How The Pennsylvania Department of General Services hosted their annual Procurement Expo with Canapii

About the event

Our client, Chavous Consulting was contracted by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services to transition their annual procurement expo into an extraordinary virtual event space to host educational workshops, networking opportunities, and an extensive exhibit hall for their 40+ sponsors and exhibitors.

The challenges

Our client was on the hunt for a platform that could support an audience of 800+ as well as a backend portal for their sponsors and exhibitors to build out their own booths and virtual spaces. The platform needed to offer an intuitive interface to support a wide range of user technical experiences and accessibility as well as a host of dynamic interactive elements to create an engaging, educational experience for all.

Each day there would be one general session that would then lead into 2 rounds of 5 concurrent workshops as well as a general networking session, a VIP reception, an awards ceremony as well as dedicated time for sponsor and exhibit booth interactions. With this structure, it was of utmost importance to select a platform that would support both large and small audience sessions as well as the option to have some sessions run automatically without the need for event organizer intervention. The platform needed to be flexible enough to accommodate last-minute requests from speakers and hosts to ensure the event functioned in parallel with expectations of a live spontaneous experience.

Lastly, it was critical that tech support on the day of the event be provided to assist attendees who are still new to the virtual event experience.

The solutions

To accommodate the high number of viewers for the daily general sessions it was decided to leverage Canapii’s Greenroom solution. The Greenroom gives event organizers the ability to build, manage, and run their own live streams. This ensured that the presentation was a smooth packaged broadcast tailored to the day’s topics with the ability to show pre-recorded videos as well as interact with the audience via the polling and Q&A functionality.

For the more intimate workshop and networking sessions, we leveraged Canapii’s included Chime conferencing solution. To spark engagement speakers used the interactive bar to get real-time feedback and input from participants. Attendees were able to come off mute and turn on their camera feeds for a more roundtable experience, all based on individual speakers’ preferences.

The event organizers also utilized Canapii’s gamification functionality to drive interaction and networking as well as offer participation awards and recognition during the general sessions and award ceremony. In addition, all sessions were to be recorded and stored in a Video on Demand library where attendees could access the content at any time during and post-event.

Using Canapii’s automated workflows to accomplish this proved pivotal in maximizing the platform’s efficiency while minimizing the amount of work needed from the event team.

700+

Attendees

The results

This expo was largely successful, taking place over 4 days, spanning two weeks, and boasting almost 700 registered attendees. Polling and Q&A functionality were utilized, increasing attendee interaction across the platform while providing important spaces to network and hone career skills.

Event organizers were very satisfied with the host of functionalities that were offered to them as well as their sponsors and exhibitors. Exhibitors and Sponsors used our sponsor portal to build and manage their sponsor booths before, during, and post-event. In-depth analytics were tracked across all aspects of the platform, resulting in lead generation for sponsors/exhibitors and crucial feedback on workshop sessions.

The “tech support” tabs present in each session were critical in quickly triaging any unforeseen technical issues and user errors that arose during sessions. Overall, the event proved to be a valuable experience for all users.