2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

VIRTUAL JOB FAIR - INNOVATION WITHIN THE ONLINE EVENTS SECTOR

BrandMINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Product/ServiceVIRTUAL JOB FAIR
EntrantEVENTAGRATE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryDigital Installations
Idea Creation EVENTAGRATE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Production EVENTAGRATE Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

2020 placed the event industry in an unprecedented situation. Things that were thought to be an expensive add-on to physical events started to be reconsidered as a way to adapt to the new ways events need to happen with the seize of all gatherings, events, and travels. And if you ask any event professional on the biggest trend this year, it will be unanimous the new immediate hero of the event industry – the Virtual Event. A new way for brands to give a full experience to their guests and viewers - a new way to interact with them.

Background

The Ministry of information and Communication Technology required a custom solution that will allow to run a live, interactive, job fair online. And from all solutions that they had researched they didn't land on one that had all the answers. As basic requirements it needed to have a stage for an opening ceremony, an exhibition area, and a meeting system to allow for submitted applicants to be directly approached and shortlisted for the job openings. 130 exhibitors, each posting multiple job openings, needed to be able to reach out and interview candidates. Overall, there was also a requirement for full analytics from the trainings, stage viewers, time spent in pre-function activation area and exhibition area. All needed to be seamlessly integrated into one place.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Creatively, a platform needed to be made that includes multiple touch points and virtual installations. From timeline screens, virtual job hosts, stages and session rooms, and communication pods, the event brand and participating stakeholders were represented in various levels within the virtual space. A pre-function lobby was created to let visitors roam around virtually, and guide them to the various experiences. And the exhibition area was made complete with virtual 3D exhibition stands that allowed visitors to go from a stand to stand, similar as to in a real exhibition, learn more about the companies, speak to representatives etc. Mimicking a real world event made it possible for the virtual one to be easier understood and utilized.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The target audience were potential, qualified, candidates for the open job positions within the information and communication sector of Saudi Arabia. Ideal candidates were arabic speaking, based in KSA, although we ventured globally and opened the event for everyone. The event was hosted in English for the main pre-function area and Arabic for all the rest, which included: the pre-function with all brand experience touch points, workshops, invitations, login and post-event feedback, etc.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The idea was to create an extraordinary experience for the users, different than just a flat page. Initially we knew that the number of traffic will be enormous so we needed to make sure that we make the event automatically scalable. We brought the AWS scaling to the event industry so that any size can be dealt with. The timeline was also extremely compressed, with less than two months to go. We needed to place the right functionality and design on a simple web page, that would work on all platforms and internet connections. But we also opted to have that working together with a 360 virtual tour that could be brought in VR - it was really up to the audience which approach for roaming around they would take. A game changing approach to the new industry's challenge.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Virtual Job Fair generated 1.4 million visitors in the Middle East for the duration of the event and total 2,9 million visitors for the event duration + 10 days extra (for extra CV submission). On top of that there were 130 virtual exhibitors that, post event rated the whole experience positively and confirmed that they would definitely do this again. The stage opening ceremony was watched by 450,000 viewers Live. And over 3,000 workshop impressions from participants were generated. Visitors took on conversations on the platform as well as on twitter, expanding the reach of the event. Overall, all goals set by the client were over-reached and exhibitors could select qualified candidates for their open positions.

Credits

Name Company Role
Ruslan Karimov Eventagrate Software and Technology Creative approach, feasibility and strategy study
Mais el Ras Eventagrate Software and Technology Project Manager and Account Manager
Miguel Galvao Eventagrate Software and Technology Technical Director
Links
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