Bishop-McCann

Background
Goals
Approach
Results
Moving Forward
Products Used

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10%

increase in RFPs sent year-over-year

147%

increase in event registrations managed

1,789%

increase in survey responses

BACKGROUND

Bishop-McCann is a full-service event management partner that helps innovative companies elevate their events and increase attendee engagement by connecting audiences with their brand. Since 1997, Bishop-McCann has managed tens of thousands of programs globally, with services including event planning, sourcing, production, creative design, group air travel, and event technology management.

Rob Adams, CEO and Owner, elaborates on Bishop-McCann’s expansive offerings. “We do everything from board meetings of 50 people all the way to events for 15,000, and we do incentive trips all over the globe,” he explains. Most importantly, he says, Bishop-McCann’s central mission is to “create JOY” for their clients. “It’s about two things: trust and purpose,” he shares. “That’s essentially what creates happiness.”

GOALS

Empowering Bishop-McCann’s clients with a secure, reliable technology platform

Rob says these priorities are equally applicable when evaluating Bishop-McCann’s relationship with Cvent. He says, “As I think about the partnership with Cvent, it’s been about just that – having a relationship you trust and also making sure we have a very well-defined purpose around creating change and innovation for our industry, and specifically for our clients.” Currently, Bishop-McCann offers several Cvent solutions to its clients, including Registration, Attendee Hub, OnArrival Premium, and Cvent Event Diagramming. They also use the Cvent Supplier Network, sourcing upwards of 71% of their clients’ events through the global network. In addition, the team utilizes other Cvent solutions like Access Portal, as well as integrations with platforms like Concur Travel.

Most recently, Bishop-McCann has focused heavily on ensuring it provides strong data security for clients. This is one area Rob cites as a particular strength of Cvent. He shares, “One of the things I’m so proud of in this relationship with Cvent is data security because if there’s one thing that is in every conversation I’m having with our clients, it’s security.” Cvent maintains high standards of data security, including adhering to and surpassing PCI DSS compliance standards.

Built on a robust Information Security Management System, which is underscored by an ISO 27001 certification, Cvent offers a comprehensive security strategy. With strict network and data controls, Cvent ensures payment data is protected. In addition, the information security program is formalized, documented, and supported by a range of administrative, technical, and physical security safeguards. Cvent maintains several certifications to ensure a strong security posture and is compliant across all solutions and data centers, maintaining industry best practices for security. “Cvent has done a great job working with our team to ensure the platform we’re working with is secure,” Rob says.

In fact, Bishop-McCann’s internal team has worked closely with their Cvent account team members to strategize on how to improve data sharing between their air agents and corresponding attendees, looking at how data has been historically shared and where process improvements can be made. This collaborative relationship is reflective of the longstanding partnership between the two organizations. After more than a decade working together, the relationship continues to grow. Rob shares, “The relationship has evolved to where I really consider Cvent to be an extension of our team, helping Bishop-McCann accelerate innovation.”

APPROACH

Powering successful client events using integrated Cvent solutions

By using tools like Cvent’s Registration solution, Bishop-McCann is able to not only collect and securely store attendee and event data, but the team is also able to ensure its clients benefit from having a single source of truth. “Registration is the backbone of everything we do,” says Rob. The flexibility of the Registration solution has been particularly useful in managing a wide variety of client events of different scopes and sizes as their business continues to grow. “The ability to be agile and flexible is extremely important for Bishop-McCann,” he adds. His team can create different registration paths and attendee types for a more personalized experience across different event types and formats. This ensures the team provides more accurate attendee data to help better prove event ROI for its clients. In fact, Bishop-McCann has seen an impressive 147% increase in Cvent event registrations managed year-over-year.

Rob says having the ability to provide a cohesive technology ecosystem for Bishop-McCann’s clients is another benefit of using the Cvent platform. “I talk a lot about the three things that are so important to Bishop-McCann: creativity, relationships with our partners, and technology,” says Rob. “What I see in Cvent is the immersion of those things coming together.” One tool in particular he feels demonstrates this integrated functionality is the Cvent Attendee Hub and native Event App, which together keep attendees engaged and informed across the event lifecycle – whether they attend virtually via a web browser or access the platform through their phone. As Rob notes, “I think the Attendee Hub is a great example of all three of those things coming together as a tool.”

Crafting customized attendee experiences with the Cvent Attendee Hub and Event App

The Attendee Hub provides a cohesive attendee experience, from building their agenda to viewing session and speaker details and staying up to date with push notifications. They can also connect with their peers through networking features like one-to-one attendee messaging, attendee recommendations, and discussions. As Bishop-McCann serves a variety of clients across industries around the world, Attendee Hub is built to scale as needed to meet client requirements – regardless of event format or type.

Both the web platform and Event App are customizable, allowing Bishop-McCann’s clients to create a fully branded experience. Custom cards and custom pages allow clients to highlight important information and even cross-promote content or events, thereby boosting engagement. The mobile app also provides attendees with a personalized experience where they can build and edit their agenda, reference session materials, access sponsor and exhibitor information, and view speaker details. Engagement features like live polling, chat, and Q&A allow attendees to participate in real time. In addition, clients are able to host content on-demand in the Attendee Hub after the close of the event to help drive continued engagement.

Attendees can also provide feedback through embedded surveys, which give event organizers a more complete view of attendee interests and insights. They can also combine this data with engagement scoring to ensure Bishop-McCann’s clients are able to better tailor their post-event follow up. In fact, Bishop-McCann saw a 140% increase in Cvent surveys launched year-over-year, with an astounding 1,789% increase in responses received.

Woman with curly hair and polka dot shirt working on computer

Improving sustainability at Bishop-McCann using event tech

Another important priority for Bishop-McCann is sustainability. “Sustainability has always been important to Bishop-McCann, but Cvent’s tools made it easier than ever before to incorporate sustainability throughout the organization,” says Rob. “They were talking with us about areas where we could also innovate for our clients.” Improving corporate-level sustainability metrics is a key goal for the business. As such, their internal teams are working with Cvent to see how they can align on those objectives through the use of event technology.

Rob mentions specifically they would like to have “the ability to print less, ship less, and recycle more.” By leveraging digital solutions like the Event App, Bishop-McCann’s clients are able to reduce paper usage and avoid high printing volumes. In addition, other solutions like OnArrival Premium reduce dependencies on pre-printed badges by offering on-demand check-in and badge printing. With a quick QR scan or check-in via iPads, attendees can receive their on-demand badge in seconds. This not only eliminates lengthy queues, but also allows for onsite changes without wasting badge stock on unused pre-printed badges or those needing reprints. In addition, Cvent offers many eco-friendly options for onsite badging, including recyclable, biodegradable, and sustainable materials for badges, badge holders, and lanyards.

Additionally, the Cvent Supplier Network offers sustainable venue options as a global network of over 300,000 venues. The network enables Bishop-McCann to easily search for, send RFPs to, and source both venues and vendors that promote sustainable practices and are environmentally friendly. The solution also automates communication with NSO/GSO contacts worldwide in order to aggregate the most competitive rates and optimize sourcing activity. Bishop-McCann is also able to provide automated analytics and reporting to its clients to demonstrate the impact of its work with these venues. In fact, leaning more heavily into the Cvent Supplier Network has helped scale its sourcing efforts. Rob notes, “We’ve had an impressive 10% increase in RFPs that are going out.” Bishop-McCann has also improved reliability through automated reporting in the platform, as the team often needs to share out travel and hotel reports and information with its clients. “Being able to run these with ease has been incredibly helpful,” adds Rob.

Cvent Event Diagramming (CED) also provides sustainable options for the Bishop-McCann team. Stakeholders can enjoy a virtual walk-through of venues and event spaces in detailed photorealistic 3D, saving travel costs and reducing the carbon footprint of onsite visits. Event diagramming also helps Bishop-McCann move away from cumbersome manual processes and increase efficiencies for their clients. CED allows Bishop-McCann to create an accurate depiction of various spaces with details like furniture included. The team can design set-ups with accurately scaled floor plans, manage seating and meal preferences efficiently, and sync registration data into CED for automated workflows. The tool also ensures clients are able to collaborate in real-time and see the most up-to-date renderings to ensure accuracy.

RESULTS

Driving efficiencies across Bishop-McCann to scale business growth

Scaling Bishop-McCann’s offerings has also reinforced the importance of creating efficiencies whenever possible. By using APIs and integrations with platforms like Concur Travel, Bishop-McCann is able to streamline event operations and improve workflows. For example, the Concur Travel integration makes booking and managing flights, hotels, and car rentals seamless for both the attendee and event manager. This not only saves valuable time as meetings and travel data are shared for reporting, but this also helps reduce costs for Bishop-McCann’s clients by lowering transaction and processing costs. Any client policies can be written into the solution and the integration offers increased visibility for stakeholders as far as meetings activity is concerned. Attendees can register and book travel in one simple process. Real-time information capture and automatic approval processing frees up time for Bishop-McCann’s team, allowing them to focus on other aspects of their clients’ events. And importantly, all data is captured and tracked in one system.

In fact, this easy access to event data is a key concern for many organizations. That’s why Bishop-McCann offers on-demand data sharing through Cvent’s Access Portal, which provides clients visibility into relevant data and reports. Bishop-McCann can choose to provide access and visibility on an individual user basis, so each stakeholder sees the reporting and analytics that are most relevant to their needs. Ultimately, Access Portal makes it easier for non-Cvent users to view the real-time data they need to maximize the impact of their events. Rather than relying on Bishop-McCann’s team to provide regular reports, clients are able to self-serve by accessing reports any time they need to. This ensures they remain informed of event progress at all times, freeing up valuable time for the Bishop-McCann team as well.

"I would put Cvent as one of our top three most strategic partners we have. From our account manager to the leadership team at Cvent, we see that Cvent really helps accelerate our journey and our ability to impact joy for clients."

- Rob Adams, CEO & Owner

MOVING FORWARD

Evolving industry relationships with Cvent and Bishop-McCann at the helm

Ultimately, using Cvent provides Bishop-McCann one very important benefit: a single data source they can trust across their clients’ events. Rob shares, “By far, the number one impact we’re seeing in using Cvent is just having a single source of truth.” As he looks to the near future, Rob is eager to see how these types of relationships continue to evolve. “I think we’re in a state of what I would call evolution as an industry,” he says. “What I think that means is we’re going to see a lot more strategic partnerships.”

In light of this perspective, Rob cites Bishop-McCann’s trust in Cvent as the key reason for their continued partnership. “I would put Cvent as one of our top three most strategic partners we have,” he says. That trust extends beyond the platform itself to the valuable working relationship his team has with Cvent. This not only benefits Bishop-McCann, but perhaps most importantly, positively impacts their clients. Rob summarizes, “From our account manager to the leadership team at Cvent, we see that Cvent really helps accelerate our journey and our ability to impact JOY for clients.”