In a world where technology plays the role of protagonist in our everyday lives, Globant has an important mission: to connect with and inspire as many people as possible by showing how technology is changing businesses, reinventing opportunities, and enabling greater connections around the world. With that in mind, Globant created Converge, an event designed to fuel conversations about the sustainable solutions provided by technology.
Originally, Converge 2021 was set to be held in-person in the United States. The need to reinvent it for a virtual format motivated Globant to think big and aim high. Globant set an ambitious goal of obtaining twice as many registrations as the previous year’s event, as well as moved away from the traditional conference format and became more accessible by promoting the event for free and presenting the event in three languages.
Converge united eight of today's most important topics — technology, people, sustainability, innovation, business, metaverse, gaming and entertainment — in discussions with thought leaders and celebrities who sought to inspire people globally. By converging different voices and promoting multidirectional communication, Globant was able to surpass this goal, as well as successfully make the event more accessible, boost brand awareness and inspire more people to identify with Globant’s values and mission. Not only did Globant surpass its goal of receiving twice as many registrations as 2020’s event (landing at 53,483 total registrations), but Converge also garnered more than 7K mentions on social media and reached more than 4M people globally.
The goal of Converge is to discuss the evolution of companies, as well as to help them understand what changes they need to make in order to stay competitive in a rapidly changing world. Companies understand that there are certain actions that are no longer optional, but rather necessary to ensure their continued success. It’s not enough to have a digital presence; today’s companies must provide engaging customer and employee experiences which incorporate the most cutting-edge technologies and ideas in order to retain their industry leadership. The rate of technological change is rapid and exponential, and companies now need to evolve faster than ever before.
Becoming an Augmented Organization requires more than just adopting a single technology. It is a fundamental shift in how a company operates. In many cases, it requires a complete cultural change alongside complex technological and organizational changes. It means building an Organization that knows how to use technology, culture and trends to unleash its own potential.
Converge 2021 brought together prominent international speakers from the world's most innovative companies – as well as scientific, artistic and social leaders – to share inspiring stories, inventive ideas and ground-breaking experiences with an audience of decision-makers, technologists and business leaders to ultimately help organizations create a better way forward.
To plan the scope of Converge, we talked to Globant’s technology experts to understand the topics that are generating buzz right now, and looked for speakers that represented both top trends as well as Globant's values and culture. The increase of Covid-19 cases in the United States encouraged Globant to think outside the box and transform Converge into a virtual event with a massive reach – a strategy change which took place in a record two-and-a-half months (and ultimately helped boost Converge’s impact).
The event was divided into a series of segments and translated to Spanish and Portuguese for a wider reach, while also allowing for live attendee participation and networking sessions. Key topics of discussion included:
How Technology Can Help Humans Flourish: How do we build technology that is helpful instead of harmful? Featuring Prof. Yuval Noah Harari.
BeKind Tech Fund: Technology is a resource that makes our lives easier, but when used incorrectly, it can harm us. The BeKind Tech Fund is a call for startups focused on addressing the negative side effects of technology to work hand-in-hand with Globant in a digital revolution. Featuring Guibert Englebienne.
Reinvention Now: Inspiring stories about real-life cases where technology has had a positive impact on people’s lives in a sustainable way. Featuring Patricia Pomies.
The Metaverse Panel: As we transition to an increasingly digital world, it is necessary to define a new technology that is making its way into our daily lives: the metaverse, which converges the physical with the digital. Featuring Matias Rodriguez, Cathy Hackl, Ted Schilowitz, Kasper Weber and Veronica Futaoka.
AI, Crypto, Metaverse, Tech Education & NFTs: The most revolutionary trends in technology today, combining business with innovation. Featuring James Corden, Martín Migoya, will.i.am and Bizarrap.
Converge exceeded all the expectations Globant had set and more. The message we conveyed was well-received by the audience, which generated high participation. The free admission to the event, as well as the multiplicity of included voices and the possibility of live networking, allowed us to achieve our ultimate goal: to raise awareness among our audience about the impact and infinite possibilities of technology. By highlighting the potential of technology, Globant can help motivate everyone – not just specialized professionals – to feel they have the knowledge and tools they need to take action and build a better future.
In addition to successfully creating an inspirational and accessible technology event, we also achieved our quantifiable goals for Converge 2021 while pivoting entirely from an in-person to virtual event with digital stages and networking rooms – for the first time in Globant history – in a record two-and-a-half months.
With Converge 2021, we surpassed our goal of 50,000 registrations with 57,642 total registrations (115.28%). We also garnered more attendees than all our 2020 in-person events (18,204 in total), with a peak attendance of 10,180 and an average time spent per user of 01:57:00 over the total two hours the event lasted. We also successfully achieved our goal of generating a broader impact through improved accessibility by garnering registrations from 85 countries.
Overall, during Converge, we obtained a 91% participation rate (14% higher than the estimated industry average) and a 9.3 post-event rating from attendees.
