TV Style Hybrid Event for Treatwell
A hybrid event for hair and beauty industry brand leaders. One super slick streamed event full of interaction, exciting announcements and all the latest wellbeing news.
? International audience of hair & beauty industry leaders
? 800+ participants
? Hybrid format – live broadcast to a virtual audience
? Several timing & format changes due to pandemic restrictions
? Panel discussions & simultaneous breakout sessions
? Demonstrations & interviews
? Voting and Q&A capabilities
? Post-event networking
“We wanted to create a real wow-factor event to engage with our salon partners who have been at home over the last year and not had a chance to connect with Treatwell in this way to see the faces behind the brand. It was such a smooth event from start to finish. We had so much amazing feedback on how slick it was and how well produced the event was. Every little problem we encountered that was out of our control was overcome quickly and it was such a fun experience working with Eventify on this event to get UK hair, beauty and wellness businesses back open with a bang. Eventify looked after every little detail from photographer to make-up artist to making sure we were fuelled with coffees and lunch on the event day. They turned our office into what looked like a ‘This Morning’-esque studio – it was seriously impressive, and the event quality was exactly as we wanted to represent the Treatwell brand.”Dorothy Constantino – Treatwell Head of Partner Engagement, UKIE
Hybrid Event Brief
In November 2020, Eventify was approached by Treatwell, the largest hair and beauty bookings website in Europe. A highly creative team with 500 people working in offices throughout Europe and over 20,000 local partners. Treatwell’s mission is to inspire people to express their beauty in every way, demanding an event management agency with imagination, exceptional project management calibre and capacity for seamless delivery. Here’s the brief we received:
“Connect Look Forward 2021 will be a super slick streamed event from our Head Office. We are launching an awesome new product feature and want to have a launch event consisting of live Q&A, presentations with live polls, and the big reveal of our new feature. With 800+ participants from Treatwell partners including salon owners, staff and industry professionals, the event will centre on technology as an enabler for beauty, hair & wellness businesses.”
Hybrid Event Solution
As you can see, Treatwell were very clear about ‘what’ they wanted to achieve. In contrast, the ‘when’ was much more complicated due to the changing COVID lockdown restrictions. The event timetabled initially as a hybrid event in January 2021 was then changed to an entirely virtual event in February. Unfortunately, this was subsequently cancelled. Finally, with only three weeks’ notice, the event was back on to take place on 1st April in a hybrid format.
With all hands on deck, we assembled a team of experts and professionals to bring the event to life. Our role was to manage the entire project with end-to-end event management, sourcing and liaising with all partners, including live and online AV production, photography, videography, catering and make-up.
First things first, what do we mean by a ‘hybrid event’? Quite simply, this a blend of live event content and online delivery and participation. The live element occurs from a central hub location with a host, presentations, demonstrations, interviews and panel discussions—all the things you would see at a face-to-face event. The event content is broadcast live for guests to view, together with multiple opportunities to interact, such as live polls, Q&As, networking, and breakout sessions. The benefits of hybrid events are extensive, above all, connecting audiences across countries and continents without the time or cost of travel in a safe yet fully inclusive fashion. We believe the value of hybrid events has been highlighted throughout the pandemic, and they are definitely here to stay in the future. Read our top tips for virtual and hybrid events.
Pre-Event Planning
The live ‘hub’ location for Connect Look Forward 2021 was Treatwell’s UK Head Office in Holborn, London. Using broadcast quality lighting, camera and sound, we recreated the look of a daytime TV studio with lots of daylight with fresh and natural set dressing. Various spaces were used around the ‘studio’ for presentations and socially distanced interviews and panel sessions. The host for the event was Dorothy Constantino, Treatwell Head of Partner Engagement, who ensured fabulously friendly continuity.
We knew we needed a first-rate event AV and tech company to trust managing the multiple live and online elements. Without hesitation, we brought in MSP Global and their expert team of experienced professionals. Having worked together many times, most recently on two large online global conferences, we knew they had the skills to deliver a first-class event. Read the Global Conference case study here.
Vimeo Livestreaming was the chosen delivery platform due to its high-quality capabilities. Furthermore, we opted to use vMix to allow professional input from remote speakers presenting from their homes mixed with live broadcast filmed at the hub location. We soon discovered that none of the presenters wanted to pre-record their content, which posed an exciting challenge for the technical team. Ideally, with such a busy agenda, we would suggest a mixture of live and pre-record content. Consequently, a 100% live agenda left little room for error and necessitated a running order executed with military precision!
Maximum Hybrid Engagement
A dedicated Treatwell branded event website was built containing all delegate information, including booking, agenda, live streams, speaker profiles, breakout information and networking details. Slido was incorporated into the website for live polls and in-event Q&A.
Having managed several hybrid events, we’re well versed in the nuance of blending live and online content. Many presenters can find the challenge of speaking to a ‘blank screen’ daunting. It is essential to give presenters the confidence to relax, be engaging and have a natural flow to connect with the remote audience. Importantly, we work with each session owner and presenter to understand their objectives and help them fine-tune their content and presentation style.
Set-up & Rehearsal
The team arrived at the Treatwell offices the day prior for a full day of set-up and rehearsals. Broadcast quality cameras and lighting were positioned alongside furniture and set dressing. A dedicated make-up and hair station was created by Carla Ramsey, an incredibly talented professional artist who works extensively in TV and film. For everyone’s on-site safety, a COVID check-in station was established with temperature checks, symptom forms, hand sanitiser and masks. After a successful afternoon of technical rehearsals and run-throughs with all live and remote presenters, we were finally set up and ready to go live the following morning.
Event Day
An early crew call of 07.30 am and team briefing to ensured everyone understood their individual roles, responsibilities and timetable. We were ready to go live at 10.00 am GMT with 800 online guests across the UK and Europe tuning in for a packed schedule. Colleagues from Satureyes Media joined us on-site to capture behind the scenes photography and video footage.
In a flash, the morning went by with all speakers on standby and cued 15 minutes before their allocated sessions. After six perfectly delivered presentations, discussions and interviews, we ended the event with a live Q&A panel session facilitated by the host Dorothy Constantino. Three studio panel members were joined by three remote contributors, all answering questions submitted on the day from the online event community.
Post-Event Networking
After the official event concluded, we hosted a networking event for delegates to catch up with industry peers and discuss any burning questions generated during the main event. Opting for the Remo platform, which we have experienced often, a fantastic networking solution when everyone can’t be together. Guests all sit at ‘virtual tables’ and can talk with fellow delegates at their table and hop around tables as they wish. For Connect Look Forward 2021 post-event networking, industry leaders hosted tables allowing delegates to decide which table was relevant to them.
It’s a Wrap!
After a busy few days on-site (and weeks of planning), everyone was relieved the event was a brilliantly seamless success. Personally, after many months of being contact starved throughout lockdown, it was an amazing buzz to be safely back on-site, albeit without a whole face-to-face delegation. We definitely missed the traditional post-event celebratory drink at the bar with the suppliers and clients. Still, it was a fantastic sense of achievement to deliver an event in real life!
Delegate Feedback
What an incredible event! So fantastic and bespoke to the audience. And just so seamless and organised. You were BRILLIANT!
What a brilliantly executed event! You can be super proud of this. Loved the set-up ad delivery, along with the variety you offered attendees.
I was so impressed with the production, flow, speakers, product, conversation…the list goes on.
I thought it was all very slick and well produced.
I would like to congratulate you on putting this all together as the whole show was really informative and all the speakers inspiring.
Congrats to you and the team on a fantastic event!
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