18 months after COVID-19 disrupted the events space—prompting a sudden shift to digital-first experiences—Techsytalk responded with help for the industry. Drawing upon their decade of experience in events technology, they hosted Techsytalk GLOBAL Unplugged, a virtual experience for event professionals to retreat, gather, and envision their industry’s future in an uncertain world.

There was only one problem: in a world where people spend more time online than ever before, it was a challenge to capture and maintain virtual engagement before, during, and after the event.

That’s where Hoppier helped. 

Before Event: Driving Action, Awareness, and Attendance

Driving pre-event awareness was a core goal for Techsytalk CEO Liz King Caruso, but Hoppier helped every step of the way. “Hoppier was such an easy tool to use, so we wanted to use it all throughout the process.” ‍

Action‍

In the weeks leading up to Unplugged, Techsytalk used Hoppier to drive sign-ups and generate excitement for the event. Specifically, they created a contest that was sent via social media and email. 

The terms? Anyone who signed up within the next 24 hours received a $15 Visa Hoppier card to use as they please. The result? 100 registrations in... 2 hours.

Awareness‍

But that’s not all. The tech-savvy Techsytalk team also tapped Hoppier to launch an influencer marketing campaign, one in which speakers and registered attendees were encouraged to share the event with their social networks and communities. 

Each share provided a chance to win a $250 Hoppier Gift Card—a coveted item that helped drive awareness of “Unplugged” across high-engagement social media accounts. Top influencers were tracked live on the contest event page, creating an interactive element that fostered both registration and awareness.

Attendance‍

Lastly, Techystalk hosted a Hoppier raffle to drive daily attendance. Each day, 5 people who logged into the event were randomly selected to receive a $10 Hoppier coffee card, allowing winners to order coffee from vendors including Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, or Tim Hortons to give their day a fresh start.

Each touchpoint with Hoppier was another way to show audience members that Techystalk cared, which fostered brand loyalty. “It was really great to be able to use it [Hoppier] to boost all of our goals throughout the entire event planning process.”

During Event: Gamification

Liz didn't expect all registered individuals to participate in every event (they also offered an on-demand option), but they did have goals around real-time engagement. “We want to make sure that out of the total number of people who register, those who can be engaged remain engaged throughout both days,” Liz explains.

Gamification ‍

Techystalk kept that initial engagement going strong by leveraging gamification on their event platform, Cadence.

Attendees could earn points in the game through actions like session attendance, social connection, sponsor booth visits, and more. Meanwhile, activations included a puzzle contest, a words discovery contest, and an interactive map where attendees could check-in virtually and discover all the locations people were joining from. 

The leaderboard was displayed live, with the first, and second most engaged attendees winning a Hoppier card valued at $250, and $50, respectively.

After Event: Community-Building

Once Unplugged wrapped up, The Techsytalk team wanted to continue their community building efforts by staying in contact with—and supporting—everyone who participated.‍

Community-Building‍

After the event, attendees were given Hoppier cards to say thank you for their participation. Techsytalk saw significant engagement with these cards, despite the event being over.

“They quickly downloaded and used the cards. People were really excited to receive them—a good marker of engagement that attendees are enjoying the experience that’s been put together,” Liz said.

Hoppier made it easy for Techsytalk to engage virtual event attendees in an increasingly distracted world. To find out if Hoppier can help you connect better with your event attendees, schedule a free demo.