5 Things Learned from Hosting a Virtual Event

Approaching 2020’s EMEA Partner Forum, we knew it would be very different. But what would this look like?

What came to be was EMEA Partnerforce Live, a new virtual event designed to inspire our EMEA partner ecosystem and provide business leaders with the tools and technology to reopen safely and reinvent the future.

Developing this new concept and hosting our first virtual event was a tremendous learning experience. We learned a lot along the way. Here are the 5 things to remember for our next one.

1. Never Forget the Audience

We didn’t assume to know how partners would want to hear from us, so we asked partners to tell us what formats would work, how long a session should be, and how many sessions each partner was likely to attend. The consensus seemed to be that most people wouldn’t attend all day, but would likely attend one to three sessions, and each session should be between 30 minutes and one hour. Consistent with in-person events, great content would be the primary reason for attending.

We’d seen this already in our great Salesforce Live: Leading Through Change series, where content is key to the success of that program. So we set out to design something similar — a space for Salesforce and partners to celebrate positive collaboration, and hear some great stories from peers on how to navigate the current situation. And to come back stronger in the future. This is how this Partnerforce Live Concept was born.

2. Content is Important, But…

…also are great speakers. In this first edition, we enjoyed a great line-up including:

A fireside chat with Gavin Patterson (President & CEO, International, Salesforce) who discussed his vision for his new role and how partners fit into his global view and provided key insights relevant for our partners as we all focus on reopening safely. He also provided a personal story of how he was involved in the Daily Mail Initiative to provide PPE for the NHS in the UK. Salesforce’s Philanthropic efforts around COVID-19 have been supported across the globe. You can read about some of our initiatives here.

Insights from Neelie Kroes (former Vice President and European Commissioner at the European Commission and Salesforce Board Member) who shared her observations on the social and economic impact of the current crisis in EMEA, and her invaluable knowledge from direct experiences managing crisis during her time at the European Commission. Very inspiring.

The show was hosted by Leon Mangan, SVP, Alliances & Channels, EMEA & LATAM, Salesforce, and Baman Motivala, VP, ISV EMEA & APAC, Salesforce.

3. Hearing from Partners

We also wanted partners to be at the center of the content, but lockdown presented us with some technology and logistical challenges! By the time we arrived on the day of the event, we had recorded and produced three partner videos, with each story showcasing how partners had quickly pivoted to help their customers through these tough times.

Sopra Steria shared how their firm created a solution to help grocers in Italy facilitate social distancing and safe shopping. Their reservation system powered by Salesforce has saved shoppers hours of queuing, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

SightCall’s customer solution is providing live video support to customers and includes functionality to help healthcare professionals remotely diagnose patients via video.

Our third story from Capgemini France shared how Capgemini and Salesforce partnered to support a government initiative aimed at helping French citizens find essential products and services while under quarantine.

Watch these three inspiring stories from Sopra Steria, SightCall, and Capgemini France in the replay on the Partner Video Newsroom.

Our post-event survey showed that our content was spot on. The discussion with Neelie & Gavin showcasing what’s happening from a broad perspective and the partner stories received the highest rankings for content across the event.

4. Engagement is Key in a Virtual Event

At live events, we meet each other, take questions from the audience, and find many ways to interact with our partners. Engagement at a virtual event is just as important and we delivered this in a number of ways:

• An executed communications and social media plan prior to the event to build momentum and anticipation of the day
• We prepared a fantastic personal video message from our ISVs, and our Alliance & Channel team to welcome more than 1750 attendees from 22 countries.
• We offered live chat and Live Q&A, all moderated by a 10-man team from the Salesforce Ecosystem Team. We were all ready to engage, monitor, and answer the incredible amount of questions that came from the audience.

Some of the questions were answered directly by our speakers: how can we get involved with Work.com? How important are partners to Salesforce? What advice do you have for CEOs of our partners here as we’re planning our strategy for the future?

5. The Devil is in the Details

If you attended, we really hope you enjoyed the inspirational content from this first Partnerforce Live. What looks like a seamless experience, was the result of hours of rehearsals, tech checks, coordination calls, and briefing sessions to ensure nothing was left to chance. It really pays off.

Huge thanks to the cross-team collaboration that brought our event to life, and we look forward to our next virtual event with partners.

Watch the replay on the Partner Video Newsroom here.