Digital transformation has now become an essential part of any company’s journey to success. If you are passionate about digital transformation and all that it involves, you might decide that you want to host a digital transformation conference. This could make the transformation appeal to your employees more and allow you to talk them through the process. Alternatively, you might stage an event so that you can share your experiences and insight with other professionals like you. Whatever your goals are, here is a guide to hosting a successful event based on digital transformation and technology in 2023.
Decide on Your Audience
With 89% of businesses either looking to digitally transform or have done so already, the scope of your conference could be extremely broad. Before you take any further steps, it is vital that you consider who you are hosting this conference for. If you have in-depth knowledge and first-hand experience with digital transformation and have enough expertise to share this with others, you might consider broadening your target audience and inviting professionals from across your industry to attend your event.
However, if you are just getting started in the world of digital transformation and want to solidify tech use within your company, you might choose to invite only your employees. Once you host an event for your team, you could generate engagement, passion, and dedication to the upheaval that digital transformation causes. Deciding on an audience will give you the time to tailor your event and ensure that it achieves its objectives.
Display New Technology
New technology lays the groundwork for digital transformation, and this means that it should be an integral element of your conference. There should be ample opportunities throughout your conference to display new technologies, some of which might not have been seen before or may not have been widely introduced to workplaces yet. Some of the developing technology that is vital to digital transformation includes artificial intelligence, the Cloud, and the Internet of Things. Whereas the Internet of Things can help with the communication and collection of data, the Cloud can help businesses to store documents securely and sustain greater connectivity. In fact, 85% of businesses are looking to embed the Cloud within their business models in the coming years.
Not only can this new technology wow your guests and make them more excited about the potential of digital transformation, but showing them this technology can improve the digital transformations of their businesses. It can also help them to be more confident when their company adopts this new tech. This means that your conference is a great way to get everyone on the same page.
Share Your Knowledge
An astonishing 97% of companies have said that the pandemic has increased the speed of their digital adoption, meaning there is now a thirst for technical knowledge. To make sure that your conference is a genuine success and that none of your guests believe that they have wasted their time in coming, you should use the opportunity to share your knowledge about tech transformation with your guests, even if this is just from your own experience. When sharing your knowledge, you will be helping other businesspeople to make their digital transformation work. Additionally, you will be able to consolidate the knowledge that you already have and use the discussion that it generates to expand and test your ideas. As you share your best tips and advice, you can make certain that every department of your business is productive and on the same page when you return to work.
Be Clear and Specific
When you are hosting a digital transformation conference, it also pays to be clear and specific, especially if you are discussing topics that may be new to your attendees. You should talk about the basic elements of digital transformation first, even if you believe that they are obvious, and build up your audience’s knowledge from there. Before the end of the day, you will finally be able to start your audience on more complex subjects. You should also open up the room for questions often so that your listeners can ask you anything they are unsure about and so that they walk away with a detailed understanding of the digital transformation process, rather than leaving even more confused than before.
Offer Multiple Event Options
When you are hosting a major conference, it is important that you do not force your ticket holders to attend a single event. Not only may it mean that this event is busy and crowded and that your listeners will not get as much out of the experience, but it can also mean that your visitors grow bored. However, offering multiple event options at the same time means that your guests can pick and choose what to attend depending on their interests and the gaps in their knowledge, as well as the topics that will be relevant to their field of work. This can make people feel as if your conference was a productive use of their time, and your guests will be able to get what they want out of the event.
A word of warning about this: be careful when scheduling clashes. You should try to organize the timetable so that events at the same time appeal to different audiences. The last thing you want is to be making people choose between the only two events that are relevant to them because you scheduled them at the same time. It may help for very popular events to run them twice or even record the sessions so people have the opportunity to catch it no matter what.
Use It as a Training Opportunity
70% of digital transformations do not work, often due to reluctance on the part of the employees who will be engaging with this transformation every day. Instead of disregarding the fears of your team and hoping that they will come around to digital transformation eventually, you should instead use your conference as a training opportunity. You can do this by hosting workshops within which your staff will have time to focus on a certain subject that they are struggling with and hone their skills. This can be especially useful for those struggling to find the time and resources necessary to train themselves on technology in the workplace. As you use your conference as a training opportunity, you will be confirming that your employees come away with expertise that they can apply to their day-to-day work. This is all without having to spend a lot of money on external training courses or qualifications for your team members. This can also work if you extend the event to other businesses.
Hire Event Bartenders
You can spend all the time in the world focused on the core elements of your event, but you must also think of the best ways you can keep your attendees engaged in your event. You want to make it as fun as possible (while still being professional), or else you may find that people switch off after a few hours or feel as if their presence is not appreciated. As well as keeping events to around the half-hour mark and hosting interactive activities, you should also consider hiring event bartenders.
Event bartenders might sound as if they would be more appropriate for a party, but they can ensure that you can keep your team onside as the day winds into the evening. Not only will they be able to keep everyone hydrated, but they will also give your employees a chance to relax and let off steam once the building blocks of the day have been completed. Event bartenders can certify that your event goes smoothly and that everyone is kept happy, no matter what they like to drink. To make your conference feel more professional, you should look at the services that are offered by companies such as Event Bartenders. This is a great chance to network with all event attendees on a more casual basis.
Utilize Focus Groups
Sometimes, talks and conferences with huge audiences can lack engagement, and your listeners may feel they cannot make their voices heard throughout the event. Therefore, you should consider utilizing focus groups to make your conference more interactive and keep your guests on their toes. Break-out groups can allow your invitees to split up into small amounts of people who can discuss and debate certain topics, as well as ask questions and learn individually. By utilizing focus groups, you will be ensuring that your team is taken care of and that your employees do not end up simply sitting around and listening to experts talking at them all day.
Hire Guest Speakers
Even if you know a lot about the potential of digital transformation and the plan that you have for your business, this might not be enough to pique the interest of your guests for an entire day. Not only this but if you do not work in the tech field, there is likely to be specific information that you are missing that your team could benefit from. Rather than running the entire event yourself, you should consider hiring a guest speaker.
There are many experienced professionals who offer guest speaking engagements and who will be able to share their specialist insight with the attendees of your event. These guest speakers can push your event budget up. However, they are usually worth it, as your team might come away feeling inspired and ready to commit to the digital transformation that is occurring. Guest speakers might be able to tell you and your employees about the latest digital transformation trends and methods, such as big data and the utilization of 5G, and a well-known name can also give your employees the push they need to attend the event in question.
Tie It Into Your Company
As much as you are passionate about digital transformation, you need to continue to directly tie the information back to your company and the transformation that your company is going through. You should also emphasize the benefits that digital transformation will have on your business. For instance, 40% of business owners believe that digital transformation will increase the operational efficiency of their company. If you do not loop this information back to your start-up, your employees might struggle to implement what they have learned in concrete ways once they are back at work. You can do this by exploring your digital transformation plan in a public forum and using data and statistics from your own venture.
Focus on Networking
One of the main reasons why people decide to attend conferences is so that they can glean networking opportunities. You can encourage networking by creating events where people are encouraged to mingle or hold discussions in groups. You can also cultivate natural networking groups by staging breaks, using large rooms where people can gather, and hosting a celebratory event at the end of the day which has a more casual atmosphere. This will mean that your attendees have the opportunity to speak to each other outside of the constraints of lectures and talks and that they can meet others within their industry who they would not get the chance to meet otherwise.
Find a Tech-Capable Venue
Although you might be tempted to choose an extravagant and trendy venue for your conference, your first priority should be looking for a tech-capable setting that can support all of the gadgets you intend to have on show. For instance, you should look for a rental that has a strong Wi-Fi connection in all the conference rooms and that has enough plug and charging points for you to be able to keep your devices switched on throughout the day. You might even look around for a contemporary venue that utilizes a lot of technology. This could be virtual reality to show holograms and QR codes so you can organize invitations and track attendees. This will ensure that technology is an integral element of every part of your conference and confirm that the venue in question supports your stance on technology throughout the day. Luckily, there are many tech-capable venues across the US and beyond that you will be able to hire for your event.
Use Tech to Advertise Your Event
Unless you are only planning on inviting your employees to your conference, you should consider using technology to promote your event and to get as many people to attend as possible. If advertised well, you should be able to get a large audience, as the amount of money that companies are paying out on digital transformation will reach 3.4 trillion by 2026. You might consider creating ads for your conference on social media or using QR codes on posters that can be scanned on mobile devices. You might also use virtual reality that can simulate your event and give potential guests a flavor of what your event can offer them. After using technology in this manner, you will increase the amount of trust that your visitors have in both you and the event that you are selling to them.
Create and Deliver Outcomes
Without specific outcomes and goals, you might find it hard to know whether your event has been successful. To host a conference that will go down in history, you should take the time to create and develop different outcomes. You might even discuss these outcomes with your team during the event and get their contributions as to what they want to happen within your company now. After the event, you should put into action what you have learned and cultivated during the few hours at your venue. The impact and effects of your conference will still be felt within your company for years to come. For instance, you might decide to focus more on the use of automation and robotics, create a digital transformation team that can head up the process, or streamline your technical developments.
Partner With Tech Brands
For those that want to make their digital transformation conference bigger and better, partnering with technology brands allows you to cultivate a mutually beneficial arrangement. When you partner with a tech brand, you might agree to promote their products in terms of the transformation process and how they might be used within your business while also getting sponsorship and marketing from them for your event. This can boost your PR and reputation, get your attendees to trust you, and get the best technology to use within your digital campaign. This partnership can guarantee that your evolution to digital platforms goes smoothly and that you and your team are not held back by inadequate technology or software. When you are thinking of partnering with certain tech companies, you should not be shy to contact brands through their website or through any contacts that you have there and to discuss the opportunity with them.
To Conclude
Whether you want to instill excitement for digital transformation within your employees or want to share your passion for digital transformation with other tech-savvy people, planning a digital transformation conference is often the best option. It can allow you to share knowledge, speak to others interested in technology, and discuss the top digital transformation methods. When you are staging an event on digital transformation, follow the tips in this guide, and you will be able to relax in the knowledge that your conference has been a raging success.