Executive Summary
Fintech Calling is a UK-based firm that hosts global events in the fintech space. Their flagship event is Fintech Week Tel Aviv, an annual conference that brings together leaders from various global fintech hotspots to deliberate, share ideas, network and interact with the latest innovation and goings on in the financial technology space. They learn about the different disruptions and trends that will carve the industry’s future as well as deliberate, share ideas and do business.
The events are always in-person, with a full day conference and evening events over 4 days in Tel Aviv. Bringing together entrepreneurs and industry leaders from across the world to interact, deliberate, network and do business is key. COVID-19 forced them to go virtual with their 2021 annual conference. It was challenging for them as it was crucial to provide an experience that was as interactive and engaging and as close as possible to their in-person events. Having a good attendance was a concern for them, with the virtual event fatigue that was taking hold.
With Airmeet they ended up hosting a successful and well attended event with immersive interaction and engagement between all attendees.
Jonny Paul, Director of Fintech Calling and Founder & Director of Fintech Week, shares how he successfully planned and hosted an elaborate event with Airmeet.
Challenges (And Solutions)
Challenge 1: Having a seamless, large-scale virtual event with an excellent user experience.
Fintech Calling was looking to host over 1,400 participants over 4 days – industry leaders, influencers, financial services players and entrepreneurs. They wanted a platform with a top end interface that would be seamless to use and allow participants to engage, network and interact with each other.
Solution
Fintech Calling hosted their 5th annual Fintech Week on Airmeet. It was a 4-day virtual event hosted on a big scale with global participation with over 120 speakers, 1,400 participants, and multiple sponsor booths. It included panel discussions, keynote presentations and start-up pitching. Attendees heralded from all corners of the globe and across many different time zones. Countries included UAE, Bahrain, China, Japan, Australia, Ghana, Kenya, Scandinavia and the US.
Airmeet features that aided the event experience were:
- Quality streaming: “There were some platforms which we thought were fantastic but lacked some important features and basic functionality.” Airmeet solved this issue by providing HD quality and lag-free streaming, with recordings of each session provided and ready to download on the same day.”
- Ease of use: Jonny mentioned, “Onboarding through Airmeet was pretty seamless. We had an onboarding session with Airmeet where we were shown the basics, and we took it from there. It was a really intuitive and a smooth process for attendees.”
- Large scale: Airmeet could provide a secure and stable user experience to support up to 100k attendees. Jonny said, “We were pleasantly surprised how well attended the event was considering the virtual event fatigue that had started to set in, and also how well the platform managed it.”
- Customer support: “The Airmeet support was fantastic right from the start and throughout. They were always readily available and resolved any issues we faced swiftly.” said Jonny.
- Analytics: Regarding the analytics, Jonny said, “The analytics report was very thorough with a good data breakdown. This data definitely comes in handy and will help us going forward.”
Challenge: Ability to have different formats as well as sponsor visibility
Fintech Calling required multiple format support to hold the array of different sessions. They also wanted to provide top visibility for their sponsors and information, such as session details, that was accessible and easy to digest.
Solution
Airmeet features that resolved these challenges were:
- Multiple sessions: Airmeet allowed a variety of formats with multiple sessions. Jonny shared, “The event was four days long, and there were approximately eight sessions each day. It consisted of different panels, keynotes, fireside chats, start-up pitches and workshops.”
- Booths: The event had multiple sponsors at different tiers with dedicated exhibitor booths. Jonny shared, “We had 2 Platinum sponsors and 4-5 in each of our other main categories – Gold, Silver and Bronze. We also had 30+ community and media partners. Sponsors were able to customise their booths as they wished and have all the relevant media and marketing material.”
- Interface: “The platform had a very user-friendly and customisable interface. Jonny said, “I think the interface was really great. We had the ability to customise and use our own backgrounds, brand colours and fonts etc.”
- Affordability: Pricing was a critical factor in choosing the platform. Jonny mentioned, “We got some quotes from a host of other platforms. Airmeet was an easy choice because of the reasonable pricing and attention to detail.”
Challenge: Having deep audience engagement
Fintech Calling wanted to provide an engaging and interactive experience throughout the 4-day event.
Solution
Airmeet provided various useful features for effective audience interaction-
- Chatbox and Emojis: Attendees could interact effortlessly on the platform. Jonny mentioned, “All participants were visible and were able to private message each other. The public message board was also a useful feature. During the sessions, participants used emojis, such as hand claps and hearts, to show appreciation to speakers. They could also ask questions, and speakers could also facilitate a poll during a session. All this helped to make it much more interactive and interesting.”
- Announcement Board: “We put out a call to the audience before each session, with the details of the session that was about to begin, and we also encouraged them to visit the virtual networking lounge and exhibitor booths,” declared Jonny. This really helped us ensure people didn’t miss a session and could make use of all offerings.
- Social Lounge: Jonny stated that he liked the lounge feature on Airmeet. He said, “I really loved the social lounge. It was very intuitive easy to use for networking. On entering you simply chose a table and clicked on a chair and have face-to-face meetings, either pre-arranged or if you saw someone you knew or wanted to connect with. The interface was great and it certainly added to participant’s experience.”
- Backstage: Jonny mentioned, “The backstage feature was very useful. It helped speakers prep before going live.” With panels of 5 or more you could zoom in on whoever was speaking but with panels 4 or less you could pin the speakers, so all were visible during their session.
Way Forward
Jonny stated, “We are partnering with a couple of events this year and with so much uncertainty still reigning, we’re exploring the hybrid model for next events, and hope to use Airmeet and the wonderful functionality it provides. The way forward is obviously the hybrid model.”
Fintech Week Tel Aviv 2021 was an extremely successful virtual event with a large global participation. The Airmeet platform ensured that it was a high-quality industry conference, and a seamless and engaging experience for the organisers, speakers and attendees.
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