LexisNexis

LexisNexis provides computer-assisted legal research as well as business research and risk management services. Like many organizations, LexisNexis operated a robust in-person events program prior to the start of the global health crisis. Brigid Heberling, Senior Manager for Events and Multimedia, notes LexisNexis is a subsidiary of the RELX Group and, as such, has long leveraged Cvent as part of the broader organization's larger tech stack. She explains, “We use Cvent within a variety of capacities within RELX and LexisNexis already, including the registration system, CrowdCompass mobile apps, Meetings Management, and more.”

As the industry underwent radical change during the crisis, LexisNexis reevaluated and pivoted much of their program to virtual. Fortunately, Brigid’s department was familiar with virtual event technology, as they had previously included hybrid elements for some of the events in their portfolio. She explains, “Ninety percent of our meetings and events have been in-person, but we’ve evolved over the last few years to host some hybrid events with livestream.” As the team was familiar with technological capabilities of the virtual space, they knew a comprehensive virtual event platform would be needed to support their annual leadership meeting, the Advancing Leadership Conference.

Accelerating the Advancing Leadership Conference with Cvent

To navigate the logistical challenges associated with taking their annual meeting virtual, LexisNexis needed a reliable and dynamic virtual platform that would easily integrate with their existing tech stack. This would require not only an all-in-one solution, but also a responsive technology partner will full support offerings. Working under a tight timeline, Brigid’s team spearheaded a comprehensive search for the right virtual platform with key functionality and features that could fit the unique requirements of the conference. As the organization already used Cvent’s Event Management solution as a centralized registration tool, the new Cvent Virtual Attendee Hub® was a perfect fit.

The annual conference typically includes up to 250 in-person attendees and offers a variety of session types across the multi-day event. Brigid notes, “Our focus is on a combination of strategy overviews and tactical practical sessions, where we as managers can take action on the leadership and management principles shared.”  For their virtual event, LexisNexis aimed to provide broad strategy sessions featuring plenary speakers, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and small group workshops. They also wanted to include collaborative virtual networking sessions for team building and small group discussions. Moreover, the three-day event would be entirely live, meaning there was little margin for error.

The LexisNexis team partnered with Cvent to help strategize and support the overall virtual event. Knowing they were operating under a tight timeline, the two teams had to work in tandem to ensure the success of the conference. Using the invitee management feature within the Event Management solution, Brigid’s team targeted 322 invitees and ultimately tracked 289 registrations, an increase over previous in-person registration levels. 270 virtual attendees ultimately attended the event, an impressive 93.4% show rate. The process was fully backed by LexisNexis’ dedicated Cvent support team. Brigid says, “From the time we decided to go forward, and it was in a very short time frame, it has been very easy to work with Cvent and it came together really well.”

“From the time we decided to go forward, and it was in a very short time frame, it has been very easy to work with Cvent and it came together really well.”

Brigid Heberling, Senior Manager for Events and Multimedia

Leading Virtual Events with the Virtual Attendee Hub

Across the three-day event, each day’s session mix required a different selection of features within the Virtual Attendee Hub. For the first day’s four general sessions, all of which were focused on high-level strategy, Brigid’s team leveraged the Cvent Video Player with embedded livestream. This gave attendees instant access to key content for a seamless user experience. The same video functionality was used to host their panel-style sessions, with live presenters interacting in front of the larger virtual audience. They also used embedded Q&A within the hub to allow attendees to interact with the panelists in real-time. They could ask and upvote key questions to keep the most pressing topics at the forefront of the discussion, while Brigid’s team could easily moderate the live Q&A from the backend.

The first day’s general sessions were followed by four smaller workshop breakouts. For these collaborative sessions, Brigid’s team used Cvent Video Conferencing with a Zoom integration. This allowed attendees to engage directly with one another in order to foster a sense of community. Brigid’s team could create smaller breakouts within the Zoom functionality to facilitate deep-dive sessions within each workshop. Moreover, attendees and presenters could whiteboard directly within each session and use the chat feature to stay connected.