The events business has been hit hard by COVID-19, causing organizations to make decisions to either cancel events, postpone until it’s safer to gather again, or make their events virtual. Each decision comes with its own set of challenges, as well, especially when considering the possibility of lost revenue.
When Forrester was faced with this same conundrum regarding its flagship Summit 2020 — an annual gathering of sales, marketing, and product leaders — the market research company decided to turn the Summit into a four-day paid virtual event in early May.
Target Marketing had the opportunity to talk with Forrester’s Global Head of Events Lisa Riley about the decision to transition the Summit into a paid virtual event, the effects it had on the programming, as well as both the successes and challenges derived from the decision.
The biggest challenge was twofold: developing and launching the digital platform in less than six weeks’ time. It was a true software “sprint” that we followed to get the product into a viable state for our customers.
