Q3 allowed our event management team to finally cross that (in-person) bridge! This kept us busy and that’s how we like it! We hosted seven total events in the quarter, one of those being in-person—it also happened to be the largest Bay Area SaaS event since the COVID-19 pandemic began! Two of our seven events were for new clients, this being their first event with cred, and we absolutely loved helping them bring their visions to life.

In Q3 we worked with new client and global HR platform Oyster on their virtual user conference. Presentations, panels, and fireside chats encouraged organizations and leaders to think creatively and innovatively about the Future of Work and communicate how distributed and remote workforces can promote social and economic progress of individuals and businesses. The event was held on Hopin and brought in attendees from 60—yes, 60—different countries. Read our full recap here!

We also had the pleasure of working with new client TrustRadius on their Boosting Marketing Performance with Downstream Intent Data webinar. During this intimate session, speakers and attendees reflected on the major shift COVID-19 caused to field sales and buying decisions. Panelists offered tips for how to leverage intent data and boost ad campaign performance. 

You know by now that our team is expert-level in the virtual world, but we had so much fun reacquainting ourselves with in-person conferences for SaaStr Annual 2021. Health being at the forefront of all decisions made, our team—along with 4,000 other in-person attendees—were able to attend and enjoy this safe event made possible by the mandatory vaccine policy, requirement to show proof of a negative COVID test, and the outdoor venue. You can learn more in our full blog post about the milestone event here. 

Where else were we this quarter?

• In mid July, we brought SaaStr Money to life where speakers and attendees discussed the latest on finance, fintech and funding. 

• We continued our work with veteran client Wellness Coach on their webinar series, with this particular session focused on HR Burnout in late July. The intimate event focused on self-care for HR professionals, as they are often too busy taking care of everyone else. Speakers and attendees provided tips and tricks for beating the burnout.

• In mid-August, Rippling sponsored the Benefits Pro Brokers Expo 2021 in Carlsbad, Calif., and we coordinated their full sponsorship package including a 10” x 10” booth and a 90-minute Rippling-hosted breakfast workshop. Benefits Pro drew in over 500+ brokers from across the country, and Rippling’s session attracted more than 60 attendees.

• Just a few days later in August, we brought the Cisco Meraki FY22 Sales Kick-off to life—a two-day internal and global event that celebrated many wins and looked ahead to the future of what is possible for the cloud-managed IT company. We were behind-the-scenes when folks from Australia, Japan, Germany, England, and several other countries tuned in and spoke. We love creating environments that inspire, both for internal and external events.

We continue to enjoy playing a role in elevating the voices featured by our clients at their events. Here are just a few of the incredible speakers we had a chance to work with: 

• Abby Wambach, American retired soccer player, coach, two-time Olympic gold medalist, a FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame

• Aaron Levie, CEO, Box

• Archana Agrawal, CMO, Airtable

• Adam D’Angelo, CEO & Co-Founder, Quora

• Ashley Grech, Global Head of Sales, Square

• Chris Stori, SVP, GM - Enterprise Networking & IOT & Meraki, Cisco

• Allison Vendt, Global Head of People Strategy & Operations and Analytics, Dropbox

• Sam Fisher, Head of Dynamic Work, Okta

• Tim Betry, VP, People & Places, GoPro

• Board Member of Disney, P&G and Marqeta, Amy Chang

• Jason Pernell, Worldwide VP of Sales, Cisco Meraki

• Anjali Sud, CEO, Vimeo

• Tope Awotona, CEO and Founder, Calendly

We’re continuing to learn with every event! Here’s what we’ve noticed in the past quarter:

• Vaccinations, COVID testing, and mask options are definitely the way of the future of events. They help attendees feel comfortable and confident that they won’t bring any viruses into their homes with their families, where most are still working. 

• Contactless solutions for on-site activities such as session check-in, registration, feedback surveys are definitely preferred. Read our full post here about how to give yourself the best chance of hosting a live event. 

• Always have a back-up plan for internet/WiFi. Losing the internet during a live conference is an event organizer’s worst nightmare. Make sure you have a hard wire option available and a troubleshooting procedure in place. 

• Attendees come to events because they are curious about the content and want to make connections. Ensure you build-in time for speaker Q&A, or have a method for attendees to connect with the Speakers after their session, in-person or virtually. 

• Virtual platforms have made Attendee and Event data more bountiful and easier to access than ever before. Read our full post here about how COVID-19 has impacted event data. 

• If you want to make your virtual event more fun, add a theme if it works with the content. It will allow speakers and attendees to feel more engaged and involved. 

Our whole team is feeling so rejuvenated after being on-site at an event again—after all, it is why we all joined this industry in the first place! We look forward to sharing our lessons learned and best practices with our clients after completing our first in-person conference since the pandemic began. More importantly, it was so clear to see the energy shift from attendees, speakers, sponsors, and vendors. Everyone was so happy to be mingling without a screen in between them. We look forward to bringing more events to life in Q4 and continuing to plan for a very busy 2022!

Have an event you are looking to bring to life? We’d love to help! Email us at hello@credpr.com