The Basics: When Avalara was planning its 2021 virtual conference, the tax compliance software company knew it wanted to impactfully deliver the event’s topics and goals while still being as unique and engaging as an in-person experience. The result was Avalara CRUSH City Virtual: The Future of Global Tax Compliance, an online event that ran from May 24-26, 2021, and aimed to help businesses in any sector understand trends impacting the global tax landscape and navigate their tax compliance challenges.
“Avalara came to us to break through the limits of the medium with a new and entirely fresh solution,” explained Shiraz Creative founder Shai Tertner, whose team was brought onto the project by event producer Brian Riha, chief experience officer and executive producer for 82 South. Shiraz Creative hosted the gathering, which drew 6,000 global attendees, on its ATTND.live virtual platform.
Photo: Courtesy of ATTND.live
Steal-Worthy Innovations: Tertner called the event an “immersive experiential destination,” designed to look like a massive, colorful city. The 3D environment was broken into 18 different “neighborhoods," each focused on a different industry or offering, which allowed attendees to choose their own adventures. Between scheduled keynote speeches and networking appointments, guests could explore the world on their own, tapping into resources and tools that solved their own personal pain points.
“Taxes can be complicated, complex, frustrating and boring to many,” said Riha. “Understanding these underlying perceptions, we narrowed our creative approach to inspire, engage and empower each participant. This led us to propose presenting the content of the event in a city-like environment, where attendees could wander on their own and encounter specialized content topics collected in various ‘buildings’ they could explore throughout the city.”
The content, including four headliner keynotes, 21 industry keynotes and more than 100 activity stations, was available on-demand for one month after the event wrapped.
Photo: Courtesy of ATTND.live
Lessons Learned: Tertner said that the self-guided nature made sense for a virtual format, where “attention spans for content delivered via presentations is much more limited than in a live event. The self-exploration aspect of CRUSH City Virtual compensated for this, keeping attendees engaged by following their own motivation to interact with content at their own pace.”
He added, "Many virtual events are prescribed journeys, and we wanted the attendees to have complete freedom to go where they please and connect with the relevant people as easily as possible.” 
Photo: Courtesy of ATTND.live
BizBash's 10 Most Innovative Meetings 2021 is sponsored by Bevy, a community event engine fueling virtual, hybrid and in-person events.
