Meet Wolves Summit, a tech conference whose 8-day switch from physical to virtual resulted in a partnership with Hopin

From survive to thrive

On the day of Wolves Summit 11 itself, the biggest challenge was managing the event's multiple sessions, speakers, AV technicians, and sponsor booths. As one team member put it, "You essentially have to grow a new set of muscles!"

But the wolf pack persevered, and after 18 months running both their own conferences and third-party events, they are one of the region's most experienced virtual and hybrid event teams. Nowadays, they are comfortably running 3-4 big conferences at once seamlessly.

In addition, Wolves became an early member of Hopin's program that connects digital agencies that have been Hopin certified to help customers make the most out of their virtual events.

One particular highlight from Wolves' third-party work includes helping to organize the hybrid element of the Vienna Energy Forum, achieving an attendee NPS of 8.7.

"As the months progressed, we started hosting a number of events for Hopin clients, and that pipeline gradually snowballed to such an extent that two weeks ago I was in Vienna with the team and we hosted the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Vienna Energy Forum." – Michael Chaffe, CEO, Wolves Summit

Five lessons from 18 months of events

After over a year and a half of virtual and hybrid events, the team at Wolves Digital has noticed five critical shifts in the new digital landscape.

• Reporting + analytics are king: One of the hardest things to measure with physical conferences is the actual ROI they provide. In contrast, hybrid and virtual events offer far more accurate reporting on exactly how many leads sponsors and partners have generated.
• Sponsors are changing their behavior: While initially, sponsors were hesitant to commit to virtual and hybrid events, they've been forced to change their mindset. This is likely a permanent shift as virtual and hybrid events offer far more targeted sponsorship opportunities. Sponsors can pick the specific sessions and talk topics they want to be involved with, lowering both price and barrier to entry.
• A global reach is game-changing: In the last Wolves Summit analytics, the team could see that the second-highest geographical location for attendees was America. This would never have been possible without a virtual event platform and fundamentally increases the potential of an event like Wolves Summit.
• Sales cycles move faster: With traditional conferences, the drive for your next event's delegates starts almost as soon as the previous event finishes. With virtual and hybrid events, the sales cycles are much shorter. Delegates often decide on whether to attend an event only a week or two beforehand.
• Virtual + hybrid produce lasting content: Having every session recorded and produced to a high standard creates new opportunities. After only 18 months, the team at Wolves Summit has so much quality content that they are curating it into a library that'll be made available to partners. This could even act as a stand-alone revenue channel via paid subscription packages.