W.L. Gore & Associates
Supporting a powerful brand experience with industry-leading digital technology.
W.L. Gore & Associates is a global organization divided into three distinct divisions. The Medical Products Division engineers devices that treat a range of cardiovascular, bariatric, hernia, and other health conditions. The global division events team manages event goals, budget, objectives, and marketing strategies for more than 500 annual events, ranging from large trade shows to exclusive division dinners.
Eliminating Problematic Processes
Prior to utilizing event technology, the team relied on manual processes. “Before Cvent, the program didn’t really have a capability to send out emails or keep the budget items in order,” notes Nicole Lopeman, Event Manager. To support their organization’s new brand rollout, the team developed a corresponding event strategy for a selection of internal meetings. Held in the US, Austria, and Shanghai, these events brought together 1,200 global leaders for an exceptional onsite experience.
Adopting Cvent helped the division meet executive expectations while scaling their global program. Using Cvent’s Event Marketing and Management platform for registration created a host of efficiencies that helped ensure a unified brand across events. Parked reports give stakeholders in different departments a single source of truth, allowing them to view attendee status, hotel requests, and air actuals at any time. Self-registration created valuable time savings for both registrants and administrators. Perhaps most importantly, using a single point solution created an ease of dataflow across the division. “Having all of our information and our data stored in one system, including budgets, surveys, and other such things, means we have one place to house everything now,” says Kelsey Denham, Event Manager.
Pushing the Boundaries of Event Technology
Elevating the onsite experience was a key program goal for both the leadership series and the brand as a whole. “At a time where we have challenged to get our digital platforms off the ground, the MPV events team has leveraged Cvent to demonstrate that Gore is a progressive company to our customers and associates,” notes Lisa Shervin, Event Manager. By using Cvent’s OnArrival solution for check-in, the team eliminated pre-printed badges and created a quick process for attendees. Attendees could easily self-edit registration and reprint badges as needed. “I can’t tell you how many associates at these meetings were completely impressed with OnArrival,” insists Lisa. “The digital technology that was brought to the event through Cvent was leaps and bounds ahead of anything they’d seen before.”
Cvent’s CrowdCompass mobile event app allowed the team to communicate with attendees before, during, and after the event. Live polling, Q&A, and push notifications created a sense of connectivity and open feedback channels. SocialWall increased engagement with an integrated social feed; attendees could also self-navigate all content within the app. Reducing paper helped support the organization’s sustainability initiatives. With on-demand reports, the team was able to prove the value of the app to internal stakeholders. “We had 98% app downloads and almost a hundred percent self-registration,” adds Kelsey. “We were able to do things using Cvent that we haven’t been able to utilize using any other platform.”
Accelerating the Sales Pipeline with Integrations
With vital integrations allowing data to flow between resident systems within the organization, Cvent has become a key component of Gore’s MarTech stack. “With Cvent having the ability to speak to other programs such as Salesforce and Concur, we’re able to use everything it has to offer on one platform and push that out to other divisions, all in one spot,” says Kelsey. By integrating with Salesforce, other teams can more readily leverage attendee data to accelerate the sales pipeline. “We are able to collect leads faster, and get them out to the marketing and sales teams quicker utilizing Salesforce through Cvent,” Kelsey adds.
Proving the Value of Events Across W.L. Gore & Associates
The team notes that implementing these integrated tools has eliminated stakeholder apprehensions, allowing them to focus on improving event experience for their attendees. By showcasing the success of their global events through data-backed reporting, the team is able to prove event value across divisions. “The visibility that we have through Gore is now enterprise-wide,” explains Kelsey. “Through the use of Cvent and its tools, we've been able to elevate ourselves as subject matter expertise and bring visibility to events that have not been utilized or seen before.”
While gaining trust within the organization, the team has been asked to expand their reach as subject matter experts for meetings and events. Nicole explains, “In spreading our popularity amongst our enterprise, we’re increasing our meetings with other divisions.” Kelsey agrees, adding that Gore & Associate’s future relationship with event technology will only continue to grow. The team is turning to Cvent’s New Standard Registration (Flex) to help support the organization’s rebrand. They will also continue to expand their event portfolio and the scope of technology use across divisions. “It’s not just about the technology that’s put in the hands of our event managers, but what other teams and associates are able to do throughout Gore by utilizing the different pieces of Cvent,” Kelsey adds.
The efforts and success of the team are garnering attention across the organization. “Cvent is helping us to be more strategic by really providing us the platform and the tools that we need to be successful,” Kelsey explains. “With all of the abilities Cvent provides us through registration, budget, travel, housing, et cetera, stakeholders are really seeing what capabilities event management teams bring to organizations and why they're so critical.”
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