BACKGROUND & GOALS

Alma is a mental health startup on a mission to simplify access to high-quality, affordable mental health care. Alma is a remote-first company with over 500 employees distributed across the United States. Alma has raised over $220mm in funding and was named one of Inc.’s Best Workplaces in 2022 and 2023.

Creating in-person connections at a remote-first company

Since Alma is completely remote, the company sought to strengthen team bonds through both offsite and virtual events but faced the complexities of managing diverse preferences and complicated logistics. Many of Alma’s team leads were tasked with putting together events and team building activities, leading to hours of lost productivity time. 

Managing logistics through a centralized resource

Alma was then matched with several team-building options, and they selected one supplier that coordinated three different team bonding activities during the offsite including trivia, scavenger hunts and underground city tours. Restaurants within walking distance of offsite events were selected via the platform, many of which offered custom menus, private rooms and a bespoke experience for the group.

Alma ordered branded windbreakers and umbrellas to fit the Seattle theme from a preferred supplier on the Cvent Vendor Marketplace. The entire order, design and delivery was handled on the platform and delivered on-site for distribution upon arrival at the welcome event. Alma’s product Team Lead heard about this experience and used the same supplier for the product team’s offsite in Asheville.

Creating executive connections through virtual team building 

For virtual team building exercises, Alma selected a New York-based natural perfumer offering a virtual DIY perfume workshop experience. Alma team members created their own personalized perfumes from the comfort of their homes as they explored the world of fragrance, and learned about different scent notes. This interactive and creative workshop not only fostered team collaboration but also provided a memorable sensory experience.

The Sales team embarked on an at-home experience of their own by choosing a Cvent Vendor Marketplace supplier specializing in unique crafting themes. Just in time for the holidays, the group demonstrated how to create pom poms and tassel ornaments, colorful gift toppers, keychains, and bag charms.

RESULTS

Seeing impressive impact across Alma's team

For all of Alma’s trip needs and sourcing, the Cvent Vendor Marketplace was able to provide quotes within 24 to 48 hours, with the RFP tool leading to quicker booking turnaround.Alma established over 433 new supplier connections to use for future offsite and virtual event planning.The ability to move through quotes from each supplier on a single dashboard allowed Alma to stay within budget and compare best pricing.All payments and invoicing were completed on the Cvent Vendor Marketplace. This allowed team leads to see everything in one place, removing the need for chaotic supplier communications and emails.

Alma's successful virtual and offsite events demonstrate the platform's capability to offer diverse and engaging experiences, making remote team-building both seamless and impactful. With access to the Cvent Vendor Marketplace's curated network of virtual and group-friendly suppliers across the country, Alma continues to foster team connections through memorable and exciting experiences.
 

PRODUCTS USED

Connections Housing is a third-party agency that manages housing for over 400 annual events. They rely on their long-standing use of Cvent’s Passkey solution for room block management for complex events across markets. They also use other integrated solutions like the Cvent Supplier Network and Event Management platform. Robert Colvin, Chief Operating Officer, notes, “We’ve used Passkey since 2004, and our relationship has evolved with Cvent over the years to become a great partnership.”

Over the last few years, the rapid return of in-person events presented a unique challenge for Connections Housing. They found they needed to level-set industry knowledge for an influx of new hospitality professionals. As such, Connections Housing acted as a key partner in helping to onboard and knowledge share about the Passkey solution for professionals who may be new to the industry. “We’re educating them about the tool, and Cvent’s been a great partner in helping us to onboard our events, making sure our hospitality partners know the many capabilities of the tool,” Robert explains. They work together to ensure their hotel partners are able utilize Passkey in a strategic way to provide top level service to their attendees, exhibitors, and customers.

As “doing more with less” is a common theme Robert currently hears from their hotel partners, Passkey provides important opportunities to automate processes and drive internal efficiencies. The room block management solution supports complex requirements while saving valuable man hours. “We use this technology from end-to-end,” Robert insists. Connections Housing not only directly reviews all hotel builds with their hotel partners, but ensures they have access to the tool early in the process so they can confirm everything is set up correctly, from rates to room blocks. 

This seamless integration allows attendees to register for the event and book their rooms in a single, unified process. The event manager can easily configure their room blocks and availability, attendee types, and corresponding room rates. From there, the integration can be easily configured to activate hotel accommodations and the Passkey integration can be customized to the particulars of one’s needs. 

Innovative technology features for improved housing management 

Another key feature Robert credits as highly valuable is the waitlisting capabilities within Passkey. “With the stronger demand for hotel meetings and hotel rooms, clients are not wanting to assume liability,” Robert explains. This means blocks may be smaller than usual. “So that means we’ve got more demand for the rooms that we actually have contracted,” he adds. The waitlist functionality will automatically alert event managers in the tool so they can track and manage waitlist updates in real time, whether on a case-by-case basis or through an automated process. “This means we can, in essence, oversell the property and then clear the waitlist automatically through Passkey once the hotel confirms additional availability,” Robert notes.

RESULTS

By using auto block, Connections Housing was able to book rooms and collect credit card payments faster, which resulted in earlier pick up of the rooms. Also by using this tool, it saved their event management team from having to track down payments closer to the start of the event. In fact, with the ability to manage over 600 sub-blocks in the system with reporting as well as additional integrated tools, Connections Housing was able to deliver concise reservation details for over 11,000 booked rooms. In addition, using Passkey in conjunction with the integrated marketing solutions within Cvent’s Event Management platform helped streamline attendee communication, saving valuable time.

LOOKING FORWARD

Pushing boundaries and enhancing experiences through an extended partnership

The value of Passkey as a comprehensive solution is the central reason Connections Housing has maintained their decades-long partnership with Cvent. “We’re completely on board with Passkey and I can’t emphasize enough how much efficiency the two-way integration creates for our teams as well as the hotel,” insists Robert. As he notes, Connections Housing is the largest third-party user of Passkey, with over 500,000+ reservations managed in the last two years alone. “We are basically putting over a million room nights through the system annually” he adds.

PRODUCTS USED