Meet 356labs, a boutique agency that used Hopin to launch the world's largest virtual presentation skills conference

PLANNING A NEW KIND OF EVENT

The first presentation conference of its kind

356labs is a presentation agency that helps some of the biggest brands in the world write, design, and deliver effective presentations. After identifying a gap in the market for virtual events in their industry, the agency produced the world's first virtual presentation skills conference: Present to Succeed.

Pre-event preparation didn't come without its challenges. Just a few months before showtime, 356labs parted ways with their marketing agency and had to handle their own marketing campaigns. At the same time, they were diligently comparing different virtual events platforms to see which one would be the best fit for their goals.

They decided on Hopin due to its competitive pricing, customer experience, and extensive customizability.

"Once I saw what's possible in regards to customization [with Hopin], we said to ourselves: this is what we want to achieve. That's the level of customization. That's how premium we want our conference to look." – Boris Hristov, Founder, 356labs

Turnout for the conference exceeded expectations. Boris and his team more than tripled their sales goal – selling 3,200 tickets to people from 53 countries – and secured sponsorships from some of the biggest names in design, like Canva, Adobe, and Microsoft.

In addition, 35 speakers from around the world gave presentations, teaching conference attendees about storytelling, slide design, and data visualization.

Smiling event speaker wearing glasses holding tablet

"We managed to get [as sponsors] companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Canva - the biggest names in the world for a first-time event on presentation skills."

Boris Hristov

Founder, 356labs

IT’S SHOWTIME

‍Customization is king‍

As you'd expect from an agency world-renowned for its presentation and design skills, 356labs made full use of Hopin's customization features to deliver some impressive visual results for attendees and sponsors.

The 356labs team created bespoke backgrounds and designs for each sponsorship booth and the Expo area, without needing any contributions from the sponsors themselves. This gave sponsors as much time as possible to work on what mattered most – their presentations.

"The booths and how the booth area looked at the end was exactly how we imagined." – Boris Hristov, Founder, 356labs

And when it was time for key speakers like body language expert Mark Bowden and storytelling whiz Kendall Haven to take the main stage, 356labs could keep sessions interactive, thanks to Hopin's audience engagement features like polls and Q&As.

The agency didn’t have any pre-recorded sessions. Instead, the entire virtual event was live to give it an authentic feel.

No items found.

The Hopin features 356labs used for success

The 356labs team used the following Hopin features to make the conference a hit:

Customization: The agency disabled all the parts of the platform they didn’t need for the event, making it as simple as possible for attendees to navigate.
Chat: Throughout each speaker’s session, audience members were encouraged to participate in the chat, allowing for real-time engagement with the speaker.
Polls: Event speakers were able to run personalized polls during their sessions, with audience engagement rates clocking in at 70-80%.
Networking: 356labs used Hopin’s one-on-one and group-video networking features to connect attendees, speakers, and sponsors.
Expo: Each sponsor of Present to Succeed had their own customized virtual booth in the Expo area, where they could host content and connect with attendees.
Analytics: Boris and his team were able to see exactly how many attendees watched each session, visited each booth, and sent connection requests to sponsors.

53

Countries represented

‍

35

Speakers

‍

3,200

Tickets sold

‍

“One of the top comments in attendee feedback was the fact that everything was super easy to navigate.”

Boris Hristov

Founder, 356labs

HOW IT TURNED OUT

Success is in the name

After wrapping up the world's first virtual presentation skills conference, the team at 356labs was ecstatic to see the end result.

The NPS for attendees was 9.1, with post-event feedback showing appreciation for the event's great content, slick design, and simple navigation.

This high NPS was reflected on social media, as attendees shared their experience across multiple platforms. Present to Succeed achieved an incredible attendance rate of 96%.

Post-event follow-ups with sponsors also showed a positive reception. They reported high traffic, increased brand awareness, and plenty of connections within their booths. On average, each sponsorship booth saw 600+ visitors. And some sponsors like Canva that combined a virtual booth with a main stage session secured over 2,000 leads.

After the success of this year's Present to Succeed, 356labs will partner with Hopin again in 2022 for another virtual conference. They plan to go hybrid in 2023.

The conference also led to a new line of business for 356labs: Several sponsors and attendees reached out post-event to ask if 356labs could help them throw virtual and hybrid events on Hopin at the same high standard as Present to Succeed.

"Once we saw what this event could be, and once we experienced it, we just said to ourselves, 'Wait a minute. We can even go higher. We can do an even better experience. We can go and reach even more people.' So, in regards to the results for us and how it shaped us, it's a new business line." - Boris Hristov, Founder, 356labs

Interested in learning more about Present to Succeed? Check out the event website here: presenttosucceed.com

9.1

Average attendee NPS

1,000+

Average attendees per session

‍

600+

Average visitors per sponsor booth

96%

Overall attendance rate

"The average attendance rate for each sponsorship booth was 600 people. So you can imagine what ROI we're talking about. A few of our sponsors got over 2,000 leads and are already partnering with us again for next year's edition!"

Boris Hristov

Founder, 356labs