Virtual Events

Master Deck

UNITECH�AlumniAssociation

UNITECH International

Objective: organize 6 Virtual Events for 2022-2023 with more than 50 individual participants per event

• 2 for promoting the programme, conveying the right message
• 4 in partnership with best-in-class speakers, about UAA values, experiences and good practices
• Technical reusable structure, with zoom accounts, templates, and mailing list
• Think about a broader business model from which the UAA could even generate revenues
• Enlarge the community and engagement – mailing list of 600 emails
• (Give different UNITECH members and UAA initiatives a stage to present their role within the network.)

Executive Summary

UNITECH International

Questions

1. Team members and roles (promotion of the event to LOC)
2. Timeline, especially for finding the speakers
• Reserves – we jump in, in case they cannot
• Deadlines – one month in advance
• Dry runs?
3. Interactions with the Media Team for posting - ask Zydrune
4. Always on Zoom – Uni licenses, ask Zydrune
5. Drafting on PowerPoint instead of Canva & show the drafts to the team
6. Unique form for signing the event and joining the mailing list, with QR in the flyer – no need of signing – how details are provided? QR?
7. GDPR for videos for YouTube – do we register? Sign in form just for that?
8. Access to GDrive, for Nguyen with Annalena
9. Slack channel for our communications
10. Topics for the 4 meetings in 2023

​

3

UNITECH International

4

Roles

To report to:

VE Team:

UNITECH International

5

28 Sep

12 Sep

Briefing 2 with VE Team

April

May

24 November

Briefing 1

Timeline

January

March before Symposium

Experience sharing sessions

#1

(w/Alice)

CV #1 - Sustainability

CV #3 – Mental health

Experience sharing sessions

#2

(w/Alice)

CV #2 – board member experience/ who to motivate your company more sustainable (as the one for GenB/OYW)

CV #4 – Techniques to maintain a good team

Post VE yearly Communications & GA

Begin of September

15 December

UNITECH International

6 Oct – Call with Alice

12 Oct – Brainstorm for Speakers w/ Amaury + definition of roles + template feedback

14 Oct – Deadline for speakers

19 Oct – definition of final speakers

21 Oct – Realization of all the materials, mailing lists and overall contacts

26 Oct – double check of all the materials

----

23 Nov – Dry Run

24 Nov – 1^st Event

15 Dec – 2^nd Event

6

Timeline

UNITECH International

7

Topics & Timeline

1. Experience sharing sessions

Experienced alumni will share their sucess and learnings with current students in an interactive pitch and Q&A style

2. Get to know...

Corporate Partners will present their company, pitching about their day to day, innovative projects as well as alumni's experiences within the company including break out

sessions to allow deeper conversations on these topics

3. Initiative Sessions

Introduction and promotion of a UAA initiative in a workshop style

4. Fireside chats

A highly inspirational (non UNITECH) speaker will share their experience with the network in a coaching style.

5. Inspiration sessions

These sessions are aimed at promoting UNITECH at the academic partners to students considering to join. These take place in October and November every year. These events

​

We host regular events with the purpose of...

Showcasing the sucesses of alumni/advocates & Extraordinary Personalities

Alumni/Advocates/Extraordinary personalities will share their experience and learnings throughout their careers and engage in discussions with current students and alumni

Encourage the realisation of the network

Regular events open to all that serve as a touchpoint for the network will foster UNITECH into becoming a well-connected network and establish a digital presence for the UAA

Value creation

• Engage Alumni and Unitech ecosystem, strengthen the Unitech spirit
• UAA values: Inspire, empower, network
• Sustainability and change makers

Topics (list here)

• Worked together with Unitech - Promotion events
• Entrepreneurship
• Get to know… Corporate Partners
• SDGs

UNITECH International

8

Virtual Event structure

Schedule - 6 events, usually on Wednesday/Thursday, between 17:00-18:30 CET

Platform - Zoom�Basic Outline of an Event

This is the basic structure:

1. Walk in ~ 1 min
2. Welcome ~ 3 min - Repeat the purpose of Virtual Events, what are we going to do today, introduce speaker, hand over
3. Pitching ~ 15-35 min - Depending on the event style, a speaker for a fireside chat will speak approximately 25 minutes, while a company might have 3x10 minute pitches. If there are multiple pitches, one shouldn't exceed 10 minutes.
4. Q&A/Breakout ~ 30-45 min - Again, depending on the event you might want to open breakouts directly or have an open Q&A in the main session. �It is highly important to have a clear structure (Where do people ask questions? Who is the question directed at? What break out rooms are there? Can people switch rooms? When is it time to stop the Q&A?). We highly recommend to always moderate the Q&A sessions if they are in the main session.
5. Closing ~5 min - Thank the speakers and the attendees, wrap up, promotion of next events, tell people to reach out with ideas and questions.

Good to know

• We record all our events for internal purposes and to give the recordings to individuals who would like to view the session - currently, we are not publishing the recordings. We have everyone give us their GDPR consent when signing up so that we are able to record without having legal problems (see "Data collection")
• Tips we've learnt throughout our events:
• Start on time
• Always have one person leading the session or parts of the session. This will avoid awkward silences and confusion.
• Be more energetic than you would ever be in real life. On Zoom it is harder to detect other peoples' emotions, therefore if you are extremely energetic it will come across positive, but not too much.

Key to a successful event is fostering engagement. Due to the virtual setting special attention has to be directed towards the needs and desires of the participants. We have had multiple feedback sessions during our first year and for most attendees, the Q&A and break out sessions were the highlight of every event. Therefore, we adapted the outlines of our events and have now implemented a structure that captures a lot of value for all participants.

​

Structure is key! Let people know of the agenda beforehand and always tell them when which session will end. Thereby, we can avoid drop out and confusion. We aim to keep the main session at a 1 hour max. since some people can't stay longer than that. Nevertheless, there are always informal break outs for half an hour after the event, either with the speakers or without. Often, we will find a middle ground with the companies at the "Get to know..." events, since they would like to have 90 minutes: We will have 1 hour with the pitches and an open Q&A and then go into breakouts for the last half an hour.

UNITECH International

9

Get started

There is a document in the drive called "Timeline". Have a look at that to get an overview of which events will be hosted in the months to come. Then think about the different kinds of events that we have (see "Quick Overview") and chose one. Ideally, we have a good mix of all 4 events (excluding the inspiration sessions, since these are only in Oct and Nov). Then brainstorm with your team about ideas and reach out to whoever you need to support with the event or speak at the event.

​

Often we do not have to reach out to new speakers, since we are approached regularly. There it is key to set the date as early as possible and distribute the events in a way that you don't have multiple events of the same style after each other.

​

Correspondance with the Speakers

If you do reach out, here are some helpful tips:

​

1. Reach out as early as possible (most of the time via email). Even if it's 5 months ahead and you just set a date and manage expectations, that is great! Especially if you want senior management or super busy people to speak, you will have to set a date multiple months ahead of time. If your first email correspondence is more than 6 weeks in advance to the event, set a date and tell them you will be in touch 4-6 weeks in advance to discuss the details. Do however explain to them what is expected, what they can gain and how you will work together. Send them a calendar blocker as soon as possible

​

2. Organizing the event: When you reach out 4-6 weeks in advance discuss the details of the event. It is best to send them one email containing as much as you can. You will need to discuss the following: Agenda, content, material they need to prepare, check the flyer before starting promotion, have them sign the GDPR form, time and date (always double check - this can also be a calendar blocker) and anything else that seems necessary. As mentioned above, we record our sessions. Be sure to discuss this with the speaker beforehand. It is seldomly a problem, but they do appreciate to know before the event.

​

3. Be sure that your communication is always clear and they can reach out to you if they need to.

​

​

Other than that, always be friendly/courteous/polite and thank them for their commitment!

Ground rules

UNITECH International

10

Promotion

We plan the promotion together with the communications team (or at least we let them know of our activities) since they have the broader overview of all communications from and within the UAA.

Where

LinkedIn - UAA Council's LinkedIn (publer.io tool eventually but no possibility to tag) – 2 posts

Whatsapp - regional channels - you have to be added first, Abdul is currently in all these chats – 2 messages

Instagram – 2 posts

Slack?

What

1. ""Save the date"" Email - to everyone from the mailing list - about 3 weeks ahead of the event. �It is sent in form of a calendar blocker, including a short description of the event, the flyer and the zoom link with the password.
2. ""Save the date"" post - publicly if it's an event open to all, only in the LinkedIn UAA group if it's internal - about 2-3 weeks ahead of the event. �This post includes a link to sign up (this sign up is event specific and includes an option to join the mailing list), a short description of the event/speaker and the flyer. Same for Instagram
3. ""Next week"" post - very similar to (2.) - 1 week ahead of the event.
4. LCC group message - about 5-7 days ahead of the event. Includes a short description and a link to sign up.
5. ""One hour notice"" post - as the title says, one hour before on LinkedIn & on Instagram

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Post engagement

The goal of the post engagement is to share the successful outcome of an event. Therefore, we post one post in the UAA LinkedIn group with a key takeaway from the event. The post should appear no longer than 2 days after the event. It is always best if we can engage people, e.g. with the instagram reaction buttons. Have a look in the UAA LinkedIn group to see an example for a post engagement post. Don't be shy to be the first to interact with the posts a good piece of advice that we have received is "people follow people, not organisations" (i.e. people are more willing to interact if they see a face and a name, not UAA Council)

The goal of promoting events is to let the UNITECH network know that an event is happening and allow them to sign up to said event. Promotion rules:

• make it appealing to the audience
• make it easy
• try to engage as many people as you can.

Consistency is key when promoting our events. – key steps in ""Communication around XXX event"”. The promotion always includes a short description and (more importantly) a visual in form of a flyer.

​

Currently, we have one team member responsible for Promotion and Post-Engagement (Annalena).

This helps to maintain a good overview of the process.

It is that team member's responsibility to make sure the posts are drafted and scheduled as well of having an overview of the number of participants we are expecting for upcoming events (and potentially adapting the promotion agenda accordingly).

UNITECH International

11

Data Collection

We collect data to have an overview of how different parts of the network are engaging, who are target groups are and to report the data later on. We collect the following data:

• Attendees per event
• No. of individual countries and generations the attendees are from*
• Are they a student or a professional*
• What educational institute or workplace they are a member of*
• If they are a UNITECH student or alumni or external*
• How many people are signed up for our mailing list?*
• Additionally everyone providing their data has to agree to a GDPR consent, which ensures that no one will be in hot water if the recordings are used for UNITECH publications later on.

​

We collect the data marked with a * with Google Forms in two different ways:

1. The first way is when someone signs up for an event. Every post announcing an event has a link with a Google form to register for an event. This data is then fed into an excel automatically.
2. Preferably, the attendees do not just sign up for one event but for the mailing list. That will ensure them they get an invitation every time we host an event. They also receive a Google form which is almost identical. – could it be integrated in the previous form??

You can find the Google Forms in the drive. Make sure to always set up a new form for each event and name it accordingly.

​

​

We collect the Zoom data as well which gives us insight on the names and numbers of the individual attendees per event. To be able to do that, you need to ensure that the person setting up the Zoom meeting has a premium account.

Currently, we have one team member responsible for data management and reporting (Anneliese). This helps to maintain a good overview of the process. It is that team member's responsibility to make sure the email list is in good shape and we have a clear picture on the data we need to report.

Currently we report to Jay O'Nien who is the head of the LCCs and Angela Go, the president of the UAA. You can find different reporting updates in our drive. We mainly report on our data and our KPIs (see our KPIs on the "Quick Overview" page).

UNITECH International

12

IT Tools

Communication:

WhatsApp – within the team

Slack - official communication with UAA Members

​

Promotion:

Emails & Calendar blocker (from gmail – it goes to spam to me)

WhattsApp

Slack

LinkedIn

Instagram

​

Event:

Zoom

​

Accounts:

Canva

GDrive

​

Gdrive unitechvirtualevents@gmail.com Virtual2020

Canva uaa.localchapters@unitech-international.org UAALUCCO2020

Publer.io lidialolalola@gmail.com SocialMediaPosting!!!

​

UNITECH International

13

Internal discussions:

• Who will be the moderator & who the IT assistant during sessions (me)
• Zoom accounts and passwords, Access to LinkedIn, Instagram, Youtube
• Timeline for communications, templates
• Coordinator speaker, briefing, definition of breakout rooms and development of the meetings
• Supervision & control of the speakers
• Time and duration – 6 pm and 1 h

​

• GDPR for videos for YouTube

​

• Website feedback
• Update with the events
• Same palette among logo, files etc
• Font and colors

Raleway

8C1E28

000000

656565

UNITECH International

14

UNITECHAlumniAssociation

UNITECH International

UAA purpose

15

Be the network of

engineering professionals

that drive positive impact

UNITECH International

Virtual Events Concept

Showcase the successes of UNITECH alumni

Having alumni speak at these events can showcase the continued success of UNITECH.

Encourage the realization of the network

Regular events open to all will foster UNITECH into becoming a well-connected network.

Featuring diverse speakers will encourage those interested in speakers’ lives to reach out and engage in inter-generational UNITECH networking.

​

Any comments or suggestions?

Email us at UNITECHVirtualEvents@gmail.com

16

6 events per year

UNITECH International

Virtual Events Team

17

UNITECH International

Virtual Events Goals

• Organization of 6 Virtual Events for 2022-2023 with more than 50 individual participants per event
• Ensure (150) registrations per event with even distribution of students & professionals
• 5 alumni from each year participates in the content or digital event
• 40% of UAA population participates in content or digital event

18

UNITECH International

19

• Organization of 6 Virtual Events for 2022-2023 with more than 50 individual participants per event
• 2 for promoting the programme, conveying the right message
• 4 in partnership with best-in-class speakers, about UAA values, experiences and good practices
• Technical reusable structure, with zoom accounts, templates, and mailing list
• Enlarge the community and engagement – mailing list of 600 emails

Virtual Events Goals

UNITECH International

KPI - Engagement

6 events

In collaboration with our CPs and alumni.

​

x participants

Sharing ideas and experiences within the network.

​

21 generations of UNITECHers

Bridging the gap between generations.

​

x on the Virtual Events Mailing List

Driving to growth of our outreach.

​

Join the Virtual Events Mailing List here!

UNITECH International

KPI - Engagement

Number of events: 6

In collaboration with our CPs and alumni.

​

Number of registrations per event: 50

Sharing ideas and experiences within the network.

UNITECH International

KPI - Mailing List

UNITECH International

KPI – What can we do?

UNITECH International

Where can you add value?

Outreach

- Contact speakers to engage the network

- Coordinate events

​

Marketing

- Create event posters

- Promote events on social media (LinkedIn, Instagram)

​

Statistics

- Collect statistics of each event

- Keep track of our KPIs

​

​

Scan to join the team!

UNITECH International

Why should you join?

Gain new skills

Learn how to engage with people across a variety

of backgrounds. Improve presentation and leadership skills.

​

Meet new people

Grow your network and meet UNITECH alumni.

​

Get the most from your UNITECH year

Take advantage of the opportunities given to you!

Scan to join the team!

UNITECH International

Thank you for your attention!

UNITECHAlumniAssociation

UNITECH International

Account

Gdrive unitechvirtualevents@gmail.com Virtual2020

Canva uaa.localchapters@unitech-international.org UAALUCCO2020

Publer.io lidialolalola@gmail.com SocialMediaPosting!!!

​

The UAA is organised in 14 strategically located Local

UNITECH International

Selection process

What is UNITECH Virtual Events?

UNITECH Virtual Events is a UAA initiative that aims to fulfill it's purpose: "Be the network of engineering professionals that drive positive impact".

​

How do we do it?

We have 5 different event styles:

Who we are?

We are a team of young UNITECH Alumni from Europe. We aim to rotate this initiative, always handing it to the next year that has just finished it's UNITECH rotation. Currently this is the team:

​

UNITECH International

The basics of every Virtual Event

Schedule - 6 events, usually on Wednesday/Thursday, between 17:00-18:30 CET

Platform - Zoom�Basic Outline of an Event

This is the basic structure:

1. Walk in ~ 1 min
2. Welcome ~ 3 min - Repeat the purpose of Virtual Events, what are we going to do today, introduce speaker, hand over
3. Pitching ~ 15-35 min - Depending on the event style, a speaker for a fireside chat will speak approximately 25 minutes, while a company might have 3x10 minute pitches. If there are multiple pitches, one shouldn't exceed 10 minutes.
4. Q&A/Breakout ~ 30-45 min - Again, depending on the event you might want to open breakouts directly or have an open Q&A in the main session. �It is highly important to have a clear structure (Where do people ask questions? Who is the question directed at? What break out rooms are there? Can people switch rooms? When is it time to stop the Q&A?). We highly recommend to always moderate the Q&A sessions if they are in the main session.
5. Closing ~5 min - Thank the speakers and the attendees, wrap up, promotion of next events, tell people to reach out with ideas and questions.

Good to know

• We record all our events for internal purposes and to give the recordings to individuals who would like to view the session - currently, we are not publishing the recordings. We have everyone give us their GDPR consent when signing up so that we are able to record without having legal problems (see "Data collection")
• Tips we've learnt throughout our events:
• Start on time
• Always have one person leading the session or parts of the session. This will avoid awkward silences and confusion.
• Be more energetic than you would ever be in real life. On Zoom it is harder to detect other peoples' emotions, therefore if you are extremely energetic it will come across positive, but not too much.

Key to a successful event is fostering engagement. Due to the virtual setting special attention has to be directed towards the needs and desires of the participants. We have had multiple feedback sessions during our first year and for most attendees, the Q&A and break out sessions were the highlight of every event. Therefore, we adapted the outlines of our events and have now implemented a structure that captures a lot of value for all participants.

​

Structure is key! Let people know of the agenda beforehand and always tell them when which session will end. Thereby, we can avoid drop out and confusion. We aim to keep the main session at a 1 hour max. since some people can't stay longer than that. Nevertheless, there are always informal break outs for half an hour after the event, either with the speakers or without. Often, we will find a middle ground with the companies at the "Get to know..." events, since they would like to have 90 minutes: We will have 1 hour with the pitches and an open Q&A and then go into breakouts for the last half an hour.

UNITECH International

The basics of every Virtual Event

Get started

There is a document in the drive called "Timeline". Have a look at that to get an overview of which events will be hosted in the months to come. Then think about the different kinds of events that we have (see "Quick Overview") and chose one. Ideally, we have a good mix of all 4 events (excluding the inspiration sessions, since these are only in Oct and Nov). Then brainstorm with your team about ideas and reach out to whoever you need to support with the event or speak at the event.

​

Often we do not have to reach out to new speakers, since we are approached regularly. There it is key to set the date as early as possible and distribute the events in a way that you don't have multiple events of the same style after each other.

​

Correspondance with the Speakers

If you do reach out, here are some helpful tips:

​

1. Reach out as early as possible (most of the time via email). Even if it's 5 months ahead and you just set a date and manage expectations, that is great! Especially if you want senior management or super busy people to speak, you will have to set a date multiple months ahead of time. If your first email correspondence is more than 6 weeks in advance to the event, set a date and tell them you will be in touch 4-6 weeks in advance to discuss the details. Do however explain to them what is expected, what they can gain and how you will work together. Send them a calendar blocker as soon as possible

​

2. Organizing the event: When you reach out 4-6 weeks in advance discuss the details of the event. It is best to send them one email containing as much as you can. You will need to discuss the following: Agenda, content, material they need to prepare, check the flyer before starting promotion, have them sign the GDPR form, time and date (always double check - this can also be a calendar blocker) and anything else that seems necessary. As mentioned above, we record our sessions. Be sure to discuss this with the speaker beforehand. It is seldomly a problem, but they do appreciate to know before the event.

​

3. Be sure that your communication is always clear and they can reach out to you if they need to.

​

​

Other than that, always be friendly/courteous/polite and thank them for their commitment!

UNITECH International

Promotion

We plan the promotion together with the communications team (or at least we let them know of our activities) since they have the broader overview of all communications from and within the UAA.

Where

LinkedIn - UAA Council's LinkedIn (publer.io tool eventually but no possibility to tag) – 2 posts

Whatsapp - regional channels - you have to be added first, Abdul is currently in all these chats – 2 messages

Instagram – 2 posts

Slack?

What

1. ""Save the date"" Email - to everyone from the mailing list - about 3 weeks ahead of the event. �It is sent in form of a calendar blocker, including a short description of the event, the flyer and the zoom link with the password.
2. ""Save the date"" post - publicly if it's an event open to all, only in the LinkedIn UAA group if it's internal - about 2-3 weeks ahead of the event. �This post includes a link to sign up (this sign up is event specific and includes an option to join the mailing list), a short description of the event/speaker and the flyer. Same for Instagram
3. ""Next week"" post - very similar to (2.) - 1 week ahead of the event.
4. LCC group message - about 5-7 days ahead of the event. Includes a short description and a link to sign up.
5. ""One hour notice"" post - as the title says, one hour before on LinkedIn & on Instagram

The goal of promoting events is to let the UNITECH network know that an event is happening and allow them to sign up to said event. Promotion rules:

• make it appealing to the audience
• make it easy
• try to engage as many people as you can.

Consistency is key when promoting our events. – key steps in ""Communication around XXX event"”. The promotion always includes a short description and (more importantly) a visual in form of a flyer.

​

Currently, we have one team member responsible for Promotion and Post-Engagement (Annalena).

This helps to maintain a good overview of the process.

It is that team member's responsibility to make sure the posts are drafted and scheduled as well of having an overview of the number of participants we are expecting for upcoming events (and potentially adapting the promotion agenda accordingly).

UNITECH International

Post-Engagement

The goal of the post engagement is to share the successful outcome of an event. Therefore, we post one post in the UAA LinkedIn group with a key takeaway from the event. The post should appear no longer than 2 days after the event. It is always best if we can engage people, e.g. with the instagram reaction buttons. Have a look in the UAA LinkedIn group to see an example for a post engagement post. Don't be shy to be the first to interact with the posts a good piece of advice that we have received is "people follow people, not organisations" (i.e. people are more willing to interact if they see a face and a name, not UAA Council)

UNITECH International

Data Collection

We collect data to have an overview of how different parts of the network are engaging, who are target groups are and to report the data later on. We collect the following data:

• Attendees per event
• No. of individual countries and generations the attendees are from*
• Are they a student or a professional*
• What educational institute or workplace they are a member of*
• If they are a UNITECH student or alumni or external*
• How many people are signed up for our mailing list?*
• Additionally everyone providing their data has to agree to a GDPR consent, which ensures that no one will be in hot water if the recordings are used for UNITECH publications later on.

​

We collect the data marked with a * with Google Forms in two different ways:

1. The first way is when someone signs up for an event. Every post announcing an event has a link with a Google form to register for an event. This data is then fed into an excel automatically.
2. Preferably, the attendees do not just sign up for one event but for the mailing list. That will ensure them they get an invitation every time we host an event. They also receive a Google form which is almost identical. – could it be integrated in the previous form??

You can find the Google Forms in the drive. Make sure to always set up a new form for each event and name it accordingly.

​

​

We collect the Zoom data as well which gives us insight on the names and numbers of the individual attendees per event. To be able to do that, you need to ensure that the person setting up the Zoom meeting has a premium account.

Currently, we have one team member responsible for data management and reporting (Anneliese). This helps to maintain a good overview of the process. It is that team member's responsibility to make sure the email list is in good shape and we have a clear picture on the data we need to report.

Currently we report to Jay O'Nien who is the head of the LCCs and Angela Go, the president of the UAA. You can find different reporting updates in our drive. We mainly report on our data and our KPIs (see our KPIs on the "Quick Overview" page).

UNITECH International

IT Tools

Communication:

WhatsApp – within the team

Slack - official communication with UAA Members

​

Promotion:

Emails & Calendar blocker (from gmail – it goes to spam to me)

WhattsApp

Slack

LinkedIn

Instagram

​

Event:

Zoom

​

Accounts:

Canva

GDrive

​

UNITECH International