This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where HopSkip spotlight's planners across the industry to bring awareness of how they adapted to COVID-19, communicating and lessons learned and sharing how they are viewing the meetings and events industry in a post-pandemic world.
Name: Ray Anthony Galloway
Company Name: The Education Trust
Job Title: Facilities and Events Manager
Years of Experience: 10 Years
How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?
We had to reschedule our event scheduled for April 2020 to October 2020, and then we had to reschedule again to October 2021, and then we had to reschedule again to April 2022. We canceled all events and travel, and then realized that we needed to have an event for our attendees/partners. We decided we needed to have a virtual event of the event that was originally scheduled for April 2020. We decided to have the virtual event in October 2020, and I tasked our IT Director with securing the virtual platform and provided him with information that was shared on the PCMA Forum Digest regarding virtual platforms. We also realized that we needed a virtual/digital event consultant to help us since this would be our first virtual event. After the October 2020 event the internal and external feedback resulted in the need to secure a more robust virtual platform. After several demos, we decided on Bizzabo, a more robust platform, which required that I explain to leadership that the cost for the virtual platform was equal to the audio visual cost of one in-person event and that we would be able to have several virtual events for that same cost.
As a planner, what was the number one thing you learned over the past year?
I would say "how to execute a virtual event" is the number one thing that I've learned over the past year.
Is there anything you are changing in your planning process moving forward as a result of the pandemic?
There are several things that I would change in my planning process, but if I had to identify one, it would be the start of the planning process because planning for virtual events takes more time planning and managing than in-person events. Although our last virtual event is currently scheduled for February 2022 and our next in-person event is scheduled for April 2022, the planning process for both of those events needs to start earlier than our current process of 5 months before the event date.
This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where HopSkip spotlight's planners across the industry to bring awareness of how they adapted to COVID-19, communicating and lessons learned and sharing how they are viewing the meetings and events industry in a post-pandemic world.