Meet N6A, a PR and marketing agency that used Hopin for a virtual product launch in the cannabis sector

PLANNING A NEW KIND OF EVENT

Flower power

N6A is an international content, digital marketing, events, and PR agency specializing in creative demand generation. When it comes to delivering impactful virtual experiences for clients, they champion Hopin due to its ease of use and unique features.

"For us, everything comes down to our clients' needs. We always want to make sure we find the right platform for them. And we come back time and time again to Hopin because of the functionality and features that no other platform has." –Michael Mehlhorn, Director of Creative Services, N6A

So when a client in the cannabis sector approached N6A with plans for a virtual product launch, they knew they needed Hopin to make it a reality. No other all-in-one event management platform could help them pull off one of the most complicated events the agency had organized to date.

The client in question, cannabis recruiting agency FlowerHire and their partner, HRTech company engin, wanted to organize a comprehensive virtual event titled Careers in Cannabis, to promote the launch of their new recruitment platform, FlowerHire X.

Along with the usual informative and buzz-building presentations you'd expect from a product launch, Careers in Cannabis wanted to connect employers with job seekers interested in the cannabis sector during the event. Careers in Cannabis also planned to use the launch as a platform to educate job seekers on the cannabis sector as a whole.

To achieve these goals, N6A used Hopin's Sessions feature to set up five asynchronous tracks of talks alongside a central stage of flagship speakers.

Hopin's ease of use made it all possible, and N6A trained speakers before the event to run their own breakout sessions. The five different tracks of content could then run with very little oversight from N6A, turning a potential logistical nightmare into an easily manageable virtual experience.

N6A combined these content tracks with Hopin's flexible ticket functionality to create ticket types for each track. They drove event registrations by promoting each ticket type in hyper-targeted ads.

For example, they could target professionals on people teams with ads focused on the event's Talent and Human Resources track. At the same time, marketers received ads for the Retail, Marketing, and Revenue track. Combined with a listing on Hopin's event directory, this approach resulted in an impressive 2,149 event registrations.

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"At first, we were a little nervous about how big our client wanted this event to be, however the more we dug into the platform, the more comfortable we felt. We got really organized in how we broke out sessions and session types, and a day before the event, I thought, 'Oh, we've got this covered. Everything is done. We're ready to rock!'"

Michael Mehlhorn

Director of Creative Services, N6A

IT’S SHOWTIME

A low-effort, high-impact launch

By empowering speakers to run their own breakout sessions, N6A had more time to focus on producing best-in-class main stage content the day of the event. N6A's Director of Creative Services Michael Mehlhorn, took full advantage of this to create an exciting agenda of speakers.

Using Hopin’s RTMP functionality, N6A seamlessly connected its video production suite to the main stage. This allowed the video team to produce footage from multiple cameras and U.S. states in real time. The team then streamed video directly onto the stage to give attendees a seamless viewing experience.

"RTMP gave us the ability to connect and dial right into the stage component of Hopin. It worked from day one. It worked in our test. It worked in the event. We were so happy that we didn't have any sort of connection issues." –Michael Mehlhorn, Director of Creative Services, N6A

To support this main stage content, N6A made clever use of Hopin's Expo area. They set up booths for sponsors to connect with attendees, as well as special product-launch booths for key features of FlowerHire X. After seeing a product announcement on the main stage, attendees could head to the relevant booth in the Expo area to enjoy a live demo and ask follow-up questions.

To support their client’s goals, N6A made Hopin’s one-on-one and video networking features available to attendees throughout the entire event. They also made the networking opportunities relevant by pairing ticket types. For example, attendees with job-seeker tickets were paired with employers, while Talent and Human Resources ticket holders were paired with other people teams professionals.

N6A tied the conference together with two hosts who are prominent figures in the cannabis industry. The pair of influencers worked as emcees throughout the event, highlighting specific talks and pushing attendees to the right areas at the right times.

“We got so much feedback like, 'That was one of the easiest user experiences I've ever had. As soon as I registered, I got in, and everything was laid out perfectly.'" – Michael Mehlhorn, Director of Creative Services, N6A

Finally, N6A hired two DJs to play a full set for attendees once all the talks and presentations wrapped up.

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The features N6A used for a successful product launch

Here are the Hopin features N6A used:

RTMP: Using Hopin’s RTMP functionality, N6A produced best-in-class video content for the main stage.
Sessions: N6A democratized the product launch by empowering its speakers to host their own breakout sessions, panel discussions, and presentations. This had the added benefit of limiting resources needed for managing the event.
Ticketing: Hopin's flexible ticketing options allowed N6A to segment its attendees into five categories. This was highly beneficial for planning content, driving registrations through targeted ads, and gathering post-event analytics.
Networking: Throughout the event, attendees could network with one another, speakers, and employers using Hopin's one-on-one and group video networking features.
Expo: Every event sponsor got their own customizable Expo booth as part of their sponsorship package. Some sponsors used their booths to connect with job seekers, while others hosted content or pushed promotional codes for their products.
Recording: Every talk and presentation was automatically recorded and available to view on Hopin once the event had finished. This saved N6A a considerable amount of time and allowed them to start a post-event communication strategy immediately following the event.
Reporting: Detailed reporting on attendees, session engagement, and sponsor booth engagement provided N6A and Careers in Cannabis with valuable event insights.

27

Breakout sessions

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45

Speakers

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2,149

Event registrations

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"On the day of the event… I didn't have to worry about whether people were having a great user experience because I knew everything was connected and working the way it was intended to."

Michael Mehlhorn

Director of Creative Services, N6A

HOW IT TURNED OUT

Success breeds confidence

Feedback from the N6A team highlighted how easy it was to manage everything on the day of the event. Team members were especially impressed by the all-in-one nature of Hopin compared to having multiple third-party vendors.

"In the past, if a client said they wanted to do a three-hour conference with 27 sessions, we would understandably be a little hesitant. However, nowadays, I feel like I'm the one pitching clients on doing cool virtual events. I'm often suggesting, 'Why don't you get a several thought leaders together, and host a virtual panel or a networking conference?'" –Michael Mehlhorn, Director of Creative Services, N6A

Attendees recorded an incredible NPS of 8.8. Michael and the team also received plenty of direct feedback in the event's chat. One attendee said, "You guys just blew all online conferences off the map!" while another said "I've learned more during this three-hour session than I have at any of the other conferences I've attended. Bravo!"

Hopin's reporting tools gave further insight into the event's impact. Segmenting ticket types into five categories gave N6A a clear picture of who attended the launch and how they engaged with the event. For example, they knew 833 job seekers attended. They could see what areas of the event that audience spent the most time in, what sponsorship booths they visited, and what talks they watched.

By sharing this data with Careers in Cannabis and the event sponsors, N6A easily proved the return on investment. For instance, attendees' average session duration was an outstanding two hours. (This was the main success metric Careers in Cannabis and N6A agreed on before the event.)

With all the event's content automatically recorded on Hopin, post-event communication was simple. N6A promoted recordings of breakout sessions and main stage presentations via email and social media after the event, further boosting the event's reach.

This all resulted in a very satisfied client. The Careers in Cannabis team was over the moon with the event's reception and they saw a spike in registrations for FlowerHire X in the two weeks following the event. They were so happy with Hopin they’re now in regular contact with N6A about how they can incorporate new platform features into future virtual events.

The success of the event also had an agency-wide impact on N6A. In the short term, the event's success led to new business for N6A organizing similar virtual events for clients. And in the long term, Michael and the rest of the N6A team are more confident when pitching clients on the possibilities of virtual.