London Event Company Helps Arla Foods UK Communicate With All Farmers Through Live Stream Conferences

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London Event Company Helps Arla Foods UK Communicate With All Farmers Through Live Stream Conferences

London Event Company Helps Arla Foods UK Communicate With All Farmers Through Live Stream Conferences
London based corporate event company Purple Patch Group have pivoted their services and quickly developed a new offering which brings live events into the virtual space, ensuring companies can still get their key communications out during the pandemic.

The spread of COVID-19 has hit the event planning industry hard. With social distancing and quarantine measures in place for roughly 4 million of the world’s population, live events and conferences are being cancelled or postponed rapidly. To keep business up and running, many companies have resorted to virtual and remote working tools. But using a videoconferencing software for a quick team meeting is one thing – hosting a large, virtual event is another.

When they saw one corporate event after another being cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, London-based event management company Purple Patch Group decided they could fill this gap by offering to manage virtual events. The group quickly pivoted their service offerings from traditional event planning and management to hosting live stream events and conferences. Purple Patch have already pulled off one virtual event successfully, for the large UK farm co-operative Arla.

Arla Foods UK Needed a Virtual Event Solution

Arla Foods UK comprises about 2,400 members scattered across Britain. To connect with all these dairy farmers and keep them up to date, Arla hosts live events throughout the year. They also frequently host “town hall” style meetings where members can pose questions to leadership.

For such a widespread organisation, frequent and accurate dialogue amongst members is key. With the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, however, Arla’s usual channels of communication were no longer available. The co-operative didn’t want to leave its members without vital updates – especially during a crisis. So they turned to Purple Patch, looking for a virtual event solution.

Not only did Arla need a secure way to communicate the latest updates with their members across the UK, but they also wanted the ability for interaction from the farmers who tuned into the live stream conference. And Arla wanted to accomplish this virtual event within the week.

Purple Patch Met the Challenge

Purple Patch Group have over 10 years in the event management business, so they’re no strangers to pulling together an event on short notice. And the group has used live stream technology at past events, to broadcast conferences for remote attendees.

But hosting an entire event virtually, allowing for dialogue between presenters and delegates completely online, presented the event company with a new set of challenges.

Firstly, Arla wanted a secure conference, only open to members. So Purple Patch quickly set up a login page that required each member’s unique farmer number and a password. Next, the event company needed the right application to host the event with. Popular videoconferencing services like Skype, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom weren’t good options. They lack the level of security needed and couldn’t have handled the capacity required for Arla’s interactive webcast.

Purple Patch used an application called Slido, which meets all the requirements: secure login; large hosting capacity; ability to live stream and record simultaneously; and facilitating interactive dialogue. In addition, the application doesn’t require a software download – delegates could log on and view the webcast from a web browser over a decent WiFi or 4G Internet connection.

Once the tech was taken care of, the group then had to find a venue to shoot the webcast. They selected a hotel conference room in Leeds, since the Arla corporate offices were closed due to social distancing. The set-up was modest, requiring only a crew of four Purple Patch staff in a 5m x 5m room.

The Results of the Live Stream and the Future of Virtual Events

There were four sessions over the course of one week, so Arla members could choose which one suited their schedule best. Additionally, a recorded version of the webcast was added to the Arla intranet, for those who couldn’t attend the virtual event as it was live streamed.

Overall, the Arla representatives were pleased with their virtual event, saying they had “Lots of great questions and engagement from Arla members.” They added, “We have had just under 750 members join us for one of the four sessions, which has exceeded our expectations.”

As COVID-19 continues to spread and businesses worry over the future of live events, it’s possible virtual conferences will be a growing trend.

If live stream events do become the norm, traditional event companies will have to adapt. By pivoting their services, the Purple Patch Group have done what many businesses have had to do in the last several weeks– cater specifically to what their prospective clients need.

Media Contact
Company Name: Purple Patch Group
Contact Person: Paul Campbell
Email: Send Email
Phone: (0)20 3859 8666
Address:14 Grays Inn Rd
City: London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: http://purplepatchgroup.co.uk/

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