Narisa Wild recently participated in a fireside chat with Brella and H2K partners last week at their Virtual Shake-Up event, an all-day quick fire knowledge sharing opportunity. Narisa, our intrepid SVP of Digital, was interviewed by Heather Holst-Knudsen, Managing Partner at H2K. During the session, Narisa provided a wealth of knowledge, from how to build the foundation of a digital strategy, to how and why to use machine learning for matchmaking, and tips on what to pursue when looking at a pricing strategy for virtual events.

Some of her key learnings:

  - There are 3 pillars that create the fabric of how we bring together digital media and our in-person and virtual events: Education (think: content, insights, trends analysis), Products & Services Discovery (think: that core commercial piece), and Connection (think: networking, meetings, relationship-building events).
  - At Informa Markets, we have an enormous amount of rich audience data, but AI-powered matchmaking can help us maximize the use of that data by allowing us to attribute match other people registered for our event, and track those not registered for our event and encourage them to join. Then we can use the technology to maximize our existing customer data and facilitate meaningful connections.
  - Speaking of matchmaking, it’s one of the things we are finding is more successful at virtual events. The rate of customers attending matchmaking sessions at our virtual events was found to be significantly higher than at our physical events. What else is more successful? Content consumption. Conference and education sessions were attended at 400% the rate that they were attended at live events.
 -  But, customer success is key. Digital can be uncomfortable so we have to train our exhibitors and sponsors on how to reach out in a virtual format—why it’s important and how we can make them more comfortable proactively acting on matchmaking opportunities and keyword trends so they can maximize their experience.
  - Another key: quality content. The more unique and sought after the content is, the more value you will have in a delegate payment model. If the speaker is the authority on the matter and you can’t get the content anywhere else, you have enormous opportunity to generate more interest and more delegate revenue.
  - Long term we want to look at building 365 solutions for sponsors which culminates at our event. Whether that be a programmatic solution, a podcast series, or something entirely different, we want to build out year-long sponsorship opportunities that drive brand value for our sponsors and simultaneously drive interest in our events.

 
To hear more of Narisa’s digital insights, check out the video here.