National Clean Energy Week is a bipartisan event hosted by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) to recognize the value of clean energy to America. The in-person Policy Makers Symposium is typically a one-day beltway event, drawing policy makers who live in or can easily travel to Washington, D.C. With the pandemic still in full swing, NCEW recognized it had the opportunity to use its transition to a virtual event as a gateway to increased participation from industry innovators, investors, and policymakers around the country. SB Expos & Events (SB) designed an expanded virtual experience that increased the number of participating attendees and sponsors from across the country.
CRES sought assistance from SB to design and execute an event that would allow attendees to consume content live and on-demand, and bring ROI for sponsors.
THE CHALLENGE
As COVID-19 intensified in March of 2020, CRES assessed how the global pandemic would affect National Clean Energy Week. Once it became clear that an in-person event was not feasible, the team needed to develop a plan to transition the event online and meet the needs of its attendees and sponsors. CRES also wanted to expand its program from one day to five. CRES sought assistance from SB to help design and execute an event that would allow attendees to consume content live and on-demand, and bring ROI for sponsors.
Together, they overcame a series of challenges including:
- A shortened planning timeline (two months instead of the typical eight months)
- Attracting the attention of lawmakers and those who influence them while they were focused on the pandemic and its economic fallout
- Designing sponsorships that work on the chosen technology platform
- Educating NCEW sponsors (government relations professionals, not professional trade show or marketing managers) who were unfamiliar with virtual conventions and platforms
- Working around Congress’ weeks-long recess in late August and early September, just prior to the event
Speaker participation increased by 100 people and eight new sponsors joined the event.
OUR STRATEGY
To pull the expanded event together SB acted quickly and efficiently to create a virtual prospectus and implement creative ideas that would attract high-level policymakers from across the country and show ROI for sponsoring organizations. The experience SB staff has with virtual conferences helped CRES in a number of areas of show management to ultimately deliver a seamless event that was far bigger than previous Policy Makers Symposiums.
Pre-Event Logistics & Technology Support
SB assisted in the process of evaluating virtual platforms and made recommendations for CRES to consider based on their needs and audience. Once CRES selected the platform, the team created the design and flow of the virtual platform site. They worked with the CRES team to design graphics, and build the homepage, schedule, and networking pages. SB rewrote the existing in-person prospectus to reflect the offerings of the virtual technology platform.
Maximizing Sponsors’ ROI
To achieve the sponsorship sales goal for NCEW, SB Expos & Events created a package of opportunities that would increase sponsor opportunities and visibility on the virtual platform. They used the benefit of the show increasing to five days in length with an additional 90 days of content on-demand to draw sponsors. The team also created additional opportunities for sponsors to provide content with concurrent sponsored sessions. SB spent considerable effort educating sponsors on the features and benefits of the virtual platform. Many of them do not work in marketing or events as their day job and thus needed a tutorial in virtual events. SB promoted that a major benefit of the expansion was increased reach of their audience across the country. It also conducted many individual demonstrations. Staff took hours to walk each potential sponsor through the virtual platform so that they could see and imagine the education and how the sponsorships would render on the platform.
OUR RESULTS
Attendance at the 2020 National Clean Energy Week Policy Makers Symposium increased by 60% over 2019. The percentage of Washington, D.C. participants shrank from 85% to 40% as the event attracted a large population of new attendees from around the country. The virtual platform and expanded program meant that attendees could hear from many more points of view. Speaker participation increased by 100 people and eight new sponsors joined the event.
The success of the event resulted in the decision to keep virtual aspects of the meeting the following year.
SB_CaseStudy_NCEW_2025.pdf (1197 downloads )
………………………………………………………………………………………
SB delivers events that create non-dues revenue for our clients. We take care of everything—tradeshow sales, convention management, registration, lead retrieval, and tech support—so you can focus on your mission.
We ???? Associations | SB Expos & Events