PARAPLANNERS' ASSEMBLYCreating a distinctive event experience in a world of online meetings
The problem
For seven years, the Paraplanners Assembly had run its annual national gathering in tepees on farmland in rural Northamptonshire, gathering to learn about, fix and share the issues that mattered to them.
The event had become popular in the paraplanning calendar since we co-founded the original Assembly gathering with Richard Allum in 2013.
And its organising principle of enabling paraplanners to learn, fix and share was an important part of its appeal.
But then COVID-19 arrived and government restrictions meant we could no longer gather in tepees.
Our task was to retain the informality of the in-person Assembly while finding a way to encourage participants to learn, fix and share.
Our approach
The unorthodox format of the Assembly's national gathering was a signature of the movement.
We wanted to stay true to the roots. So we decided to invite paraplanners to suspend disbelief for a day and join us on a day trip to an imaginary location.
In 2020 they took the train to the seaside resort of Paraplanners' Paradise. In 2021, they boarded the shuttle to the Solar System's undiscovered ninth planet, Paraplanet.
We created a hybrid event where participants travelled to the destination using the Hopin event platform. They were greeted by presenters from a purpose-built studio set: the beach at Paraplanners' Paradise in 2020 and the surface of Paraplanet in 2021.
Using Hopin's technology, we created destinations for breakout groups throughout the day in which participants could gather, share and talk.
The result
In 2020, 97% of the paraplanners who had registered for the event joined on the day and remained for the whole six hours. Participants also gave the event an average of 8.7 out of 10 – a really strong score for a gathering that, in the wrong hands, could have felt like a six-hour Zoom call.
By investing time and attention in creating an immersive end-to-end event experience – for instance, by posting a booking confirmation and souvenir pack from Paradise Travel in 2020, and requiring check-in online for flights to Paraplanet – participants already felt part of an occasion the moment both events went live.
But most importantly, we were able to provide paraplanners with a unique and memorable destination in which they could gather to learn, fix and share, and feel together despite being apart.