Resource type: Case study

Virtual Event hosting support for UK VA Conference #VACon21 Online

Introduction

Get Ahead successfully provided tech support for the UK VA Conference, #VACon21 On-line.

Virtual Assistants, outsourcing experts for office administration and more (!), regularly attend the event for professional development, sharing best practice, ideas and increasing their business networks. The UK VA Conference also hosts the annual UK VA Awards, recognising the outstanding professionals in the Virtual Assistants business support industry.

This event, established in 2007, has in recent years been held at London’s largest exhibition centre, ExCeL. Respecting the restrictions of the pandemic, for 2021, the event had to be staged on-line.

The Solution

We worked closely with the client to make sure that the event technology options matched their exact requirements. We concluded and agreed that ZOOM would fully meet the client’s needs.

Each day and session hosted different speakers, so we had to test connectivity and functionality for each session. For example, some sessions were dependent on the chat function, while others required screensharing or breakout rooms. We worked with each speaker, listening to their plan and finding the tech solution to make their session as productive and interactive as possible.

Get Ahead provided tech checks for every speaker, and we met with them before the start of their session to make sure everyone was fully briefed. This additional, behind-the-scenes preparatory work was essential for the smooth running of the event, and keeping things running to time.

For the delegates, we released the links to each session and all attendees were given our contact details so they could liaise directly with us if they were struggling to access a session or had any other tech issues restricting access. This enabled our client to concentrate on their own role and responsibilities for the conference, safe in the knowledge that we had control of the tech platform.

The Challenges

The UK VA Conference organiser, Storm Media and Publishing, had the need to deliver a flawless series of virtual events for long-standing, established, virtual professionals – an audience that would pick up on any mistake and mishap! Regularly the format had been a ‘one day’ event, however, demands of the lockdown restricted the availability of the potential audience (dealing with home-schooling demands etc.) The most popular solution was to deliver events over 4 consecutive days. The client required reliable, consistently solid hosting and technical background support for the essential success of the online sessions, so they approached Get Ahead to ask for our help.

Why Get Ahead?

The event has been very well received, indeed reviewed as a great success, and the Get Ahead team were very proud to be supporting the profession. Our client, Storm Media’s CEO, John Palmer, said:

“Rebecca and her team supported the delivery of the UK VA Conference 2021 #VACon21 Online with our innovative 4 x 4 format over 4 days. The Get Ahead team facilitated the registrations, waiting rooms, live sessions, managed the Q & A and chat functions, reliably supporting the efforts to keep our ‘show on the road’! Get Ahead have impressed with their focus towards the detail, tech agility and the team’s confident ability to manage both speakers and delegates, whilst being mindful of keeping things running to time and budget. Delighted that Rebecca has added top class online event management to Get Ahead’s growing portfolio of services.”

Many thanks to John for his kind words!

Here at Get Ahead VA, we are privileged to work with a wide variety of clients who recognise the value of outsourcing the tasks that either they lack skills for or that take up their valuable time. Here’s 60 seconds with one of our clients, Enterprise Lab, a global platform that is committed to developing enterprise eco-systems for prosperity – this means better people, better businesses, better economies.

What situation was your business in when you first came to Get Ahead VA?

Earlier in the year during lockdown, we launched our Resource Centre – an online platform of curated content from our network of business experts, to provide support and guidance to businesses in all sectors and of all sizes, during a time that would impact and challenge businesses forcing them to pivot. We needed support with digital marketing to promote the platform & content to our target audience.

What difference did this make to your business?

Having a clear strategy in place for our digital marketing has meant that we can focus on our business objectives and be really clear about who we are trying to target and how we want to engage them.

With the success of the Resource Centre and the insights we gained from the digital marketing activities, we have evolved our approach to supporting small businesses in 2020 with our Start Up>Scale Up Summit virtual event in November.

The Get Ahead team have been flexible in their approach which has allowed us to evolve our plans but maintain a clear focus.

How did we help solve the problem for you?

Kristy from Get Ahead took my brief, and built a skilled team of experts led by Marie who worked on a digital marketing strategy and a plan for the Resource Centre which supported our vision of how it would help to meet our business objectives for 2020 and beyond.

They kicked off with a virtual workshop to shape the strategy collaboratively with us; this helped us to be clear on our objectives and positioning and gather some insights on what our competitors were doing and how we were differentiating ourselves.

From there they carried out an audit of our digital platforms – the website and social media pages – and a SWOT analysis, before putting together detailed plans which delivered on our strategic goals.

Our digital marketing plan consisted of SEO, PPC, social media management, video content, and paid social ads on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. We received a consolidated regular report and a weekly team call to review performance and agree next steps which ensures we’re always working towards our goals.

Collaboration with the Get Ahead team has been the key to success and rather than simply pushing work through to your traditional agency, the team seamlessly slot in as if they’re part of our own business.

Supporting a local business for their next expo

Background

Arcivate offers Automated Invoice Processing Software to help their customers automate supplier invoicing. They received a government grant to attend a business expo, so they were keen to use it well. To get the best value, they wanted to be thorough in their approach to the expo, maybe even finding solutions that could be re-used in future years. They spoke to Jo McGowan of Get Ahead Guildford to organise the design and production of their stand and artwork.

Challenges

The business knew it needed artwork for the stand at their next expo. Without an informative, eye-catching stand, the business risked missing opportunities and not making the most of the exhibitions. But as with many Get Ahead projects, a detailed conversation with one of our regional directors highlighted additional needs the business had around content and marketing messaging.

The business wanted to ensure that the messaging on their exhibition stand, and on their website and social media communications, was communicating the same benefits and problems solved. They wanted to ensure that people meeting them at the expo would receive the same message on all other channels and anyone looking them up after the expo would experience a consistency of values across the board.

Solutions

Designing the stand was relatively straightforward. The business already had a logo and style guide; it was easy for our graphic designers to combine it with information given in person by the business owner to create an eye-catching stand.

Jo McGowan has her own directory of contractors who can help deliver Get Ahead’s work. On this occasion, she was able to recommend a printer who would transform the designs from digital files into upright banners. Reassuringly, the printer she suggested was the same one the client was already considering – Jo naming him too was all the encouragement the client needed.

The Get Ahead marketing experts also worked hard to develop some great content for the business. By building up a strong foundation of blogs and case studies, the business clarified its messages and learned to describe their offering in a way that was clear and meaningful to clients and prospects.

All these solutions were easy to implement. Jo and her team were delighted by how open the client was to suggestions – it made the process easier by turning outsourced support into a genuine partnership.

Outcomes

The business is looking forward to the upcoming exhibition, and the team feel confident that they’ll be able to show potential leads a clear direction. They’ve also built up a strong bank of online content – very useful for the upcoming expo, but also for future social media posts, presentations, newsletters and other marketing opportunities.

“You are always cautious when entering into a new arrangement as to what will be provided, but we have been very pleasantly surprised at just how easy it has been to liaise with Joanne and her team and the great early results they have provided”

Andrew Coyle, Arcivate

Here at Get Ahead VA, we are privileged to work with a wide variety of clients who recognise the value of outsourcing the tasks that either they lack skills for or that take up their valuable time. Here’s 60 seconds with one of our clients, Moira Fuller, Productivity & Strategy Coach for small businesses and founder of the craft subscription box Craftiosity.

What did you need help with when you came to Get Ahead VA?

I was juggling two businesses and wanted to focus more time on supporting small business entrepreneurs by outsourcing much of the admin of my subscription box business. A friend recommended Fiona from Get Ahead VA to me, and after a quick chat, we decided to trial working together. We haven’t looked back since!

How did Get Ahead VA help solve the problem for you?

I was matched up with Hazel, who’s been an excellent support and has taken on more as the months have gone by. She manages our customer service emails and the orders database (no small feat!) and liaises with our fulfilment centre. I really appreciate that Get Ahead are also able to provide cover when Hazel’s on holiday, so the support is year round.

What has this meant for you and your business?

I’m a big fan of working in your ‘genius zone’ – the area where your passions and skills align – and outsourcing as much of the rest as possible, and from the location you choose! I was intentional about building a business that would give me location freedom, that didn’t require premises with in-office staff.

Working consistently with an excellent VA has meant I can trust that this part of the business is in safe hands, and this allows me to focus on my business growth. The investment in support has easily paid off, both financially and in making my work more enjoyable, allowing me to focus on the strategy and business support I excel at.