Hybrid event on the topic of innovation
On 24 April 2023, INA23 (Innovation Night Alsdorf 2023) took place. A joint event organised by the city of Alsdorf, WWM GmbH & Co. KG, and the regional business development agency AGIT. The focus of this event was the celebration of the TOP 100 Innovation Award 2023, which WWM had received.
The event aimed to give participants an insight into WWM's culture of innovation and its innovation DNA, which had already led to other prestigious awards, including WeDoDigital, the AC² Innovation Award, and Digital Pioneer. The evening's speakers were Alfred Sonders, Mayor of Alsdorf, Christian Coppeneur-Gülz, CEO of WWM GmbH & Co. KG, and Sven Pennings the CEO of AGIT.
Virtual participation via the Corporate Metaverse
While only a limited number of participants were able to attend on site in Alsdorf due to limited space, other interested parties followed the presentations and the Q&A session of the event digitally via a livestream. The livestream was not hosted on a website, as it usually would be the case, but was located in WWM's corporate metaverse, which is known as the "Metapilots Campus".
WWM's Corporate Metaverse is a virtual world that can be visited and explored with avatars. It is an environment for WWM and can be used for various types of presentations, meetings, and events – including INA23. In the centre of the main floor is a large livestage with a screen and meeting area. Here, participants were able to follow the live stream and interact with each other via text chat, take part in surveys, or ask questions to the speakers, regardless of their location.
You can find more information about the digital Metapilots Campus here.
Design of the Campus
INA23 design elements were integrated into the virtual campus to announce and set the mood for the event. This included, for example, adding blue banners with the organisers' logos to the virtual world. At the same time, a small competition was organised in which participants had the chance to win the free use of an Event Metrics sensor (a product of WWM GmbH & Co. KG) by collecting them in the virtual environment.
Challenges
The fundamental challenge with hybrid events is to connect the on-site participants with the digital participants. It must not be two separate events that will disadvantage the digital visitors in any way. By providing a QR code, the on-site participants were given access to the virtual chat, which was also used in the campus. This allowed physical and virtual participants to communicate with each other during the event. The chat was also used to collect questions for the Q&A session. This allowed all participants, regardless of their location, to ask questions to the speakers and participate in polls.
To promote the connection between the two parties, the camera angles of the two locations were set up at the beginning of the event so that visitors and users could see and wave to each other.
AGIT (Aachener Gesellschaft für Innovation und Technologietransfer) is a business development organisation in the Aachen city region. It has been supporting industrial and service companies in many areas for 40 years to strengthen the economic structure in Aachen.
TOP 100 is a prize for innovative developments and is awarded for the most diverse areas of society. WWM GmbH & Co. KG won this prize in 2023 in the Communication/Marketing/Media category.
The Business Park Alsdorf offers numerous commercial spaces for companies and supports young companies setting up there when it comes to choosing buildings or financing.