Background

Elona Washington, founder of the indie publishing company The Author’s Journey, has been attending conferences since her first marketing job in 1999. After experiencing an event powered by Whova, she saw firsthand how the platform enhances the attendee experience—allowing like-minded professionals to connect virtually before and during the event. After landing her first client through Whova, she has helped authors publish and market bestselling books, earning multiple awards in just two years. Now, she aims to expand into traditional publishing and build a full-service book marketing agency.

Landing Client Through Whova

In the first couple months after launching The Author’s Journey, Elona Washington attended an event using Whova. Wanting to be intentional about her networking, she tailored her profile to advertise her newly launched company and gain exposure. Before the event started, she actively engaged in the community board and private messaging to find people to network with. 

On the community board, she noticed that someone was attending the event for the first time. As this was also Elona’s, she sent her a private message suggesting a meetup over lunch before it started.

Over lunch, they discussed business ventures. As Elona dug deep into the origin of her business, she discovered she was in the process of writing a book. Elona ended up publishing it, making her Elona’s first client. 

She built on this momentum and ended up booking more clients through Whova’s networking tools. Being intentional about Whova’s networking tools allowed Elona to build her client base from the ground up.

“Landing my client at the event through Whova gave me the confidence to step out of my comfort zone and engage with other people. So thanks to the connections I made, I secured a few more clients during that event and they were through Whova as well.” 

Elona used Whova’s community board to connect with a first-time attendee, leading to her first client and helping her build a solid client base.

Overcoming Introversion

As an introvert, actively participating in events can be intimidating with the amount of people in any given space. However, Elona found the Whova gamified leaderboard very helpful to encourage her to engage with the event and network. With the leaderboard, Elona was encouraged to engage more actively by joining discussions, initiating social gatherings, and interacting with event exhibitors and speakers. 

Participating helped her book more clients by prompting her to engage more actively in networking. She placed second overall on the Whova leaderboard, which pushed Elona beyond her comfort zone to build momentum and exposure for her newly founded company. 

“I participated in the Leaderboard challenge to be the most active. And as an introvert, that was really difficult for me, but I stuck through it and I managed to get second place and it helped to build the momentum for my launch.”

Whova’s leaderboard helped Elona step out of her comfort zone, connect with others, and build momentum for her business.

Advice for Attendees Using Whova

Elona’s advice for attendees using Whova is to be intentional and go in with a plan. If you want to network, go in and advertise yourself and spend lots of time intentionally interacting with people. If you want to maximize information learned, thoroughly plan your agenda in the app ahead of time. Whatever it is you want to do at the event, have a plan in place.  

“I’ve seen first hand how technology enhances the event experience. Tools like Whova help you streamline networking and make it easier to identify like minded attendees and even before the event begins. The features like the community groups, the personalized profiles and leaderboards encourage meaningful interactions.”

Elevate Your Event with Whova

Elona’s experience showcases how Whova’s networking and engagement tools empower attendees to build meaningful connections, maximize their experience, and grow their businesses. By providing features like the community board, private messaging, and gamified engagement, Whova helps event organizers create an interactive, engaging, and valuable environment for their attendees.

When attendees are actively connecting, participating, and finding value in your event, it leads to higher satisfaction, stronger engagement, and greater event success. With Whova, you can streamline networking, foster meaningful interactions, and ensure your event stands out.

Ready to enhance your next event? Try Whova today!