Online Events Management, the Co-operative Way | Case Study

The organisation

The Co-operative Councils’ Innovation Network (CCIN) is a non-party-political active hub for co-operative policy development, innovation and advocacy which is:

Action-focused: a vehicle for helping councils translate co-operative policy and principles into practice

Membership-based: funded by modest membership subscriptions from its member councils

Open to all UK councils: members share the belief that working co-operatively with communities holds the key to tackling today’s challenges

Part of the local government family: the network is a Special Interest Group registered with the Local Government Association where we work to promote innovation in local government

The problem

Across the world, conference and exhibition centres stood vacant as Covid-19 ripped through communities. Many businesses and organisations faced the prospect of key event cancellations; the CCIN being no exception. Their annual conference was set to take place in Telford, hosting councils and organisations from across England and Wales. A key date in the local government sector, it promised to be an excellent place to network and learn.

Understandably, the conference was postponed, but the Co-operative Councils’ Innovation Network still had a need to come together and connect.

The challenge

It was obvious that if the CCIN wanted to continue their idea of a conference, they would have to look at online solutions. But how would they keep it as engaging and educational as a physical conference?

The solution

The CCIN reached out to the Co-operative College, knowing they had hosted a series of successful online events throughout 2020. After an initial consultation into the client's specifications for the event, the College put forward a team of three colleagues to aid in the event management. The group swiftly put together a bespoke package, filled with various software and technology.

The process

Airtable 

Airtable was used to make the delegate joining process as slick and simple as possible, with all those attending given access to a one click launchpad displaying all the sessions that they had access to. With a number of different ticketing options available, this also helped facilitate a bespoke area for each delegate, avoiding anyone entering sessions that weren't accessible to their particular package.

EventBrite ticketing portal

EventBrite provided the CCIN with a ticketing portal which allowed a variety of ticket types to be sold. It also served as a landing page with event information and links to both the organisation's website and socials. Organisers were also able to send out email updates dependent on ticket type through EventBrite. 

 

Bespoke presentation design

The Co-operative College Team worked with CCIN to design bespoke presentation templates, ensuring the conference maintained a professional and eye catching look. Close attention was paid to the CCIN brand guidelines, with the presentation including their desired font and colour scheme. 

Zoom webinar package

 

To ensure sessions ran as seamlessly as possible, Zoom technology was utilised, with multiple accounts facilitating overlapping workshops with ease. With all sessions recorded, delegates could also catch up with all the action in their own time too.