Anyone who wants to know anything in the field of marketing, communication, social media and tech soon ends up on Frankwatching.com. On the versatile platform, dozens of articles, infographics and videos are posted daily by hundreds of different experts. Since 2013, it has gone a step further and also shares its knowledge at live events. We speak to Alieke Ingerman, product manager Events, about their biggest event at Jaarbeurs.
Offline knowledge sharing
An online platform that chooses to share knowledge offline; it seems an illogical choice at first, but according to Ingerman, it has to do with the experience. 'You can share an awful lot of knowledge online, but in terms of experience you can achieve just that little bit more with a live event. There are great applications like chatting and video calling, but talking to each other face to face is different.'
'A live event will always be the way to really connect.'
Media Plaza conference centre: suitable for a large plenary session
Last February, Jaarbeurs Media Plaza convention centre filled up for Frankwatching's biggest event: SocialToday. The event is all about social media and everything that comes with it. Frankwatching deliberately chose Media Plaza. Ingerman: "We usually use the Media Plaza or Supernova. The space depends on the type of event. Supernova, for instance, lends itself well to an event with several partners and stands. Media Plaza, in turn, has a large plenary hall (the Polar) where we can inform many visitors at the same time. This event had about 650 visitors, which is why we chose Media Plaza.'
With several tracks & topics and interesting keynotes, SocialToday visitors were able to get inspired by speakers. The keynotes took place in the Polar conference room and were followed by all visitors at the same time. In addition, visitors on the day could choose which expert session they wanted to follow. Ingerman: "We have a theme, but the programme is very diverse. For example, we had:
- Expert sessions on business videos
- Influencer marketing
- Photographing with your smartphone
- The influence of psychology on social media.
Our goal is for a visitor to be able to start working on their own the next day.
Between keynotes and sessions, people could get inspired in the foyer. We had decorated it in a festival style with all kinds of fun things to do with social media. For example, there was a photobooth where you could make a gif and share it online. And that was done en masse.'
That Frankwatching's events are a resounding success is no secret: the event sold out in no time. Partly thanks to the positive response, the organisation decided to expand its event portfolio from four to eight events a year. Ingerman: 'Over the years, we have kept developing ourselves with live events. By now, demand is so high and we have a good sense of what is needed. So we are going to organise multiple events where we want to address specific topics.'
'Our visitors come from everywhere; from Texel, but also from Belgium. Utrecht then has an ideal location.
Ingerman decided to organise all these events at Jaarbeurs as well. 'Jaarbeurs is a fantastic location. Our visitors come from everywhere; from Texel, but also from Belgium. Utrecht has an ideal location. Jaarbeurs has excellent parking facilities and you are close to the railway station. Jaarbeurs 's venues are also so large that we can offer good solutions in view of the current one-and-a-half-meter society. We can also adapt and expand our programme, because we have years of experience with virtual events, such as webinars. We also really like the contact with Jaarbeurs. You get your own contact person who knows everything about everything. That creates a bond and makes the cooperation very nice. So we like to hold our new events in Jaarbeurs as well.'
Jaarbeurs has several conference centres available, each with its own style. Whether you go for the luxurious feel of the Beatrix Theatre, the modern feel of Supernova or Media Plaza or the classic Juliana: Jaarbeurs will arrange it for you.
