Going Hybrid
It was a year ago last March that we were setting up registration and tracking systems for a conference in Dallas when the entire thing was cancelled due to the COVID-19 lockdown within hours of us being ready to go. We had to turn right around, pack up, and fly home unsure of the future. We paused and reassessed along with the rest of the world as we figured out how to adjust to the new normal.
We’ve been in the business of internet communication and event registration for more than twenty years. Events and meetings make our world go round. Suddenly, as our event clients scrambled, we did too. Things could have gotten pretty dicey, but we kept talking to our clients, many of whom we’ve known for years, and those conversations helped to shape the tools we created to enhance what we do already and to get our clients back to work. We rolled out the Meeting Center (www.meetingcenter.online) to give our clients the virtual options they needed. Our goal was to provide an intuitive, dependable, and enjoyable platform that would allow participants to have a meaningful experience even from a distance. It seems to be working.
Legacy Foodservice Alliance
The team at Legacy Foodservice Alliance wrapped up their spring sales and marketing Member conference just days ago and gave the Meeting Center a huge thumbs-up. They shared that their member engagement team had assessed numerous virtual platforms in the past few months, but that their experience with the Meeting Center was the best virtual experience they have ever had. We couldn’t be happier and appreciate the feedback.
So what did their event look like? Legacy used the Meeting Center platform to run seminars and scheduled appointments, games and trivia, chat room interaction, a virtual vendor hall, and other fun features that kept the energy level high according to Terry Cunningham, senior event manager.
A Different Kind of Trade Show
Over the course of the four-day event, meetings ran concurrently and attendees had the option to move from one to another and back again as needed. The virtual experience enabled more participants than usual to attend and gave them the flexibility to see more than would have been possible in person.
The virtual option let clients like Legacy Foodservice mix and match online and in-person offerings so that attendees and speakers can participate in a way that’s comfortable for them. For Legacy that means having a reliable and easy-to-use way to reach out to 600 supplier partners worldwide.
“At any event where you are trying to help everyone grow their business you want them to have a high level of engagement and a chance to deepen relationships,” says Cunningham. They were able to do that and more with a system that worked “like clockwork.” Legacy Foodservice Alliance works with a diverse membership of independent foodservice distributors across North America, Central America, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. Their members are from all size companies and groups that have been significantly impacted by the health and travel restrictions of the past year due to COVID-19. Being able to connect these members to one another and help them get back to business is vital. Going forward Legacy is planning to use the platform developed with the Meeting Center for a number of virtual events in 2021 and beyond.
We’re Here for You
We appreciate hearing the stories of our clients and their success with creative online meeting options. We’d like to hear from you too. If this past year has shown us anything it’s that we need one another and that we can solve complex problems when we listen and share. Here’s to the ingenuity of the human spirit. Cheers!
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