CWT Meetings & Events Technology Impact

Background
Goals
Approach
Results & Looking Forward
Products Used

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220,000+

attendees managed with Cvent

38,500

annual programs managed

150+

people supported during crisis using CSN

BACKGROUND

CWT Meetings & Events has been providing event services for more than 30 years. With specialists in 68 countries, they manage more than 38,500 global projects annually. By merging their events and business travel strategies through OneCWT, they create a consolidated, end-to-end experience for travelers. Ultimately, CWT delivers best-in-class event design, operations, and technology across their clients’ events.

As a longstanding partner of Cvent, CWT leverages the entire Cvent platform to suit their clients’ event and travel needs. “The relationship between CWT and Cvent is absolutely valuable to the exchange between both ourselves and with our customers,” says Amy Rixmann. “And that strong relationship that we have together really allows us to drive strategic initiatives to our customers, ensuring they’re getting the most out of their experiences and their attendees’ experiences.”

Woman with curly hair smiling on computer

GOALS

Driving event management efficiencies for CWT’s clients

Partnering closely with their Cvent account team, CWT continually works to improve products and services to the benefit of current and potential clients. With the goal of streamlining the event management process as much as possible, CWT is at the forefront of using event management and marketing technology to automate processes and enhance the attendee experience. Amy notes, “With Cvent, we’re able to do more with less - more of our team members are able to get more programs up and running and efficiently produced.”

For example, CWT recently conducted a survey amongst their clients which identified the registration build and web design process to be the most labor-intensive part of their typical workflow. They found clients often struggled with communication crossover between various channels and tactics, making feedback difficult to implement and changes challenging to track. They also needed to provide better real-time support throughout the process to ensure client satisfaction. CWT realized the time and effort required for the existing website design and build process could ultimately detract from a positive user experience, thereby impacting valuable client relationships.

APPROACH

They decided to invest in an integration solution with Cvent to resolve these pain points. CWT adopted both web collaboration and chat functionality tools to streamline the registration development process. With these tools, clients could easily mark needed changes on the web page and share them in real-time with CWT through the collaboration tool. CWT can then quickly implement and track feedback, increasing overall efficiency and improving the client experience.

In addition, the chat widget allows attendees to get assistance immediately with travel arrangements, registration, technical support, and other needs. The widget can be integrated into the event website as an additional means of assistance. CWT notes both tools have allowed their team to better communicate with clients in real time. This has improved satisfaction and efficiencies by cutting down build times by up to 30%.

How CWT used Cvent solutions to manage a crisis situation

CWT also uses other Cvent solutions to satisfy client requirements, no matter how unique. One such instance occurred for one of their large-scale clients whose employees faced a crisis scenario. “We had a situation where we were able to use Cvent’s technology to help in a humanitarian effort for one of the organizations we support,” explains Amy. “The client unfortunately had employees in an expat situation in Ukraine that needed to be extradited.” After an internal discussion with the client, CWT developed a strategy within one day and moved quickly into actioning the solution using the Cvent Supplier Network (CSN).

The challenges surrounding the extraction were numerous. Individuals would arrive at whichever border city may be closest, but that information would be unknown by both CWT and the organization until their arrival. Exact accommodation requirements were not known ahead of time as travelers could be alone or arriving with family members or pets. Many hotels had to lock online booking due to urgent demand, leaving a shortage of options. CWT also needed to provide 24/7 support as travelers could arrive at any time.

In addition, mobile phones were unreliable so communication was heavily impacted or, in some cases, impossible. CWT needed to find a way to provide real-time information to the organization on the employees’ locations. They also had to manage expectations with hotels as travelers may not have credentials such as IDs or passports due the urgency of their situation. Moreover, payment wasn’t always available via a corporate credit card.

Cvent Supplier Network graphic with woman on a computer

Successfully ensuring employee safety using the Cvent Supplier Network

With these challenges in mind, CWT used the Cvent Supplier Network to source accommodations for the organization’s employees quickly and efficiently. As a global network comprised of over 300,000 venues, CSN was an easily accessible, comprehensive solution for a time-sensitive situation. “We were able to use Cvent’s very powerful tool to, in an unconventional way, work directly with suppliers to find solutions to move those employees from the situation they were in,” Amy explains.

The team then created a unique process using Cvent’s Registration solution. They quickly created a shell event to capture critical details like names of travelers, check-in and check-out dates, bed types needed, pets, and special requirements like cots. They also used the tool to track ongoing changes and provide real-time reports to their client.

CWT was able to ultimately help ensure employee safety for their client through this creative solution – all within roughly a one-month timeframe. They managed 77 bookings for over 150 people, sourcing 57 hotels across seven countries and ultimately booking eight hotels across five countries. “We moved hundreds of employees, pets, and family members to a safe situation for this organization through suppliers found in the Cvent Supplier Network, and we’re so fortunate to have such a great relationship with them that they called on CWT to support them through that need,” Amy says.

Expanding technology offerings for the future of CWT

CWT continues to expand their technology offerings for clients using a number of other Cvent solutions. For example, Amy notes she has personally managed the Attendee Hub for a number of client events. The Attendee Hub keeps attendees engaged and informed across the event lifecycle. Whether attendees join virtually or in-person, Attendee Hub allows them to easily build their agenda, view session and speaker details, and stay up to date with push notifications. They can also connect with their peers through integrated networking functionality such as one-to-one attendee messaging, attendee recommendations, and discussions.

Attendees can also interact with sponsors and exhibitors via Attendee Hub, helping them to generate more qualified leads quickly. Engagement features like live polling, chat, and Q&A together allow attendees to interact with content and speakers in real time, whether via the mobile app or web platform. They’re also able to provide feedback through embedded surveys at both the session and event level. When combined with engagement scoring, this gives event organizers a more complete view of attendee interests for personalized follow-up. In addition, on-demand functionality allows event organizers and marketers to extend the life of their content for stronger post-event engagement.

RESULTS & LOOKING FORWARD

Amy notes that CWT is excited about the success of their partnership with Cvent so far, allowing them to scale their offerings to clients worldwide. “Our instance of Cvent at CWT has allowed us to handle more than 220,000 attendees since 2019 and register more than 990 programs, and we’ve handled those beautifully through Cvent’s tools,” she notes. “That doesn't even touch the thousands and thousands of event programs that we handle very effectively through our clients’ Cvent instances.”

CWT is excited to continue expanding their relationship with Cvent in the near future, particularly in line with their OneCWT initiative. “CWT is really excited about the future with Cvent as well as expanding our OneCWT approach, using Cvent’s tools to allow organizations we support to work both in the meetings and events space as well as have an impact on their business travel and group air needs,” Amy says. As they continue to strengthen these initiatives through their use of Cvent, Amy insists she’s “excited for the possibilities of where those connections can grow.”