Citi Innovation Day Virtual Conference
Case Study: CitiGroup Hosts its First Annual Innovation Day
Industry: Financial Services
Solution: Virtual Conference for Training & Education
Summary: Seeking a more effective and lower cost way to connect and educate geographically dispersed staff, CitiGroup worked with Communique to create a virtual conference environment that provides easy access for the Internal Audit staff to learn, engage and connect regarding innovative technology initiatives. Attendees also earned learning credits for attending sessions.
Challenges:
- The expense and travel time required to host a physical conference for 895 employees was not feasible
- Sending out links to over a dozen individual webinar presentation links/tracks
- Creating an engaging event experience with networking opportunities.
- Ability to reshare and promote keynote sessions after the live day
- Track Webinar views and content accessed by attendee for continuing education credits
“Communicating technology initiatives and changes became a huge challenge for our leadership team.” Dennis Salguero, VP, Internal Audit Analytics
Solution: Utilize Communique’s Virtual Conference Platform
1) Reach the global audience via a customized virtual conference environment
The CitiGroup virtual conference was able to attract 895 attendees during the live day – a number otherwise impossible to obtain in a physical setting without a tremendous budget. The virtual conference provided the Internal Audit team an easy-to-navigate online environment to allow the leadership and staff to come together in an online setting to learn about latest technology initiatives and industry trends.
2) Educate staff through knowledge sharing and engaging webinars & content
CitiGroup leadership used hosted 12 live webinars and breakout sessions by through leaders to educate staff on various new technology trends and initiatives. The engaging environment included live Q&A as well as links to content for consumption (documents, video’s, links to web-pages).
3) Add an element of fun through gamification
To add to the power of the webinars to attract and maintain attention of the visitors, gamification was used as an incentive to create an exciting event with prizes. The event included a Scavenger Hunt with clues hidden in the various rooms and booths inside the virtual environment. A Leaderboard displays real-time standings, which as a great way to keep the audience excited and active throughout the duration of the event.
“The Communique virtual platform was very easy-to-use. A huge cost benefit was that 800+ employees didn’t have to be flown in to the corporate office to get the same message. Cost savings was also a top factor from a time value position” – Dennis Salguero
Results: Effectively Communicating open enrollment options to on-the-go employees
Feedback from CitiGroup’s staff indicates an overwhelmingly positive response to the virtual conference. Targeted participant surveys generated through the virtual conference environment will help leadership ensure that virtual conference structure and content remain relevant and current going forward.
The event organizers and presenters were also happy to be able to deliver presentations and run the event from their desks.
Incorporation of incentives such as prizes and a scavenger hunt made the event all the more exciting to attend, meanwhile the networking lounge took audience engagement to the next level.
Citi Virtual Conference Stats