Executive Summary
The World Association of PPP (public-private partnership) Units & PPP Professionals (WAPPP) is the home for PPP professionals. WAPPP is registered as an NGO in Switzerland and has its seat in Geneva. A public-private partnership (PPP) is a legal contract between a government body and a private entity. Its goal is to provide either an asset or a service as a public benefit.
They are a multi-stakeholder network bringing together public-private partnership professionals from PPP units, infrastructure agencies, long-term investors, and PPP consultants from around the globe to learn from each other and create better PPPs that deliver value for the future.
By coming together, these industry players can create a win-win situation that benefits them and society. As a for-impact organization, WAPPP plans to play a role in building infrastructure and achieving humanity’s sustainable development goals.
WAPPP members, through their events, share their experiences, help set industry standards, lobby for best practices, and generally network to find jobs, contracts, investors, and opportunities.
About the Event
The WAPPP event hosted on Airmeet discussed the importance of public-private collaboration to close the massive infrastructure gap and to refuel the economies, and build forward better with a new generation of PPPs.
During the event, WAPPP members were able to engage well with each other on neutral ground to discuss the latest PPP trends and challenges, share experiences and create solutions in the spirit of open innovation.
The outreach of the WAPPP annual conference went past their usual attendance of 300 in physical events. with a spectacular turnout of 790 registrations in their virtual Annual Congress event powered by Airmeet.
Challenges (And Solutions)
Challenge 1: Adequate support to plan and prepare for the event with a short lead time
WAPPP wanted to plan a virtual event and had a short span of two to three months. Their target was to reach attendees from 60 countries. WAPPP officials had been working with Zoom but were looking for a platform that could offer a better networking and event partner showcasing experience.
Solution: A virtual event platform that was easy to navigate and operate, with users facing no difficulties. The annual conference had to be planned and executed in just two to three months. Airmeet helped meet these goals with;
- Great event management support: The Airmeet support team executed their event plan speedily. The event services and event management ensured unimpaired execution. The VSM (virtual stage manager) was available throughout the event to ensure that it was conducted flawlessly, with all critical aspects taken care of.
- Event preview mode: Airmeet allowed the host to conduct dry runs, preview the event beforehand, clear any loopholes and make the required amendments in advance, ensuring that the event went off smoothly on D day.
- Relationship and trust: You need to take a (calculated) leap of faith to transition from one platform to another. Jean-Christophe, Executive Director WAPPP, mentioned, “We appreciate the service provided by the platform. The Airmeet team made a big difference and played a critical role in the success of our event.”
Challenge 2: To seamlessly host a three-day global networking event with multiple sessions and attendees from 60 countries
WAPPP wanted to host multi-stakeholder and multiple speaker networking events with a worldwide audience.
Solutions: Airmeet offered an all-in-one solution for their requirements with the following features:
- Private backstage: This was like a session green room for the hosts and speakers to prepare themselves before they went live. WAPPP had 46 sessions with multiple speakers spread over the three-day conference and having this space for hosts and speakers to interact before going live made a huge difference, adding to the comfort and engagement that speakers experienced.
- Social lounge: Social lounge was the meeting area where the host could set up lounge tables and mark them for attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors. It was an area to interact and network with fellow attendees.
Explaining further, Lieven Jacquemyn, Member of the Asia Pacific Leadership Committee, WAPPP, said, “The biggest differentiator for us was Airmeet’s social interaction component. In Zoom, the information flows passively.”
Airmeet’s Social Lounge offered the experience of the virtual mini-conference around tables. Tables had labels and logos to guide participants to the correct tables. With expandable tables, the host could increase the table size to accommodate participants.
Jean-Christophe mentioned, “The brand partners used tables very well. WAPPP activated 30 tables, with an option of expandable tables from 4 to 50 seats.” Few tables were marked as WAPPP Airmeet Help Desk, which was like online support during the event, ensuring that anyone who needed assistance was able to get it within seconds.
Challenge 3: To offer unique showcasing opportunities with participation from different countries’ PPP units
While the WAPPP team wasn’t sure of the number of participants, they wanted to organize a technically sound event, where even those who were not technology savvy, or who were introverted in terms of networking or speaking could interact and add value.
Solution
Airmeet’s multiple easy and intuitive engagement tools such as chat, polls, Q&A, Raise-hand & Invite-to-Stage brought in affirmative participation and engagement by unexpected participants.
Jean-Christophe mentioned, “We got the opportunity to have conversations with those shy public officials, who seldomly participate in an event with PPP industry peers. On the third day of the event, we covered 24 different countries’ PPP units, which was unprecedented.
Hopefully, in future events, we can attract more people to join these unique showcasing opportunities. I think it was really special.”
Event Outcome
WAPPP felt jubilant and appreciated the following positive responses:
- Delighted audience: Jean-Christophe said, “Everybody who joined the event was very pleased with the event. They gave positive feedback about the content and the platform. They enjoyed the event every single day.” This opportunity was like a sweet spot for WAPPP events and a great way to engage with PPP officials from different countries in the future, with everyone getting the right visibility.
- Positive technical feedback: Attendees were very pleased with the tech side of the event. They were not required to shift from one place to another; everything was conveniently navigated on just one platform. The UI was straightforward.
- New member requests: This was the most promising achievement. Jean Christophe confirmed, “After the event, WAPPP received membership requests from around multiple prospects, and that was the real win. Had we increased the social media postings of the event, the numbers could have been more.”
- Event Recording: Airmeet’s event recording options allowed the hosts to prepare gated content that could be utilized in the future to share with the right audience. Either for those who missed out on a session during the event, those who were unable to attend or as a repository for old and new members. Jean-Christophe said, “We had an exceptional 790 registrations for the Annual Congress event, but only 628 people could join the event. It showed that more people were interested but couldn’t join. We would like to record the event and share the recordings with our members and add some clippings on our social media.”
Way Forward
WAPPP used to conduct monthly webinars on Zoom, but now, pleased with the experience on Airmeet, they are considering Airmeet for this. Usually, there are 200 registrations per webinar.
Airmeet as a platform is evolving every day and finding answers to the customers’ pain points. If you are planning your next virtual event, book your demo at Airmeet today!
