How a Small Events Team Manages 100+ Virtual Events Annually | Epic Events by vFairs | Shanaaz Khandaker

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:12 Unknown And as if you can introduce yourself and your organization and your role within the company. Sure. My name is Shahnaz. I'm from your overseas home and I am the event manager.

What type of events do you typically run in your organization? Is that in-person events, virtual events or hybrid events? Yeah. So we do a 100% virtual events.

00:00:19:12 - 00:00:41:08 Unknown So we have two types of events throughout the year. So we do webinars. So we have them every Thursday. We have about three every Thursday.

Equating to about 100 a year. And then we also have our big events or conventions that happens biannually. And that's a place for people looking to relocate and to buy overseas to come and meet partners. 00:00:41:10 - 00:01:07:11 Unknown Our partners could range from lawyers.

They could range from, estate agents, visa people, EFA, all that kind of stuff. Anything that would assist in the process of moving overseas. They would come to, to the meet and also to learn about the relocation process. And, what were your main goals for this event?

Main goals? Well, of course, to give a seamless experience for the attendees and the partners. 00:01:07:11 - 00:01:27:13 Unknown But, you know, there's there's a lot of KPIs. You know, one of them is getting a certain amount of registrations, getting a certain amount of attendees.

And then, you know, we we track the, the documents that are downloaded, the booth visits, then the amount of partners that we have. So we want to make sure we're covering all the bases. 00:01:27:13 - 00:01:53:12 Unknown We have a diverse amount of partners that can help out the attendees. So yeah, quite a few.

What challenges were you facing before using reefers? Well, I mean, I think reefers is actually the only platform with use. So before that, we never really had the virtual events. It was just in person.

So, I mean, that that in itself could be an issue. 00:01:53:13 - 00:02:12:17 Unknown We don't have a PR firm, but I mean, referrals obviously helped us provide that online experience, seamless experience and then capturing all the data. After that, it was we can use to sell to partners and then of course, to make our business better. So and what prompted you to look into an event solution?

I think it was in Covid, actually. 00:02:12:17 - 00:02:37:17 Unknown So so I've just joined about a year ago. So this is before I joined. We did have in-person events.

That was before Covid and during Covid. Of course, everything went virtual, so we also had to go virtual. So that was kind of the push and given, given, of what you have used with various what specific features or capabilities, you feel that are important within the virus platform that you care about the most? 00:02:37:19 - 00:02:59:14 Unknown Yeah.

Well, actually, the biggest thing for me that I haven't seen anywhere else really is the admin support that we get from from referrals. So as any event planner we know, there's lots and lots of admin work to do. And it's like technically an event manager shouldn't be spending hours and hours uploading spreadsheets and adding people's names, things like that. 00:02:59:14 - 00:03:18:18 Unknown So, for us, we do have a smaller events team as well.

So having that admin support has been a really big help for us. And is there any particular functionality other than the support that, you know, you know, the ecosystem that that made VFL stand out also compared to everyone, as you might have seen. Yeah. 00:03:18:18 - 00:03:36:22 Unknown So we first does a great job on the, virtual reality kind of view they most experience.

Yeah. Yeah, I haven't seen that anywhere else. So and it's quite easy to use. Actually, I have seen it and I think 1 or 2 other companies, but it's a bit glitchy.

Doesn't necessarily work how you'd want it to work. 00:03:37:00 - 00:03:56:14 Unknown And a big thing for us is having the digital experience be seamless. So yeah, it's really helpful in that way. And other than the support and the they most of the experience.

Are there any other features that surprised you, delighted you that you have used the meeting section, the networking, the gamification, anything as, that you feel that attendees value? 00:03:56:16 - 00:04:16:11 Unknown A lot? Yeah. I like the appointment booking section.

That's something. Something that I think you recently added. You know, it's made it it made it very easy for us to have everything in one platform so we don't have to use outside platforms and then try to connect, or like, do extra manual work. So that's something that's really helped.

00:04:16:13 - 00:04:34:15 Unknown And it works quite well as well. It works through the chat function on the day of. And then there is a separate area for the appointments itself. So it's quite easy to use that as video call or phone call.

So whatever you're comfortable with as you can decide. Yep. And with these events, what are the results or outcomes. 00:04:34:15 - 00:04:56:14 Unknown Did you achieve whether it's in terms of attendance, engagement, ROI.

So what are some of those metrics that you felt that had the platform achieve it for you? Right. So again, the performance improvements are quite big for us. It is it is something that helps retain.

So, you know, we got a bunch of registrations, then we send out the email for them to book an appointments. 00:04:56:16 - 00:05:14:09 Unknown Once they book an appointment, they have to attend, well, they don't have to attend, but they would like to attend, you know, to get their answers and whatnot. But, yeah. So that's definitely helped us, in many ways.

And I think just adding the VR experience definitely adds a new layer. Like, I don't think people have seen that in other events. 00:05:14:09 - 00:05:34:19 Unknown So it kind of makes us stand out. And, we all have our manager.

So, how do you prove success to your stakeholders, to your managers? Like, you know, when you go back, you know, to your managers, what are some of the things that, again, beef has helped you just stand out within your job? Yeah. Well, the proof is in the analytics at the end of the day.

00:05:34:19 - 00:05:55:22 Unknown Right? So if you capture all the analytics, that's kind of what we give to our management to to say like, hey, you know, we've achieved this, we achieved x, y, z in this events. And it's all quite well recorded in the different platforms. So of like, what do you recommend referrals to other organizations and why?

00:05:56:00 - 00:06:12:11 Unknown I think it depends on the event, but. And what just, you know, that makes sense. Not everything is for everybody, but, Yeah, if they're looking for, I would say it's good for a younger crowd. So a younger crowd who's maybe.

I know you guys do a lot of career fairs, things like that. So it makes a lot of sense if anybody and you. 00:06:12:11 - 00:06:33:14 Unknown My event planning colleagues, wanted to run a career fair or, some type of training event, I think the platform would work very well. Because it is, it is a bit it's I wouldn't say it's necessarily intuitive, but if you have if you are quite tech savvy, which I a, a lot of young people are it is it is an interesting experience to go through.

00:06:33:16 - 00:06:53:22 Unknown What's next for your events and how do you see as fitting into your long term event strategy. Well, like I said, we're 100% virtual at the moment. So if we ever go to in-person events then of course I know vFairs offers that hybrid experience. So that's something that we would look forward to.

Perfect. Thank you so much for being here. 00:06:53:22 - 00:06:57:05 Unknown And again for sharing your feedback. Thank you for having me.

Thank you.