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  • 1.  Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    Posted 03-20-2020 17:44
    Hi there! 

    The company I work for has decided to totally transform our conference into a virtual experience instead of cancelling due to the spread of COVID-19. I was curious to see if anyone else is doing the same, and how you plan to execute it, and what tools from Cvent you are utilizing to support a virtual conference?

    It is disappointing to have to cancel, but I am remaining optimistic of delivering an awesome event without compromising the value of the experience. It's exciting to take on this challenge, and I am hoping someone can provide insight as to how this can be pulled off in a creative way while leveraging the technology that is available today.

    Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
    #Miscellaneous

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    Brittany B.
    Event Coordinator

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  • 2.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    Community MVP
    Posted 03-20-2020 19:44
    We just cancelled a +100 attendee conference for Nov. Looking into webinar alternatives.

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    Steven Schlossman
    Jack of all trades. Master of none.
    BMW Car Club of America
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  • 3.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    Posted 03-23-2020 10:16
    We are planning a scaled-down webinar version of our event as well. All of the details haven't been ironed out yet, but looking at using Zoom as the webinar platform and a Cvent Express event for registration. 

    So far I've watched two webinars, one talking about how to pull this off:
    https://www.eventmanagerblog.com/covid-event-online
    and one virtual event that was recently executed by another planner in my area (for ideas):
    https://www.domo.com/domopalooza/dp20

    Hope this helps, if you come across any good resources let me know!

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    Miranda Allen
    Event Operations Manager
    MasterControl
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  • 4.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    Posted 03-23-2020 13:48
    Hi, Miranda-

    Thank you so much for your input and providing those resources. I am going to check these out to gather more ideas. It looks like a lot of events will be going the virtual route this year.

    I appreciate your help, and I will keep you posted on any new ideas we have for our event!

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    Brittany Benton
    Event Coordinator
    ECRS
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  • 5.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    User Group Member
    Posted 03-23-2020 14:05
    Thank you for sharing!

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    Nadine Demyanovich
    Marketing Systems Analyst
    Illumina, Inc.
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  • 6.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    User Group Member
    Posted 03-24-2020 05:54
    Hi Brittany, 

    We are transforming an April 7 in-person event into a virtual event using Zoom Webinar. We are using our same Classic Registration events for both registration and sponsorship opportunities for the event.  We have given pre-registrants the option to either cancel their initial registration for the in-person event or receive a partial refund to attend the virtual event.   We also initially explored the third party integration between Zoom and Cvent and while we initially liked it, decided to put off further decisions on this for the time being as our plates are overflowing and we can manage without it.

    I attended this webinar and found it helpful - https://www.leadinglearning.com/virtual-conferences-covid-19-era/.

    Best of luck!

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    Heather Darrow
    Conference Coordinator
    Cornell University - Department Of Animal Science
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  • 7.  RE: Anyone else hosting their event virtually instead of cancelling?

    Posted 03-24-2020 09:24

    Great Question – We are changing our event from F2F at various umbrella locations to an online webinar for the same price. Seems the best thing to do. 

    If our registrants have paid already do I need to de-register them (but give no refund) and then re-register them to the webinar. Your help is appreciated :)



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    Suzan Freeman
    Marketing Manager
    Heffron SMSF Solutions
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