[.c-title-3]How OW2 leveraged Rocket.Chat to build an [.c-red]entire virtual event[.c-red] in two weeks[.c-title-3]

"In just a month we have totally re-invented OW2, our conference that was previously in-person. A special thanks to our friends at Rocket.Chat for their platform and for being there for us."
Cedric Thomas
CEO at OW2

Industry

IT

Use case

Virtual event

Number of users

50.000

Industry

IT

Use case

Virtual event

Main Results

50.000


About OW2

OW2 is an independent, global, open-source software community. We are not academics, we are not researchers, we are not lobbysts, we foster open source projects and we actually deliver software, and we claim to be the only such non-profit open source organisation of EU origin and DNA.

The mission of OW2 is to a) promote the development of open-source middleware, generic business applications, cloud computing platforms and b) foster a vibrant community and business ecosystem.

Challenge

With 30 presentations expected, OW2 looked for a reliable platform to host their event online called “The Challenges of Full Stack Open Source“. They chose Rocket.Chat because of its ability to provide a quick and reliable environment for participants.

OW2 virtual conference


Results

1) Leveraging Channels To Share All Kinds Of Information

In order to quickly communicate with attendees and the speakers, OW2 leveraged channels inside Rocket.Chat to promote ideas, announcements, and even gather feedback from participants.

This is how they organized their channels:

#OW2 Online: it’s the core conference channel, for general announcements and where attendees find the links to join live-streaming presentations.

#Presentation channels: each presentation has a dedicated “Presentation Chat” advertised on the #OW2Online channel. Presentation Chats are moderated by the speaker who can directly chat with attendees.

#Feedback: an open channel for attendees to share their impressions and provide suggestions.

#Help: for questions about the organization, technical difficulties, etc.

2) Integrating with Youtube to easily live stream presentations

Thanks to Rocket.Chat’s integration with YouTube Live stream, OW2’s team was able to broadcast their presentations in real-time, as well as share videos through the platform.

3) Using white-label features to increase brand awareness

OW2’s management looked for a customizable platform. The white label features were crucial for them to reinforce their brand, defining interface colors, place their own logo, and even setting the CSS to personalize Rocket.Chat according to their entire brand identity.

4) Facilitating attendee’s login with a simple invite link

A hassle-free solution that increased people’s engagement rate: OW2’s attendees were able to enter the conference by simply clicking on a link, without the hassle of downloading and installing a mobile or web app