Executive Summary

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) held their 8th annual conference in Denver, Colorado with the help of Whova’s all-in-one event management platform. Utilizing the app, attendees were easily able to navigate the event and coordinate in-person logistics. 

With the overwhelming success of their event, they plan to use Whova for their future events.

About WiCyS

WiCyS is a leading organization for women in cybersecurity. Their flagship conference brings together industry professionals, students, researchers, and educators in order to empower and advance women in the field. 

Their 2021 event was able to ensure quality data privacy and security with Whova’s online platform. The organizers employed many of the app’s features to engage attendees and generate high rates of sponsor leads.

Challenges

• Guaranteeing event and attendee data security 

As a cybersecurity event, the organizers needed a trustworthy online platform to secure attendee information and event content.

• Providing opportunities for attendee networking

The WiCyS organizers wanted to ensure attendees were able to engage and meet fellow attendees.

• Helping attendees navigate the event 

Navigating a large event with multiple sessions every hour can be a challenge. The organizers needed to help attendees easily schedule their time and quickly find sessions or sponsor booths.

• Giving attendees a way to network and communicate event logistics

The WiCyS conference is an important opportunity for women in cybersecurity to network within their field. The organizers wanted to encourage communication and enhance networking opportunities. They also wanted to urge attendees to make plans and coordinate any necessary logistics before the event. 

• Ensuring good ROI for sponsors

The WiCyS organizers wanted to assist sponsors in attracting leads and attendee engagement.

Solutions

• Keeping event and attendee details secure on Whova’s platform

The WiCyS organizers were able to trust in Whova’s industry-leading security standards to protect their event data. 

To ensure only invited attendees could log into the event, they had to use the same email address they registered with. Session videos could only be accessed through the Whova platform, verifying that non-attendees couldn’t view the event content. 

The WiCyS organizers also set a customized invitation code on Whova, which attendees could use if they needed to sign in with a different address. This way, organizers could ensure only registered attendees signed into the event. 

Additionally, only admins manually added to the dashboard were able to control event details. Once an admin’s details were added, they could only access the organizer platform with the email address they used to sign up, guaranteeing no one besides the organizers could make changes to the event. 

Besides that, any attendee information lists uploaded to Whova stayed within the secure event platform. The same held true for sponsor data lists. 

• Capture audience attention with live polling and Q&A sessions

Speakers at the WiCys event were able to take advantage of the many templates available in Whova’s online question bank to create customized polls. If speakers decided to use live polls during sessions, attendees were encouraged to interact and discuss the results with peers.

Speakers were also able to use Whova’s convenient Q&A feature to increase audience engagement. On the web and mobile app, attendees could participate by asking questions or voting for their favorites. Moderators moved the most liked questions to the highest priority on the list where speakers could answer them accordingly. 

• Empower attendees to create personalized agendas

Attendees could create personal agendas by adding sessions to their personal agendas. Once sessions were added, they could also set reminders so they wouldn’t miss an important session. 100% of attendees at the WiCyS event created personal agendas on the Whova app! The feature made navigating the abundance of sessions much easier and faster. 

Attendees could add and remove sessions from their personal agendas

• Easy event navigation with virtual floor maps and other resources

The organizers added multiple maps with Whova’s Floor Map feature so attendees could easily find their way in the convention center. The organizers pinned the locations of over 100 sponsor booths and conference rooms on the maps so attendees could quickly search for them.   

Along with the floor map, the organizers also uploaded FAQ pages, an InfoDigest complete with all organizer emails, and COVID-19 forms on Whova’s resource widgets. 

• Handle event logistics through discussions on the Community Board 

The WiCyS organizers used the Community Board, a feature on Whova’s app that lets attendees chat, post questions for the organizers and coordinate event logistics. 

For instance, attendees used a discussion topic dedicated to ride-sharing to make coordination between attendees easy. Attendees could simply post or comment in the discussion to find or share a ride.

To encourage more attendees to use the ride-sharing option before the event started, Whova sent out automatic emails. Attendees did not even have to sign up for the app, they could just click the link provided to enter the discussion.

Other discussion topics were used to network and get to know fellow attendees by sharing LinkedIn profiles or cybersecurity training opportunities. Several industry professionals also utilized the discussion topics to post about job openings at their companies.

• Utilize the Community Board to chat and schedule meet-ups

Attendees at the WiCyS conference made great use of the Meetup feature on the Community Board. Attendees could schedule a social Meetup to grab breakfast or talk about their industry before, during or after the event. Once a Meetup was created, it was displayed on the Community Board for other attendees to view and RVSP.

• Generate more leads for sponsors with virtual booths 

Whova’s online sponsor booths attracted high engagement from attendees. In addition to their physical booths, sponsors could set up online booths featuring company information, videos and photos. Attendees could visit the physical booths or gather sponsor information virtually on the app. 

To increase engagement, sponsors could also feature raffles, giveaways and contests within the booths. 

Gathering leads was especially simple: sponsors could easily scan the QR codes on attendee name badges in order to gather contact information, or attendees could be recorded as leads when they interacted with the digital booth by liking it or participating in promotions. 

Attendees access and interact with exhibitors on the web or mobile app