A member organization’s transformation towards digital conferences

Digital and virtual conferences are the future

Swedenergy is the Swedish member organization for industries that produce, distribute, sell and store energy. With almost 400 company members, they are the hub for education and the work towards economic, ecological and socially sustainable energy systems.

Previously, our events have taken place in different parts of Sweden, but this last year, with the changed conditions, we needed a new, digital solution, says Martina Hultqvist, Project Coordinator at Swedenergy.

Before the pandemic, Swedenergy had been looking for virtual alternatives. As for other member organizations, they wanted to still be able to hold presentations and offer their members the opportunity to meet and talk to each other. Mingle is an important part of a conference so the digital solution had to have an option for the participants to interact with each other.

With our new platform we got everything we needed to develop our virtual conference form, says Johan Hector, Project Manager for their education unit Kompetenscentrum. There were many flexible features, like live streaming and contact areas where all participants could chat and talk to each other with video calls.

Have internal competence for the event tool

From the start, Swedenergy wanted to be able to arrange their digital conferences and handle as much as possible by themselves. Therefore, they got to learn the platform from the ground up. They got support from a Project manager from InvitePeople’s Customer Success team and quickly found out that the platform was easier to understand and work in than they had initially thought.

It was important for us to really understand this system, feel confident with it, and be able to have free hands to take care of everything internally if we wanted to. We quickly got into how it all worked. The platform is very user-friendly, says Johan.

Swedenergy is sure that digital and hybrid events are here to stay. Now they have invested in their own studio to be able to film and stream the material themselves.

This is a long-term investment for us, as our members and other customers will demand digital activities in the future as well, says Johan. We have never seen this as a temporary solution for the pandemic but as a chance to become even more modern and digital.

Extending events

Today, Swedenergy has already held two conferences this year and they have nine more conferences to come. They feel comfortable with the system and have a clear plan for how they will use the platform in the future. By spring 2022 they are going to invest in hybrid events.

We gain more and more self-confidence the more we use the platform, says Martina. So now we want to think outside the box, be inspired, and find new ways to arrange education and meetings.

They are also looking forward to extending future events. With a digital platform, they can let exhibitors keep their digital showrooms alive for a longer period of time.

The exhibitors can get more exposure without any extra work. In this way, we can make events live much longer than physical events.

The digital transformation went fast and smoothly. Swedenergy can only see opportunities with the change.

It has been a fantastic collaboration! With a small effort we can still achieve a lot, says Johan. The platform is easy to administer. In addition, we are completely confident that we will have a nicely packed conference here, suited to our brand and with all the functions we need. Perfect!