Case study

Forums that build communities of world-leading experts

How did we design a virtual forum that achieved 90% retention and continued to grow a community after the event

Challenge

Design and produce a series of virtual forums to keep attendees engaged through participation and activities.

Solution

Using our digital event platform, SmartLab Events, we designed a virtual environment for engaging the forum community before, during and beyond the event.

Pre-event activities, discussion boards and resource libraries immersed attendees in the world of the think tank. On the day of the event, we worked with a broadcast partner to host a live stream within the platform while attendees were encouraged to use SmartLab’s apps to submit questions and provide realtime feedback. After the forum, we used SmartLab to host event documentation--including AI summaries, visualizations, visual scribing and academic essays.

Impact

The virtual forum was praised as a success, with 90% retention over the course of the two-hour stream. The SmartLab community has continued to grow between forums.