The event industry experienced a monumental shift in March 2020. Luckily, we saw the industry join forces to adapt to the new era of events. Everyone from event organizers to planners to agencies to producers to event technologists has experienced the challenges, anxiety, and stress from the unknown.

This past summer, the first-annual free Cadence Collective virtual event sought to shed light on the industry's greatest challenges by giving a platform to all the people who have a part in putting on world class events.

Cadence’s intention was for each attendee to develop compassion and empathy for every single individual involved in the industry. And by collaborating, hearing fresh perspectives, and getting a glimpse into the future, we embraced forever changing the way people experience events, collectively.

So what did Cadence do differently for this industry event? What did we do to make sure we didn’t put on another monotonous virtual event that blended in with the rest?

Branding

Cadence’s Marketing and Design teams worked tirelessly together to create high-quality branding specific to the Collective. With the intent to evoke playful, casual emotions when associating with the Collective, our design team decided to embrace big colors, abstract blob assets, and casual imagery for all the event’s design and marketing materials.

We wanted our designs to be playful and energetic while also coming across as knowledgeable and trustworthy to our audience. Once we hammered down exactly what that would look like, we enjoyed implementing the aesthetic throughout our platform.

Hailey Ingraham

Marketing Operations Lead, Cadence

This synchronicity of branding helped to establish the event as unique and created brand recognition within the industry. There was no confusion about the difference between Cadence as a brand and The Collective as an offering by Cadence.

Virtual Entertainment for Engagement

To kick off the event, Cadence invited Ryan Oakes, Magician and Mentalist, to perform 30 minutes of virtual magic! Ryan was amazing at engaging audience members even though no one was in the same room. His magic act had attendees on the edge of their seats, eager to participate to have a chance to be a part of the magic.

Additionally, to wrap up the event, Cadence hosted a coffee & cocktails conversation hour in a Wonder Room. Attendees were able to navigate their virtual person to enter conversation groups with other attendees. Wonder rooms are a great way to inject a little fun into what would otherwise be another Zoom breakout session.

Choose Your Own Adventure

In an effort to break the usual flow of virtual events, Cadence embraced a “Choose Your Own Adventure” styled schedule for the industry-relevant breakout sessions. With a total of six sessions to choose from and two rounds of “choosing your own adventure,” attendees had the freedom to dictate what kind of event experience they wanted to have. Attendees could choose to learn how to create an impactful personal brand. Or they could hear about non-profits’ perspectives during the industry shifts. Or they could hear about how industry competitors ended up collaborating to stay afloat during the pandemic.

Giving attendees the freedom to choose their own path led to higher engagement during the sessions, and higher retention for the duration of the event. And, attendees were able to get the most out of their experience by choosing the topic that they knew they’d benefit most from.

Original Video Content

To further set Cadence apart from the rest, our Marketing team wrote and produced original comedy content to break up the event. One session of the event, “E-Venting,” kicked off with a comedic video about crazy client requests that event planners seem to get all the time. Since it was a Cadence original piece, audience members found it exciting to be part of a live viewing, and everyone loved how the video brought humor to otherwise stressful everyday situations.

One of our employees with an interest in comedy, Lexi Godfrey, wrote, performed, and produced a mini series called “Sh*t Event Planners Say” to be dispersed throughout the event. The mood of the series kept the event light and playful, while giving attendees an opportunity to laugh at the hardships associated with event planning.

The most resounding positive feedback I received from attendees was on the “Sh*t Event Planners Say” videos. Attendees loved the emotional storytelling, and we loved that the Cadence humor and playfulness was so well received.

Michael Buckley

CEO, Cadence

Cadence is thrilled with how the first annual Collective event went. Cadence loves helping event industry professionals connect with each other, and bring compassion back to events. Our marketing lead is excited for future Collective events, even saying, “Hey, maybe even one day we can do an in-person event. That'd be exhilarating!”

Cadence Collective sessions can be viewed here for those interested in exploring the event more, even after it’s ended! Interested to see how Cadence could work for your upcoming events? Schedule a personalized demo. We'll recommend the best solution based on your goals - even it's not Cadence