How ActionCOACH UK delivered an unforgettable BizX experience using Zoho Backstage
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- INDUSTRY Consulting
- TypeHybrid
ActionCOACH UK is a business coaching franchise that pairs business experts with business owners to unlock growth and success. Its coaches impart knowledge and guidance to help aspirational SME owners maximise their time, acquire new skills, attract great employees, and generate more income. ActionCOACH's impact is significant, with over 200 coaches empowering more than 4,500 member businesses on a monthly basis in the UK alone.
This popular organisation hosts scores of events for its community each year, from meet-ups to workshops, webinars, roundtable dinners, and more. But BizX is its flagship event, an annual conference that attracts thousands of attendees from every corner of the UK and beyond. Over two days of back-to-back presentations from business experts, visitors discover best practices, sales strategies, mindset development techniques, marketing inspiration, and growth ideas. BizX also promises extensive networking opportunities, enthralling entertainment, and a glittering awards ceremony.
We caught up with Craig Jackson, the UK Partnerships Director at ActionCOACH UK, to find out how transitioning to Zoho Backstage's event management platform helped the team deliver the most successful BizX event to date.
Event Essentials:
- Date: 17th - 19th April, 2024
- Location: ACC Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Attendees: 1,100+
- High-profile speakers: 12
- Awards: 19 categories
- Event management software: Zoho Backstage
- App downloads: 860
The challenge
In previous years, the team behind BizX used lots of separate tools to plan, organise and host the event. Varied Excel sheets held the details of the agenda, attendees, speakers and sponsors, ticket sales were managed via TryBooking and a dedicated website was built each year to promote the conference. It was difficult for ActionCOACH's organisers to visualise the arrangements holistically, and much manual exporting and importing of data was required. The team also had to pre-print attendee badges in advance and had no way of hosting the event live online for virtual attendees.
"The team were using various different platforms...it was painful integrating it all."
ActionCOACH recognised that a dedicated Events Management Software (EMS) solution would simplify and streamline the organisation process, whilst adding enhanced functionality and interactive elements for visitors.
The solution
After evaluating several EMS, Zoho Backstage emerged as the clear front-runner for its extensive features and wallet-friendly pricing.
"The other platforms that were able to deliver anything like it would have cost significantly more money."
What's more, the ActionCOACH team found Zoho Backstage to be exceptionally user-friendly. Its intuitive no-code website builder allows organisers to easily design a richly branded event website where they can add agenda sessions, speaker profiles, networking lounges and sponsors, plus enquiry forms and FAQ pages.
Backstage also handles the sale of tickets, which attendees can purchase directly from the website. "We had multiple ticket options available. You could purchase tickets either for the full two days, or one day, or just an individual speaker as well," recalls Craig. The data from all ticket sales was then pushed directly into ActionCOACH's CRM system, so the team finally had full visibility of attendee demographics, session popularity, ticket availability, and revenue throughout the lead-up to the conference.
No longer did the organisers have to pre-print and lay out each attendee's badge at the registration desk ahead of the doors opening. Attendees were able to simply scan the QR code that was emailed to them via Backstage and print their badges on the spot.
"People just arrived with their QR code, scanned it on the printer, and it was just punching out all of these badges. It was turning them around quickly."
Backstage's mobile app offered a new, and very popular, dimension to BizX 2024. It enabled visitors to follow the agenda in real time, view and engage with the event sponsors, book meetings, and network with fellow attendees. For virtual attendees, Backstage delivered a handy live-streaming service which ensured they didn't miss out on the action. Each session was filmed and beamed out to viewers watching from around the world. Those recordings were then available for a further 30 days after BizX closed its doors, ensuring every ticket-holder could log in and replay each session at their convenience.
For BizX's sponsors, Backstage enabled them to feature prominently at the event, with a digital as well as physical presence. Each was allocated a profile on the event website and app where they could promote their products, add hyperlinks and offer appointment slots for meetings with attendees.
"At the event, which is probably the best thing, sponsors were able to scan the badges of the attendees and capture that data straight away."
Backstage's lead scanning feature meant sponsors could add notes to each lead record to document the conversation they'd had. All of the details were then readily exportable from Backstage so that sponsors could upload them to their databases after the event. One sponsor at the event told us: "We've been using the app to capture our leads. It's been amazing, I'm really pleased with it."
The Backstage features ActionCOACH loved:
- A custom event website (using the no-code website builder).
- QR code check-in and badging.
- Expo management.
- Agenda publishing.
- Exhibitor profiles.
- Sponsor lead capture facility.
- A hybrid event format (via live streaming).
- The mobile app.
- The networking zone.
- Session management.
Future plans
For the ActionCOACH team, the end of one BizX event sees them immediately turn their attention to the next. Plans for 2025 are in full swing and ActionCOACH has already started taking bookings using Backstage.
"To anyone else out there thinking of putting on an event...no matter what size of event you're looking to put on, it can cater to them all, and the value for money is phenomenal."