Organizing Large-scale Events- Takeaways from Happy Cities Summit 2019

Events are a great opportunity to learn for event professionals, irrespective of the size or agenda of the event. We sure do make a point to take away a few essential learning from the events we power or attend.

One of our latest events that we were privileged to be a part of was the Happy Cities Summit: Amravati 2019 organized by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

About Happy Cities Summit 2019

The Happy Cities Summit: Amravati 2019 was organized by the government of Andhra Pradesh from 13th to 15th February 2019. The summit was a follow-up event to the successful inaugural summit for establishing Amravati, the future capital city at the forefront of urban innovation and development.

The summit consisted of multiple events including panel discussions, workshops, site visits, grand challenges and awards.

Powered by Hubilo

Hubilo received the opportunity to partner up with this large-scale state event by providing the following event technology solutions:

1. Event Registrations:

Hubilo’s event registration solution was integrated within the existing Happy Cities Summit event website. A custom form was created for the summit which was then interlinked to the website.

Attendees could directly submit the form and the organizers would then receive detailed analytics for the same. As mentioned before, the event was a large scale event with attendees ranging from innovators and entrepreneurs, government officials to citizens.

Hence, event registrations were set up in a way that event organizers can collect relevant data for relevant categories in terms of attendees. Five different event registration forms namely academician, media, government official, citizen and entrepreneur were created and hosted on the event registration portal for the same. Attendees could then select the category for which they wished to register accordingly.

2. Mobile Event App:

Event app is one of the most effective attendee management and attendee engagement solutions out there. An exclusive mobile event app was created for the summit which contained a range of effective event app features ranging from basic event info to attendee networking. Following are a few noteworthy features of the Happy Cities Summit Event App:

- Detailed schedule

As mentioned before, the three-day event was divided into multiple events including panel discussions workshops, site visits etc. For this, a detailed event schedule was created which could be accessed directly through the event app. This was done to maximize attendee convenience at the summit.

- Speakers

A lot of important panel discussions with professionals and officials were held as part of the summit. The entire detailed list of event speakers was added as a section on the event app so that the attendees can check out individual speaker profiles, know more about what industry the speakers belonged to, their work, etc. take notes and bookmark the speaker and the sessions that they’d like to attend the summit.

- Event Networking

Business networking is a very essential part of events. The event organizers of the summit wanted to further progress and development through partnership at the event. Which is why they facilitated networking at the event through multiple event app features such as set up one-on-one meetings, exchange and manage business cards, attendee profile listings, direct chat, etc.

The app also had a detailed event feed where people could post their ideas and opinions, initiate discussions, polls, etc. in order to get the conversation going.

- Event feedback survey

Feedback is very important for event strategizing. Understanding what worked and what didn’t directly from the attendees help event organizers improve the overall event experience for their upcoming events.

That is why the event organizers of the Happy Cities Summit integrated a custom feedback survey within the event app whereby attendees can fill the form and provide an overall review of their experience at the event.

Apart from this, individual event details were provided for multiple types of events and workshops which were then categorized based on pre-registered events, discussions, workshops, site visits, etc. in the side panel for maximum attendee convenience.

3. Check-in

Apart from this, Hubilo also provided the entire attendee check-in solution for the event. Attendees were sent their own custom QR code through email as soon as they registered for the summit.

These QR codes were also accessible through the Happy Cities App as well. Attendees could simply get these QR codes scanned at the event venue to check-in. The organizers were provided Hubilo’s onsite check-in app for carrying out this process.

Attendees can also be sent custom notifications once they’re checked-in. Apart from these organizers also had the option to carry out manual check-ins as well as on spot check-ins post registrations through the solution.

Thus, these were some of the most noteworthy event technology solution provided by Hubilo for the event. In associating with such a large scale government event, we did learn a few things that could be beneficial to us as well as all you event professionals out there.

Takeaways from Happy Cities Summit 2019

The Happy Cities Summit was a successfully organized, diverse and well-managed event that did a lot of things right. Here are a few takeaways from the event that we found worth sharing:

1. Technology helps in managing large scale events

We have emphasized the importance of technology in event planning and execution time and again through our articles. Event technology helps in simplifying a lot of event processes and makes it easier for organizers to implement their event strategy.

Apart from this, event technology helps organizers in compiling a definitive event data that they can use in order to measure the overall event ROI as well as develop further strategy for their events.

As in the case of the Happy Cities summit, the event organizers received detailed event analytics on registrations, networking, app downloads, etc. Apart from this, technology solutions such as networking and event feed also helped engage attendees in the various events that were part of the overall summit.

2. Networking plays a key role in idea-driven events

Business networking is a major ROI that helps improve the overall experience by maximizing the ROI that they gain from your event.

Taking the example of the summit, the organizers of the event had facilitated event networking through their event app, including a range of features that helped attendees discover relevant attendees that they would like to connect with.

The solution also facilitated direct attendee communication through in-app direct chats as well as gave them the option to set up one-on-one meetings directly through the app. The main agenda of the event being collaboration and partnership for growth, this feature plated a key role in helping organizers further their event agenda.

3. Detailed agenda helps attendees navigate better through events

In case of such events that are conducted on such a scale and ones that have a lot of sub-events happening as part of a mega event, it becomes confusing at times for attendees to keep up with everything that is happening around them.

In such cases, creating a detailed agenda that is comprehensive and includes all the activities and events being conducted is essential for attendees. It helps them navigate their way through your event and also gives equal leverage to all that you have planned within your event.

The summit, for example, had an entire page dedicated to explaining all that was happening within the main summit. The organizers had also put up a downloadable agenda on the event website as well as provide a schedule on their app divided based on their event types. This made it much easier for the attendees to know their way around the entire summit.

4. Event feedback is an asset in event strategizing

Attendees are key to the success of your overall event. Hence, it is only fair to include attendees in determining the success of your event and implementing the same in your event strategy.

Enabling a clear channel for attendees to provide their feedback is a great way to gain their trust and get data that actually help you measure the overall success of your event. The organizers of the Happy Cities Summit had provided a custom feedback form on their event app whereby attendees can directly provide their feedback on various aspects of their event.

This gave them a lot of valuable data that they could put into use in order to plan their future events, keeping the attendee experience in mind.

Overall, the summit proved to be a great learning experience for us to implement in all the future events we power.

Attended or powered an event recently? Have insights that you would like to share with us? You can connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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