Adapting to a Virtual World With 12 Years of Practice

In March 2020, many credit union event organizers began a frenzied rush to move their in-person conferences online, but not Eric Mayer. He’s in charge of coordinating CUNA Mutual Group’s Discovery, a conference that the Madison, Wis.-based organization took virtual 12 years ago to expand its reach. Discovery2021 will be held on Aug. 12 and feature session topics driven by feedback from past attendees, including the economy; financial health; diversity, equity and inclusion; and innovation. Mayer recently shared his lessons learned through hosting the annual virtual event before and during the pandemic, as well as thoughts on what credit union events might look like in the near future, with CU Times.

CU Times: How did Discovery evolve as a virtual event in pre-COVID times?

Mayer: For the most part it stayed pretty consistent. We really relied on having timely topics that were relevant to credit unions and would draw them in. We’ve used about three different platforms over the years. Every couple of years, we’ll go through the process of evaluating the platform we’re using, and see what else is out there and if the platform we’re using is still meeting our needs. When we went through the RFP process about three years ago, there were a handful of platform vendors that were all very, very similar. But it has evolved so much since March of last year hit. It seems like just about every digital solution has some type of virtual event platform baked into it now, and companies were started up just to do that. This fall, we’ll take a look again after this year’s event, and see how our current platform lines up with all the different, new technologies that are out there.

CU Times: What was it like hosting Discovery2020, with everyone suddenly operating in a mostly virtual world?

Mayer: One thing we wanted to make sure attendees understood was that there is still a really strong value in virtual events, and Discovery specifically. We were really mindful of the virtual meeting burnout that was going on, and also our event wasn’t until August, so people had already spent March through August being forced into learning that technology.

One of our biggest selling points for Discovery is that it has always been a no-cost conference. When registration opened in June, we really weren’t sure what would happen, but we saw a huge spike in registration and attendance in 2020. With everything happening last year for credit unions, they were kind of forced to say, A) We can’t travel to events anyway, and B) We can’t spend the money on events, training or learning for employees right now. So with being virtual and no-cost, it was the perfect storm for us.

CU Times: What big lessons have you learned about virtual event technology?

Mayer: The first is to find a vendor that can provide exactly what you’re looking for during your event. For us, it’s important to have a platform that’s easy to use for attendees, and one that helps them understand how to get around and navigate the event. Because in a virtual setting, there are a lot of distractions and if someone can’t figure out where to go, they’re just going to be gone.

The second thing is that attendee engagement tools and functionality are really key, whether it’s having a video player that allows attendees who are in a session to chat or break out into different groups, or a gamification element that keeps attendees engaged throughout the day. Since it’s virtual, it’s super easy to look at your email, and then go down the email path and be gone for the rest of the day. So being able to keep them engaged and keep them coming back is key.

CU Times: What’s worked best when it comes to engaging attendees virtually?

Mayer: One thing that’s worked really well for us is encouraging chat dialogue during sessions. People like to say, “Hey, this point that the speaker made was awesome – here’s what our credit union did that was similar and what we saw,” and then there will be a lot of dialogue around that. The Q&A with speakers is always really popular. It’s typically an audio Q&A, so after the session, people can engage directly with the speakers.

CU Times: In 2020, did any newbie organizers of virtual credit union events reach out to CUNA Mutual, given that it has run Discovery virtually for years, for advice?

Mayer: We had quite a few organizations, both inside and outside of credit union land, that reached out to walk through the platform that we use and get a better understanding of how we evolved. The big thing that I shared was to tailor what you’re trying to do for your audience so they’re getting exactly what you want them to get out of it. Also, keep sessions short. Especially in a virtual setting, it’s difficult to hold someone’s attention for more than 20 to 30 minutes within a specific session.

CU Times: What were some of the newbies’ biggest concerns?

Mayer: At that point, they were scrambling and trying to switch an in-person event to a virtual event within a month or two. For us, we start planning for our August event in the late February/March timeframe. So that was the biggest concern for a lot of people – they were asking, how do I pull this together with such short notice? How do I find a vendor?

CU Times: Did you identify any silver linings in 2020’s forced shift to mostly virtual events across the industry?

Mayer: One benefit of hosting Discovery in August versus earlier in the year was that people had become more comfortable with virtual events. We received a lot of feedback during and after last year’s event that once people were there, they were happy with how engaging it was and didn’t feel like the sessions were lacking in quality. They were still getting what they would have gotten out of an in-person event, they just weren’t willing to try it before.

CU Times: What do you miss most about in-person events?

Mayer: The networking – it’s just not something you can replicate well in a virtual setting. And within the credit union industry, it’s such a pivotal part of events for those folks. They love to talk and share ideas with each other. So we try as hard as we can to help them have that in a virtual setting, but there’s something to be said about physically being with someone, going out to dinner, or going to a bar and having a couple drinks. And when you have 10 to 15 people in a virtual room, there will always be people talking over each other, but if you’re in person you can have little side conversations.

CU Times: It’s that spontaneous nature of running into someone in a hallway, for example, that can’t be replicated.

Mayer: That’s one of the things we’ve heard from being a sponsor for virtual events as well as within Discovery, is that it’s more awkward to send someone a video chat or message through the virtual platform out of the blue, versus walking by someone in the hallway and having a 15 to 20 minute conversation, or saying, “Hey, let’s go grab drinks later.”

CU Times: What are your thoughts on what credit union events will look like going forward?

Mayer: A lot of event organizers are really trying to push to be back in person, and rightfully so – the networking component is key for so many events, and so many people are just itching to get back into that environment. And I do think by summer or fall you’ll start to see some of that, but then, are credit unions going to be able to allow people to travel? Are they going to be willing to travel? So you’ll start seeing hybrid events where the in-person element is there but may be scaled down to also allow sessions to be streamed virtually, so that people who either don’t want to travel or aren’t able to can still attend the event. And some people may prefer the virtual setting because they can jump in and out of work as they need to.