THURS MARCH 11th:
Introduction to Hybrid Events Live Session

Welcome to the replay and recap of the Introduction to Hybrid Events live session, co-hosted by Funraisin's Marketing Director Brendan Rodgers and District Technologies' Head of Marketing Josh Tendler. On this blog, you can find the slides, notes and replay recording of the session which looked into the ever-evolving events industry, what virtual is becoming, and what solutions there are to some of the challenges faced by the nonprofit sector. 

Top-level take-aways

• As on-location events make a return, virtual and physical events have an opportunity to bring out the best in each other. This is going to bring more creativity to events, promote a wider reach to events and inclusivity. Examples shown included a woman running in a London event, with her family member who lives in Singapore, taking part as well - but in the virtual version.
  
  
• Funraisin and District have sought to fully connect the Giving experience with the Activity world - in a way that they have not been before. Using audio, visual, social and real-world triggers - a participants training experience can feel like more than a status update.

• The GPS App, Augmented reality features, and all the experience related tools such as audio cues, GPS check-ins and the white-label fitness tracker - all plugin directly to your Funraisin platform. For those familiar, they will know this means full control over their data, a new opportunity to drive a smoothed out experience, and a seamless fitness fundraising event in one platform environment.

• As a result of the tools being connected, Augmented Reality tools can be personalised with giving data, fitness data, event data and more. This can be truly specific to your participant's experience of their event. 

Top Questions from the Audience

What is the level of automation and integration with the Funraisin platform?

 Answer: It's fully connected! Everything is mirrored! 

Keith:  In terms of the integration, if you imagine this world - someone can land on your website, they click to register, they do as a individual or team, they create their fundraising page, they add their profile picture... all of that registration data will flow into the app. Your teams will already be in there, your fundraising page will be inside the app, you can search for a fundraiser, you can donate within the app and i'ts all mirrored. Everything is mirrored! If you unlock a badge in the app - it will unlock it on the app but also in the fundraising page. They are one and the same!

Can you comment, like or give kudos to other participants in-app?

 Answer: YES, there's a social feed, and for teams - an in-app team chat. 

Josh:    There are a few things that are in every app - one of these is a leaderboard to put you in and make you feel a part of that community, and another of these is a social activity feed. Every time you go out and complete an activity you can share that to your feed. This is a great place to like, comment and give kudos to your friends. You can also upload a caption and photos from your run. This goes out to everyone in the event to see -no matter where you are in the world.  Of course due to safety and privacy reasons, you can also choose not to this as well. Throughout the registration process, you can register as an individual or as a team - and if you register as a team you will also have the ability to have an in-app team chat too.

Do my supporters have to create an account with Funraisin AND District to make this work?

 Answer: YES - but it's quick and they pass data between them.

Keith:  Firstly, there is no login "with Funraisin", we are not a Data Controller - so it would be logging into your website which if you are using us would be your funraisin platform. They would then download the app and login to the app using their email address.

Josh:  Within the app itself you creating an account with District Technologies - but it's a single sign-on system, and it's super easy. We use links to google, Facebook and email. All we use is your name and email address for emails throughout the event, and this is to facilitate the event organisers communications. We deliberately work very hard to make this transition as seamless as possible.

Brendan:  So there is a secondary log-in moment - but it's super quick and super simple. 

Keith:  And importantly - the data passes over, so your individual page or teams, it captures all of that.

Can I add in brand elements to badges, filters and medals?

 Answer: YES - Great example is Walking Stars, utilised custom AR filters, gamification badges and more..

Josh:  We absolutely can, and the goal is to create new and exciting digital assets for your audience to create a sense of excitement fresh for your event.

What tools are available?

You can read more about the tools themselves here.

Features include:

• Website 
• Registration 
• Fundraising 
• Facebook Fundraising 
• Gamification 
• Rewards 
• Live-streaming/Broadcasting 
• Fitness activity with custom face filters 
• Augmented Reality and GPS Triggers 
• Data and Trends 
• CRM integrations 

TRY OUT THE AUGMENTED REALITY FILTERS YOURSELF