FINTECH WEEK LONDON

Supporting a large in-person conference with a unified event platform

 

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900+

Attendees

120

Speakers

50+

Partners

Background

Fintech Week London is an annual week-long series of events which highlight and celebrate London’s fintech industry, including a 2-day flagship conference bringing together over 900 senior decision makers from leading fintech companies, banks, investment firms, regulatory bodies, media companies and service providers.

The event’s first edition took place in 2021, after the founders noticed an opening in the London event space around fintech, despite the industry booming. In 2022, the conference has grown to welcome over 900 attendees, 120 speakers, over 50 partners and sponsors and more than 25 onsite journalists.

The event followed a hybrid format in 2021 to accommodate pandemic restrictions. The 2022 event followed an essentially fully in-person format, supported by some digital networking options.

When the event began, it was supported by a range of free but separate technology platforms, with different software behind, for example, ticketing and email. Raf De Kimpe, CEO, saw a need to unify these processes:

“This approach was very affordable but the processes and data were very dispersed. The team had to manage a range of different systems, which was complex and inflexible when changes had to be made.”

To address these challenges, Raf came to Cvent: “Having used Cvent in the past, I had seen what it could do. My main motivation was to implement a solution that covered almost everything related to event management.”

“Our priority was doing everything we could, end-to-end, within Cvent to avoid the need to use various different systems”

Raf De Kimpe, CEO, Fintech Week London

 

Simplifying and streamlining in-person event management

With restrictions lifted, Fintech Week London were keen to offer a fully in-person experience. “We really believe in human connections and people meeting each other to do meaningful business,” Raf explains.

Fintech Week London used Cvent to deliver their registration, appointment scheduling, event app, event website, check-in, badge printing, lead capture, virtual networking and on-demand content, also integrating Cvent with their Hubspot CRM. “Our priority was doing everything we could, end-to-end, within Cvent to avoid the need to use various different systems,” shares Raf.

Raf lays out the full Cvent process: “As soon as someone landed on our event website, they were already on Cvent, and from there could register and purchase their ticket. Onboarding, invoice, app download and visa invitation emails were then all dispatched. The mobile app provided a QR code which could be used at the check-in scanners, again provided by Cvent, to print their badge. Our exhibitors had the opportunity to get a lead scanner and gain immediate access to the lead data they collected. After the event, we sent an email to all registrants with details on accessing the session recordings, all of which were available on-demand.”

Complementing in-person experiences with virtual add-ons

Fintech Week London used Cvent Attendee Hub, a full virtual event platform, to offer virtual networking options and on-demand access to recordings of the conference’s sessions. Having sold out of in-person tickets, they used registration paths to permit latecomers to participate virtually, further extending the event’s reach.

The event ran seamlessly and received strong feedback from participants. “One partner told us that across the two days they had twice the number of valuable meetings than at another, much larger conference,” Raf shares. “We use the app to ensure people can book their meetings but also incorporate a lot of time for them in the event agenda. All these factors combined with the vibrancy of London’s fintech community made the meetings very fruitful and efficient.” 

In future, they’re looking to expand on the event’s virtual aspects. “While we feel that there’s no alternative to in-person connections, a focus for us next year will be ensuring that the event experience is consistent across both in-person and virtual attendees."

They also expect to further develop their use of registration paths to minimise additional processes even further. “We used discount codes to allow our speakers and exhibitors to bypass the need to pay for a ticket, but it would be more customer friendly to build a bespoke registration path where they are never even prompted for payment,” Raf concludes. “We’re also planning to begin using the Speaker Resource Centre to onboard our presenters and expand Cvent across our event portfolio”

GOALS

  • To deliver a complete in-person conference to London's fintech community

APPROACH

  • Used Cvent as an all-in-one system across every event function

RESULTS

  • 300% increase in physical attendees
  • 270% increase in sponsors
  • Doubled web traffic

PRODUCTS USED

Contact sales

About the Company

Fintech Week London was founded in 2020 to facilitate networking and knowledge sharing within London’s fintech industry. It is hosted by Disrupts Media, who also publish the world’s first leading Fintech newspaper The Fintech Times and arrange the Fintech Power 50, an annual guide to the most influential and innovative companies, and visionary personalities shaping the Fintech industry. The brands partner with over 100 industry events throughout the year.