18
Case Study
Conference
News talks to
simplycommunicate
about their
experience of taking
their SimplyIC live
event online
Company:
simply
communicate.com
BACKGROUND
SimplyIC live is one of
Europe’s largest digital
workplace festivals for
those working in internal
communications, HR,
and enterprise
communications
technology.
It is run by
simplycommunicate, an
independent community
which connects people
with effective
communications and
transformative
technology for better
business results. For 15
years the business has
been at the forefront of
the digital workplace
communications sector
hosting two annual
flagship physical
conferences in London as
well as monthly training
sessions. Average
conference attendee
numbers are 250.
PRE-EVENT PLANNING
At the start of 2020,
while Covid-19 was still
something which was
happening somewhere
else in the world, the
simplycommunicate
team were ramping up
efforts to stage one of
their two annual flagship
events.
Taking place in
London, simplyIC
typically attracts around
250 internal
communications and
digital workplace
professionals.
During early March, as
Event:
SimplyIC live
Group Size:
5
Covid-19 became
increasingly of concern,
it became apparent that
contingency plans would
be needed to beef up
the digital element of
the event. Once it was
announced lockdown
would be in place and a
face-to-face event would
be impossible, the team
were left with three
options: cancel,
postpone, or re-imagine.
During planning
discussions, it became
clear that the team were
united in their
commitment to
continuing with the
event and serving the
needs of their
community and
partners. If ever there
was a time to provide
attendees with support
during challenging
times, this was it.
Furthermore, as an
organisation which
operates within the
digital communications
space, it stood to reason
that they should
showcase the art of the
possible.
OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the
event were to provide
our community with a
masterclass in
producing large-scale
virtual events, and to
present honest case
studies on how large
organisations were
coping with the crisis.
Further, it was
important to bring
Date:
21 May 2020
Budget:
£10,000
together the best of
what technology can
offer to produce an
event which still offered
the components which
are events were known
for, such as networking,
breakout sessions,
interactivity, and
hands-on experiences
with our sponsors
services. It was also
important to position
simplycommunicate as
a leading and
independent authority
on internal digital
communications and
the digital workplace.
CHALLENGES
Having never delivered a
digital event of this scale
before, the need to
address the challenges
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