INFORMS’ 25th Anniversary was in 2020 and we had big plans to celebrate at our Annual Meeting, where we expected 7,500+ attendees. And then, COVID-19. Every decision took an excruciatingly long time to make, and in the meantime, we needed to sell. We rebranded to include nine Virtual Guides based on member personas. These guides were now tasked with tweeting, creating virtual schedules, and engaging with members to help drive potential attendees through a workflow that would lead to both registration and an increase in memberships. During the meeting, they answered attendee questions and helped to facilitate networking. Our team of guides helped us exceed our financial goals for the meeting and helped make our attendees feel engaged and welcomed.
I also had the pleasure of speaking about our pivot at the ASAE mm&c conference in June, 2021.
