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the summit ’ s co-producer , is based in Hong Kong , so we conceived , planned and delivered the event separated by location and time zone making for some very long days and nights playing tag team on the summit design , content and elements . As the summit agenda was being refined with the contributions of each speaker and checking that every presentation focused on freelancers , we moved our attention to audience generation .

For the registration process , with the benefit of hindsight , we would have chosen differently . For a number of practical reasons we chose to run the registration through Remo , the first of these being that keeping the registration process within the webinar platform ensured we were not working across multiple systems , and secondly by directing delegates to sign up using the platform meant that they already had the URL of the event for when we were live .

However , we quickly learned that the Remo system did not give us the delegate breakdown information we needed . With the option only to register name , title and email address and to sign-up for the entire event , we were not able to develop a deeper understanding of our delegates ’ attendance needs by asking them to sign up to specific sessions or groups of sessions , to

understand the location from which they were signing in or to understand more about their business . As a result , we did not know in advance which sessions were going to be the best attended or understand more about delegates needs so we could tailor our content accordingly . Something like Eventbrite would have given us more information and therefore been more useful .

That being said , within 48 hours of the launch of the summit we had over 160 registered attendees , and throughout the few weeks leading up to the event we continued to see a steady increase in numbers right up to the day of the event , when we reached our limit of 800 delegate registrations for the event . This was definitely helped by the speakers sharing the event to their networks following our rehearsal sessions the week prior .

One of the key considerations for an online event , as with any other , is the need for rehearsal time . Knowing that this was a new platform to almost everyone involved we scheduled a series of drop-in sessions where speakers could have a basic orientation of the webinar platform and process by which they are called from the networking area to the ‘ green room ’ and then onto the ‘ stage ’.

Like all rehearsals , we solved problems we did not know we had

One of the key considerations for an online event , as with any other , is the need for rehearsal time .

Key learnings

• Define your event agenda

• Know your audience

• Slick marketing

• Brief your speakers

• Keep presentations short and succinct

• Use visual content to support presentations

• Ensure that all speakers are comfortable

and helped Case study reassure us and the speakers how to get the best out of the platform . We were also reminded that it is often the basics in stage management and presentation approach that needs the most attention , in this case often the way a speaker was set up at home with laptop setups , firewalls , choice of microphone or use of lighting made all the difference to the quality of hearing and seeing the presenters . On the summit day itself I was based at PSA in North London with Simon and their engineers , and Ajay was in his apartment in Hong Kong . Having the support and guidance of PSA who knew every aspect of the platform and understanding our brief became one of the key success factors for the summit , we could not have delivered a summit with 38 speakers , 20 sessions and 800 delegates and all the content that involved , whilst also presenting the intros , chairing the sessions and managing the social media live on the day , without the help of others .

We did everything else ourselves in the build-up to the event , but having a team to support the technical delivery of the platform and a dedicated social media management on the day was key , and must not be under-estimated .

We worked closely with Trapeze Media , who ran the summit social media campaign to live-tweet the event and each session , which allowed us to reach a wider audience on the day and beyond . It was my first experience in seeing how an expert in this field prepares content in advance ready for timed release before , during and after each session which all helped to guarantee our hit rate on the day . Most importantly , the event freelance community really came together on the day , and there was a huge amount of networking taking place through the platform , the social media and many messaging groups and dialogue in the chat and in the networking area .