NYU’s Virtual Career Conference – Talk Trends & Build Connections

About the Host

NYU ranks as one of the leading universities in the world and is recognized as a prominent innovator in higher education. While the university is based in New York City, it has an expansive reach, with campuses in Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and 11 study-away sites throughout the world. Therefore, NYU leads in global education across numerous fields and professions, with its widespread network of alumni all over the world.

Challenges

NYU wanted to create an environment where the entire NYU network could connect.  This network includes industry professionals and alumni working across different professions. However, if they went for a traditional physical event, they faced a major set of challenges.

1. Bring a large network of students and alumni to a single platform
2. Find an alternative to the the high costs of allocating resources, creating marketing collateral, and managing vendors
3. Make similar information available for multiple students at the same time
4. Eliminate travel cost and time constraints for attendees, guests, and key speakers
5. Make content and resources available to access at a later time
6. Reduce the carbon footprint and host an environmentally-friendly event

Therefore, it was evident that a virtual career fair was the way to go. It would mitigate these challenges and get a better overall response.

Strategy

vFairs constructed a strategy that complemented NYU’s mission to connect ambitious people. Its aim was to connect these people and futher prove itself as a top-qulaity institution. We decided to design it in a way to cater to global traffic and equip it with interactive tools to make sure everyone could network properly.

The Virtual Career Conference managed to attain the planned outcome using the following key features:

1. Agenda for the Virtual Career Event

NYU hosted a two-day online networking event that took place on the 17-18^th of April, 2018. Prior to the event, the organizers shared the entire agenda for the two-day event with the audience. This was available for anyone accessing the landing page through the entire duration of the event. Visitors were able to get a clear picture of what to expect with this agenda.

2. Global Accessibility

vFairs eliminated the geographical barriers of a physical event and provided NYU with the ability to let students, alumni and industry professionals, participate in the event regardless of location and device. This was essential in order to reach out to the entire NYU community.

3. Real-Time Chat In Virtual Events

The online networking event made interactions possible using the livechat tools. Students were able to access bios of professionals belonging to their industry and could book an appointment to have a 1:1 text/audio/video conversation with them. This benefited both the parties in the following ways:

• Students/Alumni were able to target relevant professionals and alumni to gain tips and strategies to enhance their career
• Attendees were able to interact with each other to share and discuss new career-related tips, guidance, and resources throughout the virtual career event
• Students were able to make substantial conversations and boost their career opportunities due to the material available regarding the person they were connecting with
• Employers received requests from precise, interested candidates, minimizing irrelevant traffic

4. Live Virtual Career Event Webinars

The online event featured live webinars to educate students and allow them to make the most out of each presentation. This prevented redundancy by providing scheduled sessions to multiple attendees at the stated time. In case an attendee missed an important session, they were able to save and review it later.

5. Environmentally-friendly Resources

All reading material was made available under the “Resources” tab. This consisted of downloadable content for students to add to their digital briefcase. This eleminated the carbon footprint and high cost of printing, making the event eco-friendly. Furthermore, the material was now easier to save and share at a later time.

Results

After its two-day run, the NYU Virtual Career Conference was quite successful. Over 130 students registered for the event, and expressed satisfaction at the unique experience. vFairs tracked visitor traffic and activity throughout the event and prepared a detailed report for the host to assess their overall performance at the event.

For a university network as vast as NYU’s, an online networking event proved to benefit all participants by making it easier to connect and interact with each other from across the globe. Not only did this allow students to diversify their pool of opportunities, but also enabled them to learn and understand latest trends, helping them pave a better future for themselves. Similarly, it helped industry professionals to spot global talent, without any time and logistical constraints.

About vFairs

At vFairs.com, we strive to build a top-class online event platform that will help event organizers make memorable connections with their target audience. We’re focused on taking out the hassle normally associated with physical events and leaving organizers and exhibitors to focus on what’s most important: engagement with the audience.

Get in touch with an expert to learn more about vFairs here.