Canterbury Christ Church University hosts its first virtual event to support businesses with developing their innovation potential

Canterbury Christ Church University has hosted its first virtual event, The GRID [Growing Regional Innovation by Design] with the help of event technology provider, VenuIQ.

The event, which provided information and support to help businesses harness their innovation potential, welcomed over 80 delegates virtually to discuss the four innovation pillars of GRID: strategic transformation, digitalisation, decarbonisation and advanced manufacturing.

Industry leaders and academics from across the University hosted nine informative sessions which provided guidance on transforming a business model, harnessing rapid growth and accessing funding. A networking session also took place, allowing businesses to connect with one another and discuss their experiences.

VenuIQ implemented its suite of virtual event technology to stream the event via a bespoke platform which enabled 60 delegates to join a session at one time. The event technology provider also implemented its innovative networking feature which allowed attendees to connect with one another through individual chat rooms that they could join to meet like-minded SME leaders.

Sean Cleary, Enterprise and Engagement Manager at Canterbury Christ Church University, said: “This was our first time hosting an event using a digital platform, so it was important for us to find a technology provider that understood our requirements and could provide advice and guidance from start to finish.

“VenuIQ took the time to understand our needs for the event and worked closely with us to develop key milestones within our project. The team looked at how their technology could support us and offered ideas that we hadn’t even considered.

“Our industry experts and guest speakers had nothing but praise for the platform and event, and the majority of our delegates said they found the platform intuitive and easy to use.”

Oliver Rowe, co-founder of VenuIQ, said: “The event industry is continuing to feel the benefits of virtual events, especially when it comes to business conferences like the Canterbury Christ Church University GRID event.

“By taking an event virtual, organisers can reach a much wider audience and work around people’s commitments so they can still attend even if they have a busy schedule.

“We predict most events will be either virtual or have a virtual element going forward to cater for those who prefer not to travel, either due to the ongoing pandemic or for other reasons.

“With this in mind, to provide a great experience for delegates, speakers, event organisers need to implement event technology that is fully optimised to support a hybrid or completely virtual activation. They also need to ensure the partner they choose offer both self-serve and white glove end-to-end service as the latter is essential for those with more limited internal resources who need their technology provider to be an extended part of their team.”

Headquartered in the UK with additional teams in France, the USA and India, VenuIQ offers customers an easy-to-use platform that enables businesses to build and publish their own branded native apps and web portals from a browser for events, with features such as tracking, polls, Q&As and event registrations integrated to create an immersive virtual event experience.  

The company boasts a wealth of experience in implementing and developing new technology to allow businesses to offer a greater event experience and has helped hundreds of organisations ‘pivot’ their events since the outbreak of COVID-19.  

To discuss your next hybrid event, call the team
on (+44) 121 796 5800.

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This is just one of many companies we have helped pivot to a virtual event since the outbreak of COVID-19. Get in touch with the team on +44 0121 796 5800 to find out how we can help your virtual, hybrid, or in-person event.