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The American Society of Pain and Neuroscience (ASPN) is a rapidly growing association in the pain management field. The society was established to lead to an age of scientific enlightenment via mutual collaboration with physician members, scientists, governmental agencies, payers, centers of higher education, and other medical societies. This story highlights how ASPN achieved an unexpected boost of momentum amidst a global pandemic.
The Challenge.
The two year old pain and neuroscience society was well on its way to becoming the leading national society of pain and neuroscience at the beginning of 2020. Confronted with a global pandemic leading up to the biggest moment of the year, co-founders of the society Dawood Sayed, MD and Timothy Deer, MD faced the fear that they may lose the momentum they had worked so hard to earn. They sought to engage members and potential members, providing an interactive and nurturing learning environment to present sound science and the latest research from the top minds in the field. What they did not expect as a result of moving their annual meeting to virtual was that they would reach even greater momentum.
The Solution.
To promote engagement and organizational growth, we applied a hybrid approach and produced a live broadcast hosted within a virtual event platform.
Engaging elements included screen graphics, commercial breaks, panel conversations, Q&A, and browser/mobile app designed with this end-user in mind. To aid ASPN in ensuring a valuable educational experience for physicians, fellows, and residents Redstory produced a live broadcast where 130+ event participants actually contributed to the content, and therefore, the outcome of the experience rather than just attending. The society’s unique panel model serves as a differentiating factor among other associations and societies in their industry. Ensuring they could still operate in this same format was a non-negotiable. Redstory applied the technology necessary to make this possible in the hybrid live broadcast format. Panelists and moderators from all across the country were able to video conference seamlessly to our broadcast studio in Nashville, while the hosts were filmed live in studio. This way, we had control of the final audio and video output sent to viewers with only seconds of delay.
With efficiency and precision, our in-studio team video called in as many as 8 speakers about every 20 minutes, for nearly 11 hours straight. To overcome any potentially overwhelming effects of faces changing out so frequently, we utilized soft, branded overlays. This consistency allows the brain to stay engaged and focus on the main goal: the content presented. The in-studio hosts also provided viewers a sense of familiarity, predictability, and connection. Incorporating commercial breaks into the agenda, helped provide variety within content and increased the value back to sponsors exponentially.
The Results.
The engagement and community this experience nurtured remains the most rewarding result. From day one, participants began reaching out to let ASPN know how connected they felt and how much they appreciated the society for bringing everyone together online. The conference achieved 2.5 times the desired reach, actually boosting their momentum even further. Through effective video marketing, email marketing, and event registration, we saw a total of 1,255 registrants. The society’s social media engagement increased by 176% through promotional and conference branded content before, during, and after the event proving that an engaging event influences overall brand engagement.
For more information on employing a hybrid or virtual event strategy, visit virtual.redstory.co to download a free Virtual Event Guide.
Email us: kellye@redstory.co
Call us: 615.270.8670