Case Study
Monmouth University
Located along New Jersey’s northern coastline, Monmouth University offers a welcoming and dynamic setting for student development. The university takes pride in preparing students to succeed in life after graduation through learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom. One example of the university’s commitment to current students and alumni is the annual conference facilitated by the Counseling Alumni Connection (CAC).
Current Topics in Counseling Virtual Conference 2020 was the fourth conference coordinated by the CAC. The two-day event was designed to provide timely and important information relevant to the counseling field.
This year, the university faced a unique challenge. All Professional Counseling events scheduled for 2020 were shifted to a virtual format, due to COVID-19. Fortunately, the organization was able to throw a successful event using OneVenue!
The university mimicked the design of previous conferences to build on the success of past events. To create an authentic conference experience, the university required a platform that supported interactive keynote speeches and concurrent workshops.
Monmouth combined OneVenue’s broadcast, live chat, and break-out functions to create an engaging environment for speakers and audience members alike. Attendees asked questions via the live chat, which were relayed to the live-streaming presenter, by a team of moderators and volunteers. Workshop leaders were able to further engage the audience through a series of break-out sessions which were held in small private rooms to maximum attendee interaction.
Pre-event registration was a major concern for the university. Like many conferences, Monmouth charged attendees an admission fee to access the event. In most cases, attendees register through the OneVenue registration system. However, Monmouth chose to process registration and payment in-house through Monmouth Marketplace, the university’s internal system. The OneVenue team worked diligently to enable registration through Monmouth Marketplace as requested.
In the end, Monmouth successfully created an authentic conference experience for its attendees with the support of OneVenue.
Testimonials
"The members fromOpsgility, were critical to the success of our conference. As an organization, they met us where we were at, and helped us design a wonderful event. They trained every member of our team and ensured that everyone was comfortable using the platform before the event. I have yet to work with an organization that was as diligent as them! The day of the event, they ensured that little to no issues would arise, and had staff available to handle any issue. They took a huge weight off our shoulders and worked just as hard, if not harder, than us to ensure that we had a successful event. I am so happy we found this organization and had the amazing opportunity of working with them!"
- Jeffrey Singh - Professional Development Specialist
- Lisa Himelmann - Director of Professional Development and Special Projects
- Matthew Tirrell - Mental Health Counselor and Manager
Monmouth University’s Department of Professional Counseling had an excellent experience withOpsgility for our recent two-day Current Topics in Counseling Conference. The platform was a good fit for this virtual event, providing the space to host keynote speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities for a variety of constituents.
The layout was clear and the design engaging. I particularly want to extend our deepest gratitude to Amanda Reverberi, our conference producer, who was absolutely wonderful to work with. Not only is Amanda very positive and conscientious, she was extremely professional, responsive, and helped put us at ease. This is a conference that thrives in person, but with the pandemic and needing to make it online, we weren’t sure what to expect. Amanda assured us the platform would fulfill our expectations and she was the reason why. Amanda deserves all the accolades she can get. Thank you Amanda,Opsgility, and Microsoft Teams for bringing our conference vision to life!
- Lisa Himelmann