RECRUITING ATTENDEES FOR SEMINARS AND IMPROVING THEIR PERCEPTION

When a British public sector organization wanted to promote the real world industrial applications of the research and development work produced in universities, ELEVATE delivered - by employing their proven event invitation methodologies and by setting their team of experienced business professionals to the task, ELEVATE was able to bridge the gap between academia and industry and facilitate a real knowledge transfer.

CHALLENGE

The client was planning a series of seminars to encourage the dissemination of Information Technology research from the academics who had performed it to the industry leaders who could make practical use of it. They needed to convince academics to consider the needs of industry while reassuring executives that the academics’ ideas had relevance in the real world.

The client realized that passive recruitment involving posting notices on websites and newsletters would not be sufficient and that proactive recruitment was the way to go. A minimum of twenty attendees was required to make each event worthwhile. The problem was that several outsourced suppliers had failed in the past through an inability to connect with the industry leaders at the right level.

ELEVATE’s challenge was to identify the key executives within each relevant industry, contact them personally and convince them of the value of their attendance at the events.

SOLUTION

ELEVATE’s solution combined their Data Transformation and Lead Optimization models and delivered an event invitation process seamlessly insourced into the clients existing business structure.

Components of the solution included:

• Sourcing a list of the companies active in each industry.
• Identifying the relevant key decision makers in each firm.
• Emailing personalized invitations to all of them.
• Developing a robust message for outreach to inspire confidence and encourage attendance from delegates.
• Reaching out to each executive individually to persuade them of the benefits of the seminars, answer their questions, challenge their assumptions and generate commitment to attend.

RESULTS

In this highly-technical expert field, the quality of the individuals in the team and the attention to detail in the preparation and research was crucial for ELEVATE to successfully delivering the delegates required.

The campaign exceeded expectation and the high level of results meant for a very successful series of events.

The facts:

• ELEVATE delivered an average of 38 attendees per event across 26 events.
• It was so successful that what was planned as a one-year project ran for three years, with ELEVATE successfully re-winning the contract each year.
• When it was decided to roll out this model for the dissemination into another areas of research being funded, ELEVATE won that competition also.
• Two external independent evaluations commented favorably on the service ELEVATE were seen to provide.

“ELEVATE did a tremendous job. The events we run are very specific to a particular field of technology and it was important to focus the attention of those high-level decision makers on the opportunity that participating in these events would offer them. ELEVATE met the target of getting the key people to attend. When speaking to delegates at events they often commented (unprompted) on the quality of the recruiters.

The two external independent evaluations we had of the project both commented favourably on the service provided by ELEVATE.

In summary, of the eight-or-so delegate recruitment organizations we dealt with on various projects, I’d say that ELEVATE gave best value for money and I’d happily recommend and use them again.”

Outreach Program Manager
British Public Sector Organization

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