The Situation
After working with two different meeting management companies in two years, a Fortune 500 client event team contacted Maritz for help. In March, a few months into the planning cycle for the November conference, they asked that we assume all responsibility for conference management, as well as coordinating with and managing many of the vendors. Supporting the primary objective of attendance growth and event brand perception, Maritz’s role was to ensure every aspect of the event technology enhanced the attendee experience.
The Solution
The next seven months leading up to the conference, Maritz took on four key initiatives critical to conference success:
- Strategic and proactive conference management
- Building confidence with the client, who had recently been through two disappointing meeting management relationships
- Winning the trust of the long-time production vendor
- Managing multiple vendors to ensure they delivered their best
The project required complex integration with several different partners. Maritz’s large client technology team worked together to create a technology solution that worked for the client and their targeted objectives. Additionally, the client needed a new approach in two technical areas of the conference: A mobile app for the program and an Executive 1:1 tool. As the project planning and development unfolded, the client company discovered the depth of our technology and migrated to the Maritz solution.
Both the mobile app and the Executive 1:1 tool were well-received and a big success, as well as Maritz’s integration with third-party vendors — including Marketo, Enlighten, Certain and Concur — and the introduction of beacon technology.
The Results
42%
Increase in attendance at the conference over the previous year.
Overall, the conference succeeded in growing attendance by 42 percent, receiving praise and valuable feedback from attendees. Additionally, Maritz’s experience in conference management and partnership with other vendors created a noticeably smooth event — all while coordinating myriad aspects of the conference, including:
- A room block across five hotels – 5,628 rooms on peak
- 400+ content sessions aligned by exhibitor category locations
- 350+ speakers and 60 exhibitors
- 70 ancillary and customer advisory board meetings
- Five regional and specialty events with 24 registration types
- Hundreds of single-use codes for prepaid packages, comps, promotions and special circumstances
- Six registration sites: primary, sponsor/exhibitor, media/press, employee, team pass and partner nomination
