Conventional wisdom says you don’t need a meeting app when your meeting is small (100-200 people) and the schedule is relatively simple (no breakouts, everyone in the same room). But does conventional wisdom really hold true? Teri Carden, CEO & Founder of 100Reviews, decided to find out by using BeSpeake as the meeting app for the signature Non Dues-A-Palooza event, which was held in Nashville in September 2022.
Goals
Non Dues-A-Palooza (NDaP) is a conference devoted to, as the same suggests, to helping associations generate non-dues revenue. Held for the first time in 2021 in Nashville, this event brings together association executives, consultants, and industry partners. What makes NDaP different from your standard association conference is that there’s a tradeshow, there are no colored badges indicating your role (association or vendor), and all of the sessions are case studies about successful non-dues revenue initiatives.
The 2021 meeting was a big success. Yet, in true Teri Carden fashion, she wanted to create something different in 2022. She wants NDaP to be different each year to keep the energy alive and entice attendees to keep coming back year after year.
Solution
So in 2022, NDaP was held in a non-traditional location: City Winery in Nashville. The program was revamped and Teri brought in a speaker coach to work with each of the speakers. Teri also invited her sponsors to submit short reel videos that could be played during the breaks. Finally, the closing session featured an original song that was essentially a madlibs exercise that summarized the sessions of the day.
Another change was the new Hitchin’ Post, powered by BeSpeake, which served as the meeting app. The Hitchin’ Post featured the schedule, an attendee search, and a message center. It also featured several welcome videos by Teri, welcoming attendees, and giving them guidance on how to make the most of NDaP.
Finally, Teri created something called Question of the Moment, which was also powered by BeSpeake in the Hitchin’ Post. Sponsors got to submit questions they wanted to ask the attendees, e.g., Are you thinking of starting a podcast in 2023? Throughout the day, Teri, as emcee of the meeting, would say, “the question of the moment is…” which would encourage attendees to go to the Hitchin’ Post and respond to the question.
By all metrics, the Hitchin’ Post was a smashing success.
of registered attendees logged into the Hitchin’ Post
of users logged into the Hitchin’ Post pre-event
total number of messages sent
Results
The 2022 Non Dues-A-Palooza was wild success. Evaluations were off the charts, attendance was strong, sponsors were happy, and use of the Hitchin’ Post was high.
“It was so fun to see BeSpeake used in such a creative way by the Non Dues-A-Palooza team. As an attendee, I loved being able to easily see who was at the conference, including several of my clients! I especially appreciated the additional knowledge-sharing that happened in the Question of the Moment. I will be at NDaP next year, for sure!”
– Joanna Pineda, CEO, Matrix Group International
