Virtual events – a new reality

CCS Live was our first virtual event featuring our Chief Executive Simon Tse addressing over 600+ staff using our new platform provided by Glasgows, who won the further competition through our Communication Services Framework (RM3796).

Originally we planned a face-to-face all staff event but due to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), we transformed it into a virtual event. 86% of colleagues who joined the event gave hugely positive feedback which is a credit to the amazing work the agencies have been delivering through our events offering on Lot 2.

The Requirement

CCS had planned to do a face-to-face event before lockdown and had already appointed Glasgows in December 2019 as the agency of choice to carry out our event. Due to COVID-19 our event was changed to a virtual event as a result of restrictions on face-to-face meetings and gatherings. 

Glasgows was tasked with bringing colleagues together across the UK, from multiple locations, into one place, at one time, to deliver an impactful and engaging virtual session. We were concerned about how well our first virtual all staff event would be perceived, but it proved to be a success. 

CCS required a platform that would allow for maximum audience interaction, that was simple to navigate and allowed for live sessions, pre-recorded sessions, live subtitles and multiple speakers to host their sessions with ease. 

During the lockdown, Simon Tse hosted several podcasts, blogs and videos to encourage staff throughout this challenging period of working from home. 

The purpose of the all staff event, however, was to reflect on successes and look at business plans and targets. This session needed to allow for instantaneous responses from the attendees.

The Solution

The Communication Services (RM3796) Framework agreement enabled us to find the right agency through a simple procurement process.

The customer guidance document provided great advice on how to get your partner on board. It detailed every step of the procurement process from issuing a brief,  to reviewing proposals from agencies through to appointing an agency and post-award recommendations. The templates offered further support and guided us on our journey. We used the brief template to write our brief and letter of appointment to notify Glasgows of their award as our winning agency. 

We originally contracted Glasgows as the CCS face-to-face events agency, however, due to the impact of COVID on our plans, they were able to quickly pivot our planned event and ensure it went ahead virtually.

Agencies on the events lot have demonstrated how they can adapt and have engaged heavily with CCS on best practice for virtual events and how they can help customers get the most out of them. CCS has worked alongside agencies to look at potential shortened further competition timescales for virtual events versus more complex face-to-face events.

The updated timescales can be found on the customer guidance on our webpage.

The Result

CCS Live was the first virtual event we had delivered as a team, therefore we heavily relied on the expertise Glasgows had built over their 15 years of delivering virtual events. The support we received was fantastic and as experts in their area, they adequately challenged our brief to ensure we were making the right decisions for the event we were delivering. They supported heavily in the creation of our event platform, through all technical aspects and worked closely with our creative agency to deliver the branding. 

Virtual events are new to us all, so measuring our success and taking learnings from our experience was critical. Glasgows platform allowed us to gauge delegate registration and engagement, two key measures which are consistently measured at face-to-face events and we wanted to uphold.

We exceeded our registration target by 5%, with over 75% colleagues attending.

Engagement was measured by using simple smiley faces and overall 86% of colleagues hit the smile icon to record their enjoyment. Several anecdotal comments were also received complimenting the platform and how the event was being run.

Paula Woolam, Events Manager, CCS said, “We were delighted that we had chosen to work with Glasgows. Their event experience, technical expertise and customer service shone through and made our first journey through the world of virtual events exciting.” 

For further information

View our webpage for guidance and more information on our Communication Services Framework (RM3796).

Get in touch with us via email or call us at 0345 410 2222.