Objectives

Every year, Mansueto Ventures organizes the Fast Company Innovation Festival and Inc.’s visionary conferences, tentpole events that bring 50,000 people together. COVID forced our clients to adapt, and they turned to Moxie to define a new standard of the virtual stage. 

The call was very clear—design and produce immersive, world-class virtual experiences. 

In under 10 weeks, we had to rethink how it felt to “attend” a conference, how to foster community, and how to break through daily notifications and multi-tasking to keep people returning.

But with these challenges came new opportunities—with geographic limitations and historical travel budget restrictions no longer a concern, we could develop a new business model. By offering more tailored variations of attendee ticket types and tiers, we helped the clients stratify attendance; for example, whether it was meant for an individual or an entire department. This unlocked more options for the clients to feature in their promotional marketing communications, with more specific recommendations to entice attendance. For example, sponsored content sessions around technology in healthcare were promoted to relevant attendee segments, and with a custom ticket type, tailored their attendee experience. While the clients managed the registration promotion and logistics, Moxie’s collaboration in the upfront strategy paid dividends in attendee numbers and revenue. 
 

Strategy and Execution

We were all united behind the mission and the vision, but we faced challenges and a few set parameters: 

1. We had a very expedited schedule, which meant we had to try new ways of working (and iterate when they didn’t). 
2. The experiences needed to be built within an existing technology platform (Swoogo), which offered turnkey options, but required extra effort to break their mold. 
3. Our UX and consumer journey had to fit within a larger one on the client’s site, which was all being designed and built in parallel. 
4. UI designs had to be top-notch and work within tight brand guidelines and style guides. 

Therefore, our strategy was to always start with what was available in order to perfect the wheel, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. 

To execute, we took an iterative approach to bring two virtual events to life within 10 weeks on near-identical timelines:

1. First, a thorough discovery phase of desired user experience required platform integrations and technical capabilities.
2. Second, templated design options that allowed us to build modular pages within the Swoogo platform and enable speed in development. 
3. Third, massive collaboration across parties as development happening in parallel with design refinements, content entry and site development. 
4. Last, coordinated QA and troubleshooting with all parties including post-launch, real-time adjustments. 
    

Results

The client’s primary measure of success was to have these respective events live, operating and cutting-edge. Moxie did that and then some:

• Built world-class experiences that supported ten days of live and pre-recorded conference activity, complete with networking and integration with an AR virtual world. And it didn’t glitch once. 
• Inc.’s event included 26,000+ registrants and concurrent activity across 4 virtual stages. 
• Fast Company’s festival included 30,000+ registrants with concurrent activity across 5 virtual stages. 

Our strategy also helped clients to stratify their attendee and sponsorship offerings, resulting in:

• Attendance registrations beat expectations by 20% (source: MediaPost)
• Number of sponsorships more than doubled YOY (source: MediaPost)
• Increased Fast Company’s event overall revenue by 30% YOY (source: Digiday)

Last, but not certainly least, we found flexible ways of managing the work and finished the project within 93% of total project scope. Historically, these projects overburn, so we’re thrilled to have over-delivered to clients while protecting internal resources and revenue. 
 

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