Ed Rigsbee's video: Ed Rigsbee s Raw Unedited with Laura Farr: Create Warm Fuzzies Family at Your Virtual Conference

Join Ed's Chief Staff Executive (associations & societies) Office Hours: https://rigsbee.com/cse-office-hours-with-ed-rigsbee-cae/ Laura Farr, Executive Director American Association of Naturopathic Physicians Laura.Farr@naturopathic.org Tips to Share: Key Markers 93% fewer expenses 79% less exhibitor income 55% higher registrations 7% higher registration income Structure: Usually a 3 day conference Modified to Day 1 started at 4:00 - 7:00 Mountain Day 2 & 3 were 10 - 6 Mountain Day 4 Post-con was 10-1 Mountain Usually have ~350-450 physician registrants + 40 speak Speakers Asked to waive their honorarium; gave them free conference registration (per usual). Almost 90% of speakers agreed. Pre-Engagement Worked our butts off to get speakers, exhibitors, participants logged into the platform in the week before the event. Sent reminders daily to people who hadn’t claimed their profile yet Had less than 20 “freakouts” on Day 1 of people who couldn’t login. Also meant that the week before was more frenetic than usual providing customer support. Lectures 1 keynote each day with 2 on last day 4 concurrent breakouts after keynotes of 55 min each Each agenda item was staffed by a staff facilitator (tech support) and a board member moderator. Both were needed. Board member welcomed everyone, made announcements, introduced speaker, moderated the chat room and asked questions from participants to the speaker. Facilitator prepped everyone in a green room before broadcast, launched and recorded broadcast, provided tech support to participants through the chat, and played video commercials from sponsors before or after the speaker. 37 speakers, all but 2 did their presentation live. Moderators/board MC were also live, reading live announcements that were modified in real time. Created a sense that this was really a live event, that there was active participation and response, not just watching a bunch of pre-recorded webinars. Engagement Goodie Bag sent to first 400 participants with accurate addresses. Sponsored by an exhibitor who had previously wanted to sponsor an elevator cling. Corporate partners were able to include a brochure and/or sample. Cost ~$9 to ship. Also included props for the gala and “welcome to the convention” note from us. Morning kick off movement (African Dance, Yoga) Tutorial at the beginning before keynote on how to use and navigate the platform (15 min) Social Sessions during breaks - set up as mini zoom rooms One movement or meditation One roundtable discussion (What Keeps you up at night, Tech desk for tips on how to be successful at video conferencing 1:1 support) Encouraged visits to exhibit hall Country Pop-Ups 10 minutes Part tutorial on how to use your zoom controls of mute/unmute and scroll to see people Part helping the community know we’re all together, we’re all at a conference together Called on different demographics to unmute (with moderator’s help) when called on and say “Hi,” or “Congratulations,” or “Hooray,” etc and wave or clap. Called on all regions in the US; Alum from different schools, New Grads Happy Hour speed dating the evening of Day 1 Welcomed as whole group Split into breakouts of 10-12 people. We did 15 min, should be ~12-13 min. Had ice breakers available if needed People loved seeing friends, but newcomers were invited to introduce themselves and got to participate & meet people that they would normally not ever feel comfortable entering a group with these people Came back to group, scrambled into different breakouts x3 Gala Had ~ 85 out of the total of 280 who attended live participate 30%. Hired DJ who broadcast from a studio with “lobby welcome jazz music,” 5 minute dance/music break in between major sections of program (recommend 3-4 minutes), and 15 minutes dance at end. Modified (greatly shortened) version of awards - didn’t give awards to any individual but to “groups” - state chapter leaders, new graduates, Committee Chairs, etc. Unmuted everyone and asked them to cheer to recognize each group. This eliminated individual speeches. Did a Founders video - 2 minutes - Was a lot to prepare (collecting pictures and quotes of founders) but really well received. Fundraiser - 2 short speakers who laid out the problem, 1 member who does improv on the side did the fundraising pitch. Made it fun, called on people as challenges, people who pledged $1k or more were asked to text the MC who broadcast their name publicly and generated a little competition. Almost 75% of those who attended the gala contributed.