BCP Asia breaking down communication barriers with a global virtual event

Summary

As business continuity experts, BCP Asia’s annual Asia Risk and Resilience Conference (ARRC) was more in demand than ever when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In its 18th year, this event themed ‘Ensuring Resiliency & Surviving the Crisis in Asia’ needed to be impactful and answer the many questions arising during this time of disruption.

BCP Asia needed a reliable, innovative partner to move their physical conference to a virtual event, bringing together partners, clients and experts to exchange knowledge and expertise for resiliency planning during these uncertain times.

Partnering with us, BCP Asia successfully delivered an insightful ARRC that enabled the business community to connect on key topics such as crisis and business continuity management, break down communications barriers, exchange questions and know-how, and attract top global speakers.

Ensuring Asia’s leading resiliency conference could happen

During the COVID-19 pandemic and only one month prior to the event itself, BCP Asia had to make a decision: cancel their premier Asia Risk & Resilience Conference (ARRC) due to new restrictions or provide an online event.

Given the climate and the pertinence of the event, the answer was simple. The event had to go virtual and the BCP Asia team needed an innovative partner to work with given the tight timelines.

"We decided to take our event online because we wanted to continue to engage with our clients and industry experts during this time of massive disruption," said Chen Huilin, Manager Events & Training Team, BCP Asia. "It was important for us to give our audience the business continuity that we talk about on a daily basis and demonstrate what is possible when you are faced with challenges outside of your control."

The fact that the team only had one month to go virtual meant they needed a partner they could trust and who could deliver on their main criteria: audience interaction with speakers and experts, as well as an opportunity for partners to exhibit and sponsor the event.

"Our brand reputation as Asia’s leading business continuity expert is highly important to us," commented Henry Ee, Managing Director BCP Asia. "This could have been damaged by our inability to deliver this key event. In working with NTT, we found a reliable, like-minded partner who understood our challenges, found solutions and delivered."

Going the extra mile under time pressure

With tight timelines and big ambition, the BCP Asia and NTT teams transformed Asia’s leading physical resilience conference into a three day virtual event.

Our virtual event platform was chosen for its ability to replicate an in-person experience. From simple registration to attending presentations in the main theater, attendees could move between virtual spaces that mirrored those you would find at the physical event.

This format allowed participants to have the flexibility they required, as well as the ability to join the sessions and access the on-demand content they wanted, when they wanted. It also allowed for increased interaction with live Q&A sessions.

Partner sponsorships and the partner exhibition hall have previously been key elements of the ARRC physical event. With our platform, BCP Asia was able to offer the same sponsorship packages allowing exhibitors to remain involved. The online nature of the hall allowed the partners to be highly visible as well as interact with attendees through individual and group discussions.

The format also appealed to speakers who could present and take part in plenary and panel discussions without the need to travel.

Project management was vital in ensuring the event could be delivered in such tight timelines. This required transparent communications between the team and openminded conversations.

"We took a great deal of time designing and planning our event," said Chen. "Due to a regular cadence with our dedicated NTT Events Manager, we were able to build out a robust program, remove complexity and resolve issues quickly and ensure that our exhibitors and speakers were well oriented with the platform."

"NTT were willing to go the extra mile to help us find the right solutions to make our event work," added Ee.

Strong partnership to deliver results

No longer restricted by geographical boundaries, the virtual ARRC event allowed more people to come together, eliminating the issues of travel restrictions or budgetary restraints.

With approximately 200 attendees across a range of industries from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, US, India, UK and Australia and 15 global expert speakers, the event attracted a great deal of attention. BCP Asia was able to demonstrate their industry leadership, leading by example with a virtual conference that allowed the experts to share their knowledge and experience, discuss trends and explore best practices in the resiliency industry including business continuity management, enterprise risk management, emergency management, crisis management, disaster recovery and cybersecurity.

And with our team project managing the event end-toend including the building of the virtual platform, event design and planning, speaker training, and exhibition package creation, BCP Asia was able to focus on the best content to address these topics. Our inhouse expertise also ensured the smooth running of the three-day event with the technical team managing any issues that arose.

"What is exciting about our partnership with NTT is that it opens up a lot of doors that we may not have been able to access in the past," explained Chen. "Without our collaboration, we may not have been able to engage as many people as we were able to this year."

"We went with NTT because the technology and set up was right for us, we saw a good match in the people – our teams fitted well – and we were very impressed with a seminar that NTT had run for one of our partners. The best blend of people and technology for our needs," concluded Ee.