GDS Group - Best Virtual Event Technology Solution

Company: GDS Group, Bristol, United Kingdom
Company Description: We’re a global events, research & tech services company, helping clients meet the challenges posed by a fast-moving, disruptive business environment. Our B2B summits/events bring purchaser & provider communities together to find solutions to real-world business challenges. Our technology services provide connectivity solutions that enable organisations to take advantage of the digital revolution.
Nomination Category: Product & Service Categories - Business Technology Solutions
Nomination Sub Category: Virtual Event Technology Solution

Nomination Title: A digital transformation

If this is a brand-new product, state the date on which it was released. If this is a new version of an existing product, state the date on which the update was released:

Over the past five years, we’d been slowly building a digital side to our business. However, it was still in the early stages. Building from the bare bones, we, GDS Group, made the bold decision to move to a 100% digital business. With that came the launch of an industry-first, highly immersive and exciting virtual events environment delivered via a TV-equipped studio using cutting-edge technology.

Our first event using the new platform was held in April 2020.

An exciting new product

We created an industry-first, highly immersive and exciting virtual environment that is all about learning and experiencing which allows us to deliver impactful daily events. Each event is very much a custom experience delivered via a broadcast quality, TV-equipped studio using cutting-edge technology and featuring a presenter and fully customisable backdrops.

Our winning formula

-For our larger three-day events (Summits), we’ve created a winning formula consisting of:
-An opening keynote speaker – key industry speakers are chosen to resonate with the audience.
-Breakout panels and workshops, designed for people to come together to discuss hot topics, share insights and problem solve any issues with their peers.
-Virtual roundtable peer discussions, providing a forum to discuss how senior executives can move their key projects forward, to research new ideas and technologies and to test theories and ideas.
-Case studies where outstanding stories are delivered by C-suite leaders at major international organisations.
-Audience participation and Q&A – greatly encouraged, those who would like to participate can raise a virtual hand and when appropriate they’re brought on stage virtually. We’re also able to spotlight key audience members on stage when needed. We want the events to feel as interactive as possible, so everyone is encouraged to turn their cameras on, join in and get involved.
-The Leadership Excellence Awards, to celebrate the greatest achievements by C-suite leaders. Here the platform creates a more engaging awards presentation because you can see the finalists’ faces as the winners are announced, then hear them interviewed afterwards.
-A closing keynote speaker.
-Tailored 1-2-1 meetings, organised after the event with peers and sponsors to have detailed discussions.
-Interactive polls, held throughout the events to help shape the important conversations.

Delivering a better experience to delegates

Data gathered following our first event told us that our virtual event delegates found their objectives were met almost as much as by physical delegates. This is because, to a degree, they felt more comfortable speaking and sharing in this new, virtual and highly immersive way, and with the event being more content-driven – there’s more opportunity for discussion.

Growing our digital business

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were an 80% face-to-face B2B events company with summits/events mainly run in the UK and USA, with c86% of our income coming from these two countries.

Creating a new, immersive events platform enabled us to transition all our physical events to digital as well as offer other/new services including virtual round tables, bespoke events and awards, growing our digital business by 1449%.

Performance against objectives

Our biggest priority was to protect our income. We set an objective to pivot to digital events aiming to bring in at least 50% of our 2019 total turnover. By reinventing our business – moving to 100% digital events – we’ve developed and thrived and have exceeded this objective, achieving 93% of our 2019 turnover.

We’ve also seen the following increases:

Overseas turnover: 95%.
Net profit: 30% (where our competitors’ profits have fallen by up to 40%).
Our team: 25% (an exceptionally rare achievement when many other companies are downsizing during these difficult times).
Client numbers: 32%.

Positive feedback

Since the first event, we’ve held events daily and have received lots of positive feedback, e.g., one delegate (from 7 Eleven Global) said the event “was one of the most valuable events I have attended in many years.” In fact, we recently surveyed delegates from one of our most popular events (‘Meet the Boss’) and 93% said they’d recommend it.

We also ask delegates to rate the content of our events and, for example, one of our latest summits (HR Summit, attended by 81 senior people and HR leaders from 71 companies) received an average content rating of 8.5/10.

Delivering ROI

We track the ROI for each virtual event we run and continually achieve an excellent return. E.g., we set up 1-1 meetings post-event for sponsors to meet again with the delegates and currently achieve this at a 68% success rate.

Conclusion

To survive and thrive, we’ve had to evolve and adapt, so we put innovation at our heart and introduced a revolutionary new way to deliver high-quality virtual events that are reshaping the B2B events industry.

Our supporting document includes:

Images illustrating our industry-first, highly immersive and exciting virtual events environment and what our winning formula is made of.

More delegate feedback and sponsor feedback demonstrating the value they get from our digital events.

ADP feedback: We partnered with ADP to transform their flagship ‘REThink Now’ event for their Tier 1 partners into an entirely digital experience. The February 2021 event was a truly global 3-day event, and a tremendous success, delivering £285,351 revenue as a single campaign. Not only we received glowing feedback, but the client was so impressed with our execution that they have approached us to deliver a hybrid model for their 2022 ReThink Now event.