with a few tweaks, we were pretty confident in the platform and the conference handbook.
Deliver
Later, the team would remark what a surreal experience it is to “run” a conference that basically runs itself.
Between Mighty Networks, YouTube Live, and pre-set email communications, we watched the technology prompt our participants at the right time to go the events they had RSVP’d to in advance.
With this being our view, it was honestly hard to tell how it was going.
Feedback
200% increase in attendees!
Clearly, a virtual conference made the conference much more accessible.
Less than 10% of survey responders were lost and confused before the conference began.
83% of survey responses either found it easy to navigate, or solved their question quickly on their own.
Did we create an intimate, restorative, innovative conference? Yes.
“Such an amazing job! I was able to connect with like-minded people in our group. Though it was virtual, it felt very personal.”
“It was nice using Miro boards and Mighty Networks! It took some time to get used to but it was more interactive than just sitting on a Zoom call and watching a video!”
“I think you all did a great job putting together something so *ambitious* ;)”
It mattered.
As I was sitting in my seat at Urbana 22, I saw the testimony of a student who attended Ambition almost 2 years prior, and what the Lord had done in him after that experience.