Civil Service Live
Live Group explains how it staged one of the largest virtual conferences of 2020 on behalf of the Civil Service
Civil Service Live is an annual event hosted to unify the Civil Service community . There are education sessions , panel discussions and debates , featuring appearances from some of the leading experts in the sector , such as Minister for the Cabinet Office , Michael Gove , Secretary of State for Health and Social Care , Matt Hancock and Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office , Alex Chisholm .
Civil Service Live is designed to educate , engage and inspire . But in 2020 , Covid-19 stood in the way of these objectives , at a time when it was crucial for the civil service community to discuss how best to work together through the crisis .
The Civil Service ’ s rolling roadshow was ground to a halt just weeks out from showtime and it needed to find a new event partner fast . This partner had to be an experienced and trusted authority in the virtual event space who could help the governmental department to pivot its approach to a virtual offering – a first for the organisation . It needed to be accessible , sustainable , and capable of delivering content to a huge global audience .
Live Group had just the approach in mind .
The solution
With the starting pistol firing one month from launch , the Live Group team worked with focus and pace to build a virtual event infrastructure , capable of handling the daunting size of the expected audience , while developing a content and comms approach , which could be delivered to the prohibitive budget and on time .
One crucial element that required careful consideration was the expected audience size , which stood in the tens of thousands .
With this issue front-ofmind , attention was paid to the user experience when developing a bespoke virtual platform : clear registration pathways , a robust engagement strategy to hook audiences in and hold their attention , plus a rock-solid infrastructure capable of delivering a smooth streaming experience to every delegate .
Additional steps to improve accessibility were implemented . Working with Live Group ’ s UX experts , it ensured the platform adhered to best practice and exceeded accessibility criteria .
On the day
Time to broadcast – no easy feat with dozens of sessions
LIVE GROUP TEAM WORKED WITH FOCUS AND PACE TO BUILD A VIRTUAL EVENT INFRASTRUCTURE , CAPABLE OF HANDLING THE DAUNTING SIZE OF THE EXPECTED AUDIENCE .
on the agenda spanning two days , with speakers spread across the country beaming out to 48,000 + viewers .
A studio was set up in a London location to host Civil Service speakers and