Christian Brothers Automotive (CBA), a nationally franchised automotive repair company, oversees a variety of events ranging from single-day meetings to multi-day trainings and large-scale conferences. These events are critical to relationship building and education for the entire brand family.

CBA originally struggled with disparate systems and lengthy back-and-forth communication that impacted the success of their programs. Their reliance on a third-party vendor for housing management was inefficient, causing delays and mismatched registration and housing lists. “Room block utilization and reporting was essentially non-existent,” explains Katy Baronitis, Events Manager. The lack of integrated systems resulted in frustration, inefficiencies, and a lack of comprehensive data to assess program impact.

BACKGROUND & GOALS

Transforming event management with Cvent

To address these challenges, CBA adopted a comprehensive suite of Cvent solutions including Registration, Cvent Event Diagramming, Cvent Passkey, and more. These integrated tools housed all of their event management processes within a single system, significantly improving efficiencies. 

The Registration tool allows CBA to collect and securely store all attendee and event data while creating a more personalized attendee experience. They are also able to track all event program data easily in one location. Katy explains, “By moving all of our training program registration to the Cvent platform, we have cross-department reporting that allows us to truly see the growth and impact of those classes across the brand as a whole.”

APPROACH

Event Diagrammingand photo-realistic 3D tours let event planners experience the meeting space without traveling onsite and gives them the freedom to experiment with room layouts and creative design ideas in a to-scale online environment. This streamlines the planning process and keeps the hotel and planner in constant communication about the design of the event.  Victoria invites her customers to use the collaborator link within the diagramming platform to work together in real-time. “A huge piece to Marriott Marquis Houston event planning team is having those one-on-one conversations and really understanding what the meeting planner wants,” she explains. “A big part of that is having Cvent Event Diagramming as a reference point.”

Event Diagramming lets Katy experience a virtual walk-through of venues and event spaces in detailed photorealistic 3D. The automated solution eliminates manual processes by offering accurately scaled digital floor plans. Katy can sync registration data into Event Diagramming for more seamless workflows. In addition, they can diagram custom objects and reference them year-over-year. This makes the planning process easier for Katy as she can reuse the diagrams when returning to the same venues. “ I can't count the hours that that has saved me,” she shares.

Having their own license means Katy no longer relies on the venue to design spaces. “We can innovate more feely with the contracted space and share our ideas for a faster EO approval process,” she says. Victoria agrees, noting the user-friendly tool helps speed up collaboration. “ We’re not having to wait to export things and send it over via email,” she explains. “We can just make changes and let the event planners know, all in real-time.”

Victoria particularly appreciates the ability to include event details like AV, seating, event flow, and labor timing. Marriott Marquis Houston creates more than 2,000 diagrams each year and their floorplans are viewed nearly 5,000 times on the Cvent Supplier Network. In addition to using the diagrams as a sales asset when collaborating with event planners, the internal hotel operations staff rely on diagrams to set rooms correctly, plan for room changes, and accurately estimate staffing needs. 

Streamlining housing management with Cvent Passkey

Cvent Passkey allows event managers and hotels to automate housing management requirements through a streamlined, user-friendly solution. With custom booking sites, Cvent Passkey offers guests a simple, branded experience for booking their room. The dashboards provide constant communication between the hotel and the planner about pickup rates, room availability, and special requests.

Victoria appreciates the ability to offer upsell amenities to guests using Passkey. Making these offers and amenities available to guests brings in more than $800,000 in incremental revenue each year for the hotel. Passkey can also be integrated to the hotel’s existing tech stack to ensure all reservations are automatically synced with their CRM. With robust integrations, Katy can be sure that suites are saved for VIP attendees, and Victoria can streamline the check-in process and offer additional perks by becoming a Marriott Bonvoy rewards member. 

Victoria also points to the security Passkey and other Cvent solutions offer as a distinct benefit. “It really controls who is seeing that information, whether that’s credit cards, names and addresses, or other data,” she says. Katy agrees, noting, “The privacy factor for credit cards and sharing that information – and the ability to know that it's in a trusted database – is huge.” In addition, storing this data in a single location means CBA can now easily manage no-show charges to ensure there is no lost revenue or manual follow-up. “It's so fantastic that we don't have to worry about that data piece,” Katy says.

RESULTS

Powering industry success with Cvent

Katy cites Cvent’s intuitive product suite as an important factor in helping her power CBA's robust event program. “The combination of Event Diagramming with Passkey, with Registration, with Attendee Hub – all of those pieces combined create an event tech stack that allow me to do my job with excellence,” she explains.

 As for Victoria, the streamlined nature of Cvent technology enables her team to quickly respond to RFPs, questions, or updates and focus on providing the hospitality that Marriott Marquis Houston is known for, such as their impressive 98% response rate. “These are features that allow us to get things done quickly and get it over to clients very fast,” she said.

Katy shares working with venues that have Event Diagramming and Passkey “gives me peace of mind.” She says, “Having up-to-date diagrams and floor plans on Event Diagramming, that's a must for me.” In addition, she says venues that have Passkey “just make everything so much easier.” As such, she’s excited about new opportunities to use Cvent technology in their growing relationship with Marriott Marquis Houston. “Using Cvent allows us to focus on hospitality and customer service onsite instead of managing tricky logistics and non-connected systems, and we’ve seen attendee engagement grow exponentially as a result,” she says.

BACKGROUND

FUSION Performance Group is a leading third-party event planning company known for its ability to deliver exceptional corporate events that drive measurable results. With a diverse range of expertise, FUSION is adept at organizing various event formats, including virtual, hybrid, single-day events such as corporate dinners and team-building activities, and multi-day experiences like staycations and incentive trips.

Across their clientele, FUSION leverages a number of Cvent solutions to help deliver impactful experiences. FUSION’s Marketing Manager notes that their approach is tailored to the needs of their clients. She explains, “We like to have that trust and that relationship, and to ensure flexibility, we offer our services a la carte to ensure we meet whatever needs a client has.” By maintaining key principles of strategic alignment, customized solutions, data-driven insights, and exceptional execution, FUSION has positioned their organization as an industry leader in crafting exceptional meetings and events for their clients. 

GOALS

Cvent and FUSION Performance Group: A powerful event management partnership

In pursuit of crafting incredible experiences for their clients, Tanya Perry, Vice President, credits the use of Cvent event technology in helping to enhance her team’s end-to-end event management processes. “FUSION Performance Group's collaboration with Cvent is instrumental to our success, employing a comprehensive suite of Cvent products and achieving remarkable outcomes,” she says. Tanya explains that when she originally joined FUSION, she discovered opportunities to engage with an event management platform in order to better support their clients’ events. “We knew the root of our business was event planning, and the one software that would be with us for the long haul was Cvent,” she says. “So we really turned to Cvent and asked for help in making sure we had our tools as consistent as possible.”

For example, they found client expectations changed after the pandemic. “Due to smaller budgets and quicker turnarounds, we needed a faster, more efficient way to keep the client informed of registration details while also keeping track of in-person attendees as we transitioned back to in-person events,” explains Olivia. The solution was the adoption of Access Portal, which allowed their clients to view and export up-to-the-minute registration data. They also employed the registration check-list alerts to keep onsite staff informed of any updates and progress, which Oliva notes was “much easier than working on an excel sheet or printout.”

Ensuring event tech flexibility to exceed client expectations

The flexibility of the Registration solution has been particularly useful in managing a wide variety of client events of different scopes and sizes. “Having that flexibility is what really helps us with being flexible for our clients who may want different things at different times,” Olivia says. Her team can create different registration paths and attendee types for a more personalized experience across different event types and formats. This ensures they provide more accurate attendee data to help better prove event ROI for their clients. 

From there, the Access Portal solution ensured the client could see registration data, individual gift and event selections, and total summaries in real time. Access Portal allows stakeholders access to event reports, survey data, and other detailed information that is automatically synced from integrated Cvent solutions. FUSION can use Access Portal to provide visibility based on individual user profiles, which means every stakeholder views only the data that is most relevant and specific to their needs. Moreover, the data is centralized in a single source of truth, making it easier to access that data at any time.

Powering engaging event experiences with the Cvent Attendee Hub

To create a seamless experience for virtual and in-person audiences alike, the FUSION team appreciates the power of the Attendee Hub platform and native Mobile Event App. Though they first utilized the platform solely for virtual events during the pandemic, they’ve since leveraged the Attendee Hub for a large number of hybrid and in-person events. “When we started, Cvent had clearly done a ton of work already towards Attendee Hub,” Tanya explains. “We used it right away for large events, and we had no issues with it and we’ve been very happy with it since then.”

The Attendee Hub and native Event App together keep attendees engaged and informed across the event lifecycle, whether they attend virtually via a web browser or access the platform through their phone. Attendee Hub allows attendees to easily build their agenda, view session and speaker details, and stay up to date with push notifications. They can also connect with their peers through integrated networking functionality such as one-to-one attendee messaging, attendee recommendations, discussions, and more. 

Scalable venue sourcing with the Cvent Supplier Network

As a small team, FUSION also credits the benefit of using automated technology to power scalable growth. In particular, the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN) allows their team to manage sourcing across their client events without having dedicated resources. “We’re a small but mighty team, and we’ll continue growing, but right now we don’t have a dedicated sourcing team,” explains FUSION’s Director of Event Account Management. “The biggest thing for us is having a one-stop shop and Cvent serves us in that way, so allowing us to input what we need down to the tiniest details and get back all the RFPs has been really beneficial.” 

Executing flawless onsite experiences with Cvent’s Onsite Solutions

Onsite, FUSION leverages Cvent’s Onsite Solutions to create seamless in-person experiences for their client’s attendees. This includes using OnArrival for a quick check-in experience, whether at the registration desk or at standalone mobile kiosks. This not only eliminates long lines, but mitigates the need to pre-print badges, which often results in wasted badge stock that directly impacts costs. Session scanning and attendance tracking through RFID or NFC badges not only capture session attendance, but allow FUSION’s clients to monitor capacity and track attendance in real time via the OnArrival app. 

In fact, FUSION has extended their knowledge of Onsite Solutions to become one of the first companies involved in the Onsite Solutions training and certification process, noting they currently have more certified members than any other company. This allows their team to support large client events onsite using the tool themselves. “We not only have the knowledge and skills needed to print badges, but we understand how the mechanics work so we can manage it from start to finish for our clients,” notes Olivia. Tanya adds, “This opportunity that Cvent has given us to be certified in this product is not only good ROI for us, but it’s also good for our customers.” 

RESULTS

Leading the industry through an empowered partnership

Maintaining strong industry knowledge and engagement is a key differentiator for the entire FUSION team. “We like to be involved in all the things Cvent has going on because it’s great for training, learning, and seeing what’s coming down the pipeline,” insists Olivia. “That includes Cvent Academy, especially for partners.” By leveraging a variety of training and certification options, the FUSION team is able to stay ahead of the curve with industry trends and maintain a strong sense of knowledge about Cvent solutions. Tanya says every employee is certified within 90 days of their start date as these certifications show the strength of their knowledge in Cvent. She insists, “It does set us apart.” 

LOOKING FORWARD

The FUSION team is looking forward to the exciting new opportunities that are on the horizon for the business as they continue to expand their Cvent partnership. As they look towards the future, Tanya is thrilled with FUSION’s continued growth. “FUSION has been in organic growth mode for the last ten years, and we’re increasing twenty, thirty plus percent per year,” she says. “We’re really excited about new client acquisition and continuing to show people our expertise as a business.” 

PRODUCTS USED

BACKGROUND

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league comprised of 30 teams across North America featuring the best basketball players in the world. Julie Friedman, Director, Partner Services, Global Partnerships & Media, and Gioia Shames, Senior Manager, Partner Services, Global Partnerships & Media, together help manage all events across the NBA and affiliate leagues. “Our Partner Services teams works to deliver hospitality to the league’s corporate marketing partners, media partners, licenses, retailers, and more,” explains Julie.

In managing two marquee events - the NBA All-Star Weekend and NBA Draft - Julie and Gioia’s team previously relied on highly manual solutions for diagramming and seating requirements. They note that the goal of both events is to strategically sit partners and staff for hosting and relationship building. “We used a platform that was much more manual and involved a lot of grids, us making our own templates, and manually seating each guest in a long list that left a lot of room for human error and was highly manual,” explains Gioia. This process resulted in a high number of labor hours for the team as well as frustrations with inefficient processes.

The NBA All-Star Game is a two-night, full arena event with about 1,500 seats located throughout the arena. The NBA Draft encompasses half an arena for one night and features roughly 800 seats. The laborious process of manually diagramming and managing seating for these events took up valuable time for the team that could otherwise be focused on optimizing the event experience.

“In the old process, it took us about two weeks to complete seating for the NBA All-Star Game,” notes Julie. The diagramming feature allows the NBA team to envision an accurate depiction of the court or stage and other elements included. Importantly, collaborative capabilities within the tool let different users work on floor plans simultaneously. Julie explains that the measurable efficiencies the tool has created have been clear. She says, “Now we can complete it in about four days with a lot less human error.” This is over a 70% reduction in time spent to complete seating for the NBA All-Star game.

The intuitive and user-friendly nature of the tool also ensures the NBA team is able to self-manage their diagramming and seating needs. “We love being able to drag and drop attendees from the attendee list into specific seat assignments,” Gioia shares. The NBA team is then able to view updates in real time for full visibility across teams. Gioia adds, “It was great to be able to do this in such a quick way while also being able to see in real time who was left to be seated as well as the open seats left to be used.” The automatic updates mean each guest profile is updated as they are plotted in seats, and all data made available immediately through automated reporting. “The reporting functionality has saved so much time for us and avoided all the room for human error,” insists Gioia. This not only allows them to provide more accurate reporting for their internal team, but has also increased visibility by being able to more widely share their seating plans with the entire department.

RESULTS

Empowering stakeholders through data-driven decision making

Gioia adds that having all this required data centralized in one location within Cvent creates a single source of truth. This benefits their attendees as much as it does their internal teams. She says, “All of this functionality really helped to support our in-person experience by ensuring all of our guests were able to sit with the appropriate people hosting them at the appropriate level or area within the arena.”  By harnessing this data to drive strategic decision making for each event, the NBA team is better able to serve the needs of internal stakeholders and attendees alike.

Julie adds, “There are two major ways that we utilize this data from the solution. Once the seats are plotted before anyone is seated, the solution provides visibility into where the seat locations are within the arena, and this helps us from a business standpoint push for better seat locations year over year.” These on-demand reports from Cvent allowed their senior leadership to see, for the first time, where seat locations were throughout the arena. This in turn allowed Julie and Gioia’s team to build business cases for improved seating locations in the future.

Julie adds that the second way in which they utilize automated reporting is in sharing out final seat locations with key stakeholders more broadly than before. This not only ensures visibility into seating plans across the organization throughout the planning process, but also eliminates the possibility of human error or the need to manually manage the end-to-end process.

The Event Diagramming solution not only ensures a quick process for the internal teams, but also offers a great point of reference year over year. “The finished product is always a good reference for us year over year to see where people sat and where they should go for the next year to come,” explains Julie.

She adds that, given the size and pace of their business, as well as the nature of the guests they manage, a company that provides basic support wouldn’t suffice. They need one-on-one support in real time and technology partners who truly understand their team’s goals and the overall business. “It’s been so important that we are working with someone who is an expert, not only in the platform and tools, but also with our NBA business needs as well,” she adds. Julie and Gioia are excited to continue growing this relationship in 2023 as they look forward to new technology opportunities in the near future.

BACKGROUND

Founded in 2001, Unbridled is an event production, management, travel, and creative agency whose purpose is to connect companies and people through intentionally crafted and informative experiences. For more than 14 years, Unbridled has harnessed the power of Cvent technology to bring those connections to life through the power of events.

Unbridled’s customized approach begins with an in-depth understanding of each client’s event needs. “It’s from the ground up,” explains Miranda Schmidt, Event Tech Coordinator. “We first like to get an idea of their goals and expectations, and then tailor the solution to those needs, whether it’s an internal, 15-person meeting or a huge event with thousands of people.” 

As such, Unbridled relies on Cvent to provide truly flexible solutions. “We use Cvent in a lot of ways,” explains Jaime Shinnamon, Event Tech Coordinator. “We use Registration to build out our sites, we use Attendee Hub for our mobile app when we’re onsite, and we’ll use OnArrival for badge printing as well."

This was particularly beneficial to both event managers and attendees when the client unexpectedly had to cancel and reschedule the event for a later date. The Unbridled team was able to simply download the attendee registration data and reupload it to the new event – saving registrants the hassle of registering a second time and syncing all important details automatically. 

For events that require payment processing, Unbridled also uses Cvent’s Merchant Account integration. This provides a straightforward means of collecting fees directly within the registration process so all payment and registration data is synced. This proves to be a remarkable time-saving feature for both event managers and registrants, enhancing their overall experience and ensuring all data stays within the system.

Additionally, flight requests were linked with planner alerts, meaning Unbridled’s travel agency was notified when a request was submitted so agents could book tickets. “We also really like to make use of the integration systems, like GDS and PNR integrations,” adds Miranda. “It makes the process so seamless for our travel company, making sure the people who are registered have the correct flight, are going to the hotel they need, and so on.” These integrations save time by automatically syncing flight information with event registrant data, which includes contact info, meal preferences, registration details, and more.

 With standard and custom travel reports in Cvent, Unbridled can view manifests, change history, unmatched passengers, retrieval history, and discrepancy reports. For registrants, this also ensures easy access to their personal travel itineraries via confirmation emails and the registration website. Unbridled can also share Air Actual reports in Cvent with their transportation team. These reports provide detailed information on arrival and departure patterns, enabling the team to proactively plan and make necessary adjustments. In addition, Cvent enables Unbridled to track and reconcile any discrepancies that may arise between air and hotel reservations, ensuring the accuracy and consistency of travel arrangements.

Using Access Portal to increase stakeholder visibility

Unbridled has managed more than 1,100 events and 166,000 registrants with Cvent to date. They therefore need to ensure stakeholders access important data at any time, without having to wait on manually built reports or back and forth emails. Cvent’s Access Portal provides their clients with the real-time reporting they need, including event reports, survey data, and other detailed information, all of which is automatically synced from their Cvent solutions.

Unbridled can provide Access Portal visibility based on individual user profiles, which means every stakeholder views only the data that is most relevant and specific to their needs. Moreover, having all reporting centralized in a single location makes it easier for stakeholders to access that even data at any time. “We have over 110 users for Access Portal, and we really love it because it allows our clients to get those reports and see those numbers in real time,” Jaime shares.

In addition, Unbridled uses Cvent’s Passkey solution to manage room blocks for their clients. Passkey provides important opportunities to automate processes and drive internal efficiencies, supporting complex rooming requirements while saving valuable man hours. With a two-way integration, Passkey allows users to easily register and book their rooms at one time. Unbridled can quickly configure room blocks and availability, attendee types, and corresponding room rates from the backend. From there, the integration can be configured to activate hotel accommodations and the Passkey integration can be customized to fit their clients’ specific needs. They can also use Passkey’s waitlisting capabilities to track and manage updates in real time, and can create sub-blocks for different groups of attendees like VIPs, speakers, and internal staff. The public block feature allows their team to manually review, approve, and fulfill each request to create sub-groups as needed.

With these easily integrated solutions, Unbridled has successfully managed more than 48,000 proposals. Of those, more than 46,000 include meeting space and sleeping rooms. They’ve also seen over 358,000 room nights successfully sourced through these solutions.
 

With Event in a Box, Unbridled is able to create a quick check-in experience for smaller audiences with all the needed hardware shipped directly to their location, including iPads with tabletop stands, printers, routers, and badge stock. They also have access to 24/7 customer support and other resources to ensure a smooth experience. Attendees are able to input their preferred information before the badge is printed, meaning they don’t have to wait in line for reprints if their name or title is incorrect. “Using Event in a Box allows attendees to be in the driver’s seat printing their badges and providing a modern, elevated experience,” notes Miranda.

Similarly, OnArrival Premium and OnArrival 360 offer a seamless check-in experience with additional capabilities. These include session check-in and tracking, signature collection, planner alerts, kiosk mode, and more. For the restaurant chain’s event, staff were able to track which attendees had checked in and which were no-shows, and they were able to easily manage walk-ins by printing their badge onsite.

Fueling attendee engagement with the Attendee Hub

In fact, Miranda notes that the growing focus on sustainability is another benefit of using event technology like the Cvent Attendee Hub. “If we’re talking about sustainability, we can cut back on paper products by using the app,” she says. The Event App provides a central resource where attendees can easily build and manage their agenda, view session and speaker details, and stay up to date with push notifications.

Attendees can also connect with their peers through integrated networking, including direct messaging, attendee recommendations, and discussions. ”It drives not only technology engagement, but event engagement,” Miranda notes. Features like live polling, chat, and Q&A allowed attendees to engage with one another in real time. The easy-to-navigate platform means attendees can easily view on-demand sessions, network with one another, and provide feedback through embedded surveys.
 

Miranda specifically cites the 24/7 support Cvent offers as an important resource for their team. “We love to utilize the support team, and if we can’t find what we’re looking for, that support team is always there,” she says. “They’re always ready to answer the questions and if they don’t know the answer, they’re willing to go that extra mile and dig into it to get back to us, which is great.”

In looking at their current portfolio, both Jaime and Miranda agree that managing all of their clients’ events would be nearly impossible without the right technology. “If we didn’t have Cvent and we had been doing all of this, it could have been so chaotic and it would make our jobs a lot harder,” Miranda shares. “So there’s a lot of time saved and a lot of money saved using Cvent."

With continued growth on the horizon, they are looking forward to seeing how event technology – and new initiatives like AI – will help further grow their business. Miranda notes she’s interested in the new opportunities that may arise as the industry continues to evolve. “I think the only constant in this industry is change,” she says. Jaime agrees, summarizing, “We’re excited for new clients, new events, and to see where those relationships go."

PRODUCTS USED

BACKGROUND

Bishop-McCann is a full-service event management partner that helps innovative companies elevate their events and increase attendee engagement by connecting audiences with their brand. Since 1997, Bishop-McCann has managed tens of thousands of programs globally, with services including event planning, sourcing, production, creative design, group air travel, and event technology management. 

Rob Adams, CEO and Owner, elaborates on Bishop-McCann’s expansive offerings. “We do everything from board meetings of 50 people all the way to events for 15,000, and we do incentive trips all over the globe,” he explains. Most importantly, he says, Bishop-McCann’s central mission is to “create JOY” for their clients. “It’s about two things: trust and purpose,” he shares. “That’s essentially what creates happiness.”

Most recently, Bishop-McCann has focused heavily on ensuring it provides strong data security for clients. This is one area Rob cites as a particular strength of Cvent. He shares, “One of the things I’m so proud of in this relationship with Cvent is data security because if there’s one thing that is in every conversation I’m having with our clients, it’s security.” Cvent maintains high standards of data security, including adhering to and surpassing PCI DSS compliance standards. 

Built on a robust Information Security Management System, which is underscored by an ISO 27001 certification, Cvent offers a comprehensive security strategy. With strict network and data controls, Cvent ensures payment data is protected. In addition, the information security program is formalized, documented, and supported by a range of administrative, technical, and physical security safeguards. Cvent maintains several certifications to ensure a strong security posture and is compliant across all solutions and data centers, maintaining industry best practices for security. “Cvent has done a great job working with our team to ensure the platform we’re working with is secure,” Rob says.

APPROACH

Powering successful client events using integrated Cvent solutions

By using tools like Cvent’s Registration solution, Bishop-McCann is able to not only collect and securely store attendee and event data, but the team is also able to ensure its clients benefit from having a single source of truth. “Registration is the backbone of everything we do,” says Rob. The flexibility of the Registration solution has been particularly useful in managing a wide variety of client events of different scopes and sizes as their business continues to grow. “The ability to be agile and flexible is extremely important for Bishop-McCann,” he adds. His team can create different registration paths and attendee types for a more personalized experience across different event types and formats. This ensures the team provides more accurate attendee data to help better prove event ROI for its clients. In fact, Bishop-McCann has seen an impressive 147% increase in Cvent event registrations managed year-over-year. 

Crafting customized attendee experiences with the Cvent Attendee Hub and Event App

The Attendee Hub provides a cohesive attendee experience, from building their agenda to viewing session and speaker details and staying up to date with push notifications. They can also connect with their peers through networking features like one-to-one attendee messaging, attendee recommendations, and discussions. As Bishop-McCann serves a variety of clients across industries around the world, Attendee Hub is built to scale as needed to meet client requirements – regardless of event format or type. 

Attendees can also provide feedback through embeddedsurveys, which give event organizers a more complete view of attendee interests and insights. They can also combine this data with engagement scoring to ensure Bishop-McCann’s clients are able to better tailor their post-event follow up. In fact, Bishop-McCann saw a 140% increase in Cvent surveys launched year-over-year, with an astounding 1,789% increase in responses received. 

Rob mentions specifically they would like to have “the ability to print less, ship less, and recycle more.” By leveraging digital solutions like the Event App, Bishop-McCann’s clients are able to reduce paper usage and avoid high printing volumes. In addition, other solutions like OnArrival Premium reduce dependencies on pre-printed badges by offering on-demand check-in and badge printing. With a quick QR scan or check-in via iPads, attendees can receive their on-demand badge in seconds. This not only eliminates lengthy queues, but also allows for onsite changes without wasting badge stock on unused pre-printed badges or those needing reprints. In addition, Cvent offers many eco-friendly options for onsite badging, including recyclable, biodegradable, and sustainable materials for badges, badge holders, and lanyards.

Cvent Event Diagramming (CED) also provides sustainable options for the Bishop-McCann team. Stakeholders can enjoy a virtual walk-through of venues and event spaces in detailed photorealistic 3D, saving travel costs and reducing the carbon footprint of onsite visits. Event diagramming also helps Bishop-McCann move away from cumbersome manual processes and increase efficiencies for their clients. CED allows Bishop-McCann to create an accurate depiction of various spaces with details like furniture included. The team can design set-ups with accurately scaled floor plans, manage seating and meal preferences efficiently, and sync registration data into CED for automated workflows. The tool also ensures clients are able to collaborate in real-time and see the most up-to-date renderings to ensure accuracy. 

In fact, this easy access to event data is a key concern for many organizations. That’s why Bishop-McCann offers on-demand data sharing through Cvent’s Access Portal, which provides clients visibility into relevant data and reports. Bishop-McCann can choose to provide access and visibility on an individual user basis, so each stakeholder sees the reporting and analytics that are most relevant to their needs. Ultimately, Access Portal makes it easier for non-Cvent users to view the real-time data they need to maximize the impact of their events. Rather than relying on Bishop-McCann’s team to provide regular reports, clients are able to self-serve by accessing reports any time they need to. This ensures they remain informed of event progress at all times, freeing up valuable time for the Bishop-McCann team as well. 

MOVING FORWARD

Evolving industry relationships with Cvent and Bishop-McCann at the helm

Ultimately, using Cvent provides Bishop-McCann one very important benefit: a single data source they can trust across their clients’ events. Rob shares, “By far, the number one impact we’re seeing in using Cvent is just having a single source of truth.” As he looks to the near future, Rob is eager to see how these types of relationships continue to evolve. “I think we’re in a state of what I would call evolution as an industry,” he says. “What I think that means is we’re going to see a lot more strategic partnerships.” 

In light of this perspective, Rob cites Bishop-McCann’s trust in Cvent as the key reason for their continued partnership. “I would put Cvent as one of our top three most strategic partners we have,” he says. That trust extends beyond the platform itself to the valuable working relationship his team has with Cvent. This not only benefits Bishop-McCann, but perhaps most importantly, positively impacts their clients. Rob summarizes, “From our account manager to the leadership team at Cvent, we see that Cvent really helps accelerate our journey and our ability to impact JOY for clients.” 

PRODUCTS USED

BACKGROUND

Introducing NYCA partnership: Enhancing event planning for executive assistants

New York Celebrity Assistants (NYCA), New York's premier professional association of executive and personal assistants, leverages their Reposite membership to simplify event planning for their members, enabling them to work smarter, not harder. Through their membership, NYCA equips executive and personal assistants with the tools and resources to streamline their event planning responsibilities and achieve a new level of efficiency.
 

APPROACH

NYCA membership dinner series: A taste of what's possible

To mark the beginning of their membership, the team organized a "Demo and Dine" event at the iconic STK Steakhouse Downtown. NYCA members were welcomed with martinis and delectable appetizers as they mingled and networked. STK Steakhouse, renowned for its culinary excellence and impeccable service, pulled out all the stops, treating attendees to a family-style feast including a splendid seafood tower and timeless classics like steak, mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts. The event provided an excellent opportunity for NYCA members to explore STK's private dining spaces, considering them for their future events. 

Automating administrative tasks for efficiency

Cvent Vendor Marketplace simplifies the administrative aspects of executive assistance when it comes to event planning. Instead of dealing with the challenges of managing quotes and invoices manually, all of your supplier communications will be in one place. You'll no longer have to chase vendors or sift through your inbox. Just log in, locate your project, and access all your communications in a single, easily manageable dashboard.

RESULTS

The collaboration with NYCA is just one example of how Cvent is empowering executive assistants to navigate the complex world of event planning. With innovative tools and resources, you'll find that planning executive events and travel can be a seamless and efficient process, leaving you with more time to excel in your multifaceted role as an executive assistant. 

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

BACKGROUND

Alma, a mental health platform simplifying access to therapy, has made connectivity a priority. They know remote work provides us with increased flexibility, but for those who need to create a sense of connection and boost team morale, it can prove challenging from a distance. The absence of face-to-face interaction can create a sense of disconnection, and the time required to plan, source, and coordinate events can make it difficult for team leaders to prioritize these engaging experiences. According to a study by the Society of Human Resource Management, 89% of employees stated that team-building activities improved their morale and 85% reported improved engagement. The numbers speak for themselves, and that's why Cvent Vendor Marketplace, powered by Reposite, has become a leading tool for virtual and hybrid event planning.

CHALLENGES

Oftentimes, team leaders and executive assistants are tasked with coordinating corporate events, as is the case in each department at Alma. Coordinating and planning these team-building activities manually includes hours of research, phone calls, and emails to find group-friendly, online adaptive suppliers. Using the Cvent Vendor Marketplace, users can simply log into the platform, post their RFP, and begin receiving quotes from qualified virtual experience suppliers in less than 48 hours. 

Partnering with BIOS Apothocary for a sweet virtual experience

BIOS Apothecary, a renowned natural perfumer based in New York, offers an extraordinary virtual team-building experience with their DIY perfume workshops. Participants have the opportunity to engage in a hands-on and immersive scent-based activity, creating their own personalized perfumes from the comfort of their homes. With BIOS Apothecary's expertise and guidance, Alma's team explored the world of fragrance, learned about different scent notes, and crafted unique perfumes tailored to their preferences. This interactive and creative workshop not only fostered team collaboration but also provided a memorable sensory experience.

Crafting creative experiences for Alma's team members

It was fantastic to see the spark of inspiration that came with each team event. Following Alma's engineering team's aromatic adventure, the Sales team embarked on their at-home craft experience with Brooklyn Craft Company. In this workshop, BCC demonstrated how to create pom poms and tassels, and attendees created keychains, bag charms, ornaments, and gift toppers.

They also partnered with Garden Streets, with wellness and mental health as a core theme. Garden Streets takes care of every aspect of the virtual team-building experience, from shipping kits to creating zoom links, so planners have a smooth experience coordinating for their teams.

 

PRODUCTS USED

A large national health insurance company with more than 64,000 associates relies on their small team of three to manage all meetings, events, and travel for the organization. With nearly two hundred annual meetings, the Fortune 100 company had long relied on a third party to support their national events program. In that time, they used the agency’s instance of Cvent to expand from simple Meeting Request Forms to using the Cvent Supplier Network, Registration, Attendee Hub, Event App, and other solutions for full-service event management.

BACKGROUND & GOALS

In 2022, they were tasked with creating new efficiencies for the business. They knew they first needed to first empower their internal team to do more with less. The team calculated that nearly 70% of the organization’s meetings were considered simple meetings, but those only encompassed 18% of their annual meeting spend. They realized their small team was spending a great deal of time supporting a high volume of events with minimal spend, impacting their ability to focus on other programs that provided significant value to the business.

Optimizing simple meetings management for organizational efficiency

To optimize simple meeting management, the team realized they could better manage processes and consolidate data by having their own Cvent instance. Michelle Passi, Cvent Systems Administrator, explains, ”We decided we would be best served to have our own Cvent license as we wanted to own the data and continue to increase our direct capabilities in Cvent.”

They began by working with a dedicated Cvent account team, including an Account Manager, Customer Success Manager, and implementation specialist. “They’ve been wonderful throughout the process,” says Michelle. “They’re really on top of truly finding success unique to our situation.” The implementation specialist helped develop the overall workflow and ensure all processes were accounted for. Michelle notes that they met several times a week and the Cvent team members were always available to help answer questions or provide guidance.  They were also able to implement Single Sign-On (SSO) through a coordinated effort with the organization’s internal applications team. This meant associates were able to securely access the platform through SSO. 

Next, they renamed the tool “Self-Service Meetings” as they felt it would provide a broader interpretation by associates to increase usage. From there, Michelle’s team established clear guidelines for the organization’s simple meetings. These included all in-person meetings with a budget of less than $50,000 that met specific criteria.

From there, they tailored the MRF to the organization’s specific requirements. Automated workflows help streamline the procurement process, eliminating manual tasks and reducing errors. They can now capture and centrally store all important meeting information in their own Cvent instance, creating a single source of truth for their entire events portfolio. Michelle employed functional logic within the tool to guide users through different scenarios and ensure requester approvals were processed by the appropriate parties, such as finance segment leaders. Funneling processes through segments means requesters stay within the boundaries of their role and budget. 

They’ve also incorporated the Budget Management solution into the simple meetings workflow to more accurately track project spend and savings. This automated solution ensures the organization can effectively analyze key aspects of spend through a robust reporting engine, access “at a glance” reporting, compare actual versus estimated spend, and more. “It saves us time, it’s efficient, and it’s lean,” says Michelle. She also created a simple budget estimator calculator included in the MRF. At the end of the event, requesters are able to update the budget actual numbers through an automated report. This helps Michelle’s team quickly reconcile budgets within a report.  

Importantly, requesters can compare bids, add contract details, and utilize a DocuSign integration for contract signatures for maximum efficiency. Robust reporting allows Michelle’s team to track and demonstrate cost savings back to the organization through an optimized sourcing process. 

Arming associates with the resources they need for self-service meeting adoption

To encourage program adoption, Michelle created a dedicated resource toolkit within the Access Portal to empower users. This kit contains video walkthroughs, best practices, and a step-by-step guide on how to complete the meeting process, such as requirements for credit card use and contract review. Requesters can refer to the toolkit for guidelines, negotiation tips, and process details as the system is designed to cater to a range of users, from mid-level managers to admin assistants. 

The feedback from their associates so far has been extremely positive. Initial testers provided reviews and questions, allowing Michelle to tailor their strategy to better drive adoption. She finds the self-service model creates consistency for users, who enjoy the fact that there is no middle person required since there is often little time between meetings. This expedient process and satisfaction with the ease of self-service are drivers for enterprise-wide adoption. Michelle notes, “We are now able to customize what integrations work best for our business, implement change as our associates become more independent for their simple events, and manage metrics with data independence to move forward as a small but efficient team for the enterprise.”

RESULTS

Smart growth for the future with Cvent

Michelle insists that the adoption of their own Cvent license has opened up new possibilities for her team. She says, “We have gone from having limited access to Cvent’s capabilities to exploring the unlimited possibility for productivity enhancements.” Michelle also notes the value of moving to their own Cvent license, as it provided a 15% overall cost reduction by eliminating reliance on a third-party agency. Her team also spends less time managing simple meetings so they can focus on larger, more strategic events. She notes they would typically spend 15 hours managing a single simple meeting, so the self-service tool has saved her team nearly 2,200 hours collectively when it comes to managing these tasks.

Michelle also makes note of how the Self-Service Meetings program has positively impacted their team. She summarizes, “We have proven to our organization we can digitize these types of events through efficient work processes and create optimal savings while being able to use our planners’ skills to serve larger, full-service projects.” 

PRODUCTS USED