Globsec Bratislava Forum 2021 – an event that touched on global issues. The Forum featured lectures on international politics, climate change, and security issues, as well as topics dealing with covid-19, hybrid threats, and digitization. The entire event was enriched by inspiring speakers such as Zuzana Čaputová, Pope Francis, Daniela Schwarzer, Maroš Ševčovič, and many others.
The organization of the Bratislava Forum event took place using a hybrid format. This means that some participants were physically present at the event while others observed the event from the comfort of their homes. We joined forces with our client and planned the Globsec event, which took place in Bratislava this year.
This is the second time we have organized the event for Globsec, and this year we received an award for it from the Czech Event Association, thus celebrating the further success of the Happenee team.
Starting position
We teamed up with Globsec last year with the idea that this event would be planned in a hybrid format. The primary challenge was to find a company that could help us bring the event into a virtual environment and, in doing so, expand its presence in the event market. The final choice went to the Happenee platform since Globsec demanded a regional company that shares its idea of innovation and strives to do projects in a modern way. In the final selection procedure, it was Happenee's experience, security of all the data, and price/performance ratio that were the most convincing. The number of interactive features that Happenee offers also played an important role in the final selection.
Goals
One of the main objectives was to increase the connection between the physical and virtual participants of the entire event. Another objective was to create a functional version of the mobile application that would provide the Bratislava Forum with a range of functions. The main reason for creating the application was publishing content, publishing the program, and providing information on the lectures of important speakers. Since the coronavirus pandemic was still an active issue here, the application needed to be enhanced for physical participants to include checks for “conference passports”. These passports helped the organizers check whether the participants were vaccinated or tested and whether registration was successful.
Challenges
Organizing an event of such proportions as the Bratislava Forum, especially in hybrid format, was a sizable challenge in itself. We started working on the event six weeks before the start. All aspects of the application had to be set up in advance, and a portal had to be designed through which online participants could monitor the entire course of the event. Moreover, we set ourselves the task of taking the event to a higher level, since this was our second year in a row participating in the Globsec event.
Design
The Happenee Bratislava Forum provided a platform that covered the complete organization for events of this size. As mentioned previously, our developers prepared an application specifically designed for the participants who were physically present at the event. They could view the program, the list of speakers, or the event’s partners at any time during the event. They also had a QR code, containing registration and vaccination data or covid-19 testing information, at their disposal for self-identification at the event.
Online and offline registration of participants took place from April to June. All e-mailing was carried out with a branded domain for online and offline participants.
A live portal developed in a 2D lobby signpost was used for online participants. One could watch 2 streams with the option of public or private chat.
For physical participants, an application was used (Android and iOS) with modules for location, event program, QR code, and QR check-in.
Online participants watched the event on the Happenee internet platform. To simplify the whole event, we integrated Zoom and Sli.do. These applications facilitated the overall organization of the event. In addition, each visitor had the opportunity to download documents related to panel discussions and closed-door sessions.
The client complemented the readiness of the Happenee team. Organizational problems are a common occurrence at such large events, but even minor problems or obstacles were solved by our organizational team as soon as they came up.
The result of cooperation with the Bratislava Forum
The organizers of the Bratislava Forum praised the final event and plan to continue the cooperation. They would like to maintain the hybrid format, being the most suitable design for the participants as well as financially advantageous for the client. The vision for the future is such that we would like to work together to increase the number of participants, especially in virtual form; the capacity of participants in physical events is limited, as is the actual physical space for the event. We would also like to increase the interactivity among visitors.
Direct Feedback
“The entire event went according to our expectations. We were surprised by the readiness of the Happenee team and their ability to respond immediately to any comments. We definitely plan to expand our cooperation in the future,” stated Adam Horehaj, Project Assistant for Globsec.
