Unique Insights #6

Yvonne de Beus & Sarah Moorman are sales & events reps at De Kromhouthal, and they collaborated with Random Creatives to organise a fully online conference for the Landelijke Huisartsen Vereniging (National Association of General Practitioners). How do they make an online event feel like it's live and in-person?

"Normally we organise events for an average of 300 to 1,200 visitors," says Sarah. "Of course that was impossible during the lockdown, but during our many Zoom sessions, it pretty quickly became clear that we were going to focus on what could be done". Yvonne adds: "We decided to build a permanent studio, Studio Kromhout, so we could offer online events and webinars".

Proof that it can work
The event both account managers are most proud of is 2020 Huisartsendag for GPs across the country. "This conference had to go ahead because it's accredited. GPs have to earn a minimum number of points each year by spending time on knowledge sharing and quality improvement," Yvonne explains. "And it would have truly been a shame if all the energy that had already been put into organising the live event had gone to waste. We, and our client, LHV, wanted to prove that we could take this conference online without losing the message and the story".

The importance of entertainment
The online Huisartsendag opened with a main talk show, after which participants could break out into several smaller sessions. "We were streaming in four studios simultaneously," says Yvonne. "At home, the GPs could pose questions in a customised app, which were asked via a moderator". Sarah adds: "The moderator played a talk show host role. We always pay a lot of attention to interaction and entertainment at our events. Instead of just having black screen during breaks, there were musical interludes and a spoken column by writer Hanna Bervoets".

Online with physical elements
"We will always have online and hybrid events," Yvonne admits. "It offers a range of opportunities for our customers, and we learned a lot. For instance, online attention span is much shorter, so we recommend that speakers keep it to a maximum of half an hour. We've also come up with playful interactions that visitors would otherwise physically experience. For example having participants make their own soup during the lunch break with ingredients we've sent them beforehand and live instructions from a chef. That helps move it into the physical world."

Golden ticket
Yvonne de Beus & Sarah Moorman now get to pass on the Golden ticket: what unique Amsterdam location would they like to hear from about how they’ve handled events in the Covid-era? The ticket will be passed to the Portugese Synagoge. We’re keen to hear about the events in their beautiful venue.” Portuguese Synagogue. We zijn benieuwd naar de events op deze mooie locatie.”