Engagement That Matches Physical Events: Numotion Goes Virtual With vFairs to Uphold Their Event Standards

The Background: Numotion

Numotion is the largest Complex Rehab Technology provider in the US. Examples include mobility equipment like customized wheelchairs and home modifications. Its products aim to improve the lives of people with disabilities and provide greater independence. With about 3000 employees spread across the US, Numotion has a vast employee network. 

Numotion launched its National Leadership Conference (NLC) in 2015. Once every year, the company leadership hosts the employees to inspire and engage them. It spans over three days and features seminars, team-building activities, and strategy discussions. In early 2020, the NLC also went online by broadcasting general sessions to accommodate employees present in other states.

We connected with Mark Miller, Director of Marketing Growth Programs & Events at Numotion, to discuss how they took NLC online.

The Problem: Compromising on The Employee Experience

Once COVID-19 hit in March of 2020, Numotion knew they had to host entirely virtual events. With most virtual events offering a flat, disconnected, and underwhelming attendee experience, the company was apprehensive of the future of their events. Even more so as the company prided itself on delivering employee-centric, captivating, and valuable events. 

Determined to find a solution that believed in the same, Numotion set out to find the right virtual events platform. They demoed some of these, even used some others, but weren’t impressed with the results.  

The Solution: A Life-like Virtual Event Platform

“We knew we wanted to create an event that would replicate what we did live”
– Mark Miller

Numotion were looking for a visually powerful platform that offered a sense of familiarity to attendees. And that’s where vFairs came in. 

The NLC usually took place at a large hotel property. It also had a main lobby, a massive expo, and general sessions in the auditoriums with breakout components. These features made their traditional events a hit, with employees coming together and sharing a warm conversation.

Numotion’s biggest concern was translating that experience into a virtual environment. And engaging their 3000 employees virtually. 

These needs matched perfectly with the highly immersive vFairs platform. 

“We definitely wanted an event that felt like we had entered into an event. Not just the feeling like ‘ohh, I was going through a webpage’. I wanted them to feel like once they come into an event, they are at the event. And that’s what we accomplished with the lobby.”
– Mark Miller

Why vFairs?

Some of the platforms that Numotion had tried out also featured avatars and virtual rooms like vFairs offered. But they severely lacked in other ways like ease of use and engagement. vFairs was the exception to the rule. With a holistic product, the NLC virtual conference was able to take event engagement through the roof. 

“Engagement [at the virtual event] was just as high as at a live event, which was not expected”
– Mark Miller

Here’s how Numotion launched a firecracker event with vFairs:

• The NLC virtual conference used the landing page to publish their event schedule and answer employee FAQs. With a three-day schedule and 13 different tracks, this helped employees prepare ahead of the event. 
• Once inside, they used a 3D environment with animated avatars to breathe life into the virtual conference.
• Numotion featured 13 different tracks and each of these was hand-tailored for their employees. The customized viewable schedule only showed the schedule for the track assigned to the employee, which made it easier to follow the event.
• The expo worked out exceptionally well. Numotion set up personalized booths and avatars based on their leadership team. 
• They also offered semi-live sessions and on-demand courses to engage their audience.
• The NLC virtual conference also had a photobooth that helped build excitement via social media.
• To add as many functionalities as they could, Numotion used various different plugins to upgrade their virtual event experience. This helped them put their best foot forward.
• One such plugin was SpatialChat that helped create a networking room within vFairs. Employees had their own avatars and they could see whoever was in the lobby and go up to talk to them. People spent a lot of time there after the sessions just to meet their friends and strike up conversations.
• The exceptional customer service enabled Numotion to utilize vFairs to the best of its abilities. Every time they needed something, the project manager was there. 

Tanvir was amazing!” – Mark Miller

Conclusion

With the COVID-19 curveball, Numotion had to quickly adapt to the new normal for events. But they hadn’t imagined that the output would exceed expectations. Mark appreciated how easy it was to go in and out of the event, the realistic feel of it, and the interactivity.

The NLC employees loved the excitement and engagement of the event. This reinforced Numotion’s values of investing in their employees and building a culture where their team felt looked after. This is a core value of the corporate giant.

Moving forward, Numotion is excited to discover other ways that they can utilize the platform to engage both their employees and customers.