Executive Summary

The Philippine Federation of Chemistry Societies (PFCS) hosted the 35th Philippine Chemistry Congress virtually for the first time with Whova’s support. They successfully generated high rates of exhibitor ROI and live engagement through messaging and polling features on Whova. 

About the PFCS

The PFCS is a non profit organization based in the Philippines, dedicated to promoting chemistry discoveries and collaboration. The annual Philippine Chemistry Congress has historically been one of the largest gatherings of the Philippine chemistry community. 

Using Whova’s event management software, the congress fostered many conversations between attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. Besides successfully engaging attendees, they supported over 100 poster presentations and 75 speakers.

Challenges

• Managing the information of 110 posters

The PCC organizers needed an organized system to hold the pdfs, videos and speaker biographies of each poster presentation. They also needed an efficient way to contact presenters for any missing information. 

• Distributing speaker and attendee information

As a freshly virtual event, it was important they could quickly update attendees and speakers about any last minute changes.  

• Creating an engaging space for virtual exhibitor booths 

The organizers wanted to ensure good ROI for exhibitors by encouraging attendee interaction at booths. To do so, they needed to provide exhibitors with templates for immersive, interactive virtual booths. 

• Promoting networking among speakers and attendees 

The annual congress is an important opportunity for chemistry professionals to network and even find new job opportunities. They wanted to encourage reciprocal interactions between attendees and speakers. 

Solutions

• Consolidate presenter information into one space with the Artifact Center

The Artifact Center served as a comprehensive virtual homebase for collecting poster materials. Presenters were able to include photos, PDF’s, recorded videos, livestreams and contact information through the center. 

To save time, the PCC organizers used Whova’s pre made email templates to invite each presenter to upload their own information. Whova also included progress updates for each presenter on the list. If a presenter was missing items, the organizer could simply select their name and send one of Whova’s automated reminder emails.  

Organizers could see profile completion for each presenter.

Besides making contact easy, the Artifact Center compiled all the posters into one virtual display on the app, so attendees could easily find what they were looking for.  

On top of that, each poster page included options to like, comment or message the presenters directly. To boost engagement even more, poster presenters were asked to upload a 3-minute elevator pitch video in addition to the PDF of their poster. Poster exhibits with a 3-minute video garnered more views from the attendees. They utilized Whova’s virtual community board to encourage attendees to vote for their favorite presenters and then posted the winners. 

In addition, attendees were able to ask questions and message presenters even 6 months after the event ended. This way, if attendees missed a valuable presentation, they had time to go back and view it. 

• Quickly update attendees with the announcement feature 

Whova’s announcement feature made keeping track of virtual communication with over 2,300 attendees easy. Instead of emailing attendees, they were able to send announcements about event changes or reminders through Whova’s app. 

The PCC organizers used the feature to send reminders about event feedback forms, certificate collection and poster contest winners. If an attendee missed an important message, they could simply go back and find it under organizer announcements on Whova’s Community Board. 

Even better, because the organizers kept the app open long after the event was over, they could still reach attendees through the announcements. This allowed them to remind attendees to fill out post event feedback forms or receive e-certificates. 

Organizer announcements showed up on the app’s Community Board.

• Save time with automatic email blasts

The PCC organizers took advantage of Whova’s Speaker Center by using it to email all or individual speakers customized messages. Similar to the Artifact Center, the organizers were able to send speakers an email inviting them to upload their biographies and session information themselves. 

In addition to streamlining speaker information collection, Whova automatically constructs a polished website page that organizers can link or embed into their own websites. The all inclusive page lets attendees view speaker contact information and session details in one place. 

• Generate attendee interest with the Exhibitor Center

While they could not set up in person booths, exhibitors were still able to create engaging and personable virtual booths to spark leads and secure good ROI. Once attendees entered a virtual booth, they could chat and speak to exhibitors directly. 

The exhibitors utilized Whova’s system to upload videos, live streams, photos, company biographies, handouts and social media links. To increase leads, they were also able to include promotional offers, such as discount codes or raffles.

Additionally, the FPCS organizers used the tiering option to its full extent. Higher tiering sponsors were shown at the top of the exhibitor page and had featured banners on the profile page, agenda page and the homepage of the web portal. Lower tiered sponsors were shown further down the exhibitor page, but were able to generate leads nonetheless. 

Besides separating booths by tiers, the organizers also dedicated a section to PFCS member societies. The societies were able to gain new members and raise awareness through their booths.

• Guide Engagement with live polls and the Community Board

Live polls gave the event the engaging online atmosphere the organizers were looking for. By polling questions like streaming location, they were able to display results that let attendees get to know fellow members better. Speakers used the polls to facilitate attendee interaction during sessions and receive important feedback. 

In addition to engaging through Whova’s polling feature, attendees had a high rate of interaction on the Community Board. Over 400 attendees utilized the “icebreaker” section to briefly introduce themselves on the Community Board. 

An initial ice-breaker pops up on attendees web portal and mobile app. 

With the Meet-up section, attendees or organizers were able to post about virtual zoom happy hours, study buddies and job opportunities. Attendees also posted many discussion topics about unique findings and prominent problems in the chemistry industry.