When JP Porter, president of Shoot the Moon Productions, was planning a four-day virtual conference last November, she quickly realized she could use some help. The industry veteran and her team have 28 years of experience in staging and design, content production, projection, sound, lighting, and more—but when it came to virtual, she knew her limitations. “With the switch to 100% virtual, I had all the other people in place—VMix engineer, audio, etc.,” Porter explains. “What I needed to have was a platform and their team to ensure the same high quality of service my client has come to know.”
That client, the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum in Minneapolis, tasked Porter’s team with finding a virtual events platform that fit their specific needs—which in this case, included finding a way to make the leap to virtual while still celebrating a hands-on art form that dates back two centuries.
Enter: Brandlive, a Portland-based industry leader in digital events that offers a fully customizable virtual platform for meetings, summits, conferences, and other gatherings. After exhaustive research on 50 platform partners, Porter decided that Brandlive offered the mix of innovative tech, expert support, and a creative spirit that she’d been looking for. The museum’s resulting four-day event, dubbed Awayzgoose, was a massive success, drawing more than 500 attendees, hosting 36 sessions and 25 presenters, and resulting in a 400% increase in scholarship volume.
Here are 5 reasons why teaming up with the right platform partner brought the museum’s conference to the next level.
1. The platform allowed for a totally customizable design. Since Hamilton Wood Type Museum’s attendees are used to being immersed in the property’s art-filled space, the team leaned on Brandlive’s platform to fully brand all aspects of the virtual event, evoking the feel of the brick and mortar venue. Program officer Stephanie Carpenter notes that the gala's lead designer “took full advantage of our ability to brand every nook and cranny on the platform. Each day had a different visual theme to help attendees visually recognize the change in days.”
Brandlive’s platform also allowed the team to create social media elements, video interstitials, static ads for an online store, and more, all of which could be easily updated before and during the conference. “Being able to really brand the event made it feel like ours,” says Carpenter.
2. It also allowed for effective cross-team collaboration. With the museum’s event team, Shoot the Moon Productions, and the Brandlive staff all working together from different locations around the country, the groups needed an easy way to collaborate. Brandlive was able to quickly form a hub that orchestrated those connections, all within its own platform.
3. The museum was well-supported through an unfamiliar process. For the museum, making its first leap into virtual event was certainly intimidating—but Brandlive’s customer service team worked to make the process as seamless as possible. In addition to expert support and resources through the entire process, the museum’s team was given real-time visibility into multiple metrics so they could see who was attending and engaging, as well as post-event analytics that allowed them to continue audience engagement with on-demand replays.
4. Brandlive’s platform allowed for meaningful connections and partnerships. It’s one of the biggest hurdles of a virtual event: How do you facilitate effective attendee engagement and networking in a virtual space? To accomplish this, the museum leveraged Brandlive’s features, particularly the chat function, to keep the audience feeling connected. “It felt like our community was here in the building,” Carpenter says. “The mix of our team of staff and volunteers and the Brandlive team and platform almost made it feel like I was hanging out with our amazing community of letterpress printers, type lovers, graphic designers, history buffs and storytellers.”
5. The virtual environment allowed for the museum’s largest event yet. The museum team quickly learned that a virtual environment and strong platform partner allowed them to bring in even more attendees than they had in the past—and they did just that, doubling their attendance from previous years. Another bonus? Without some of the typical travel and housing costs, the museum was able to offer 50 scholarships to attend the event this year—a 400% increase from previous years.
Why the right platform partner can level up your next event
Producing memorable, virtual events like this that rival big-budget IRL events is feasible, explains Porter. “Continuing to educate, motivate and communicate with everyone working from home has been a challenge for these companies … so with a little help from their trusted production friends like me, we can elevate these experiences for them. Having a partner in this with Brandlive is key to providing this next-level experience.”
While some Brandlive clients, including Meredith Corp. and ARK Invest, reach out to Brandlive directly, others like Hamilton Wood Type Museum ask their agency partners to find a platform for them. Brandlive calls this the “Reseller Partner Program and Referral Program.” Agencies and production companies partner with Brandlive via wholesale platform pricing—and in turn, these companies can approach their clients with their own brandable demo account, showing how their team’s partnership with Brandlive can help create exceptional event experiences.
An added bonus? Brandlive partners get their own content bundle to pass along to their clients and prospects. Think of Brandlive as an extension of your own team, one that allows you to not only host and stream an event, but that also provides an elevated and intuitive production studio— so you can focus on your client’s creative needs.
“Having a partner in this with Brandlive is key to providing this next-level experience,” says Porter. “Clients are really starting to figure this out.”
