University of Queensland

Introduction

Ranked in the world’s top 50 universities, The University of Queensland (UQ) is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching institutions. For more than 100 years, UQ has been bringing together and developing leaders in their fields to inspire new generations, advance ground-breaking ideas, and shape the future.

Challenge

The UQ Open Day is an annual event where prospective students can come to UQ to experience what the university has to offer and see what courses they may be interested in studying. The Open Day has always been an in-person event held on the St Lucia Campus with around 25,000 people attending.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions, the organizers were required to take the entire event online.

Process

“We looked at different providers, and we were really happy with what EventsAir could offer,” said Claire Wilson, Events and Marketing Coordinator at UQ.

EventsAir worked with the UQ team to set up the agenda and all the touch points for attendees.

Using OnAIR, the virtual and hybrid event solution created by EventsAir, UQ was able to produce an end-to-end virtual open day solution including a fully branded registration site, a range of communications and attendee management features. A UQ-branded version of the OnAIR virtual event portal was also created to securely host the event.

The UQ team set up and sent emails to more than 10,000 prospective students, allowing them to register and create their event logins right up to the day before the event.

EventsAir took care of project management, including development and provision of custom requirements on the day. The team built a virtual exhibition hall, divided into different faculties, departments, and services. They imported 1441 UQ virtual exhibitors and assigned them into 112 virtual booths. Lead scanning questions were set up and implemented during exhibitor meetings to keep track of candidates that required follow-up.

The EventsAir team also set up FAQs, Live Chats, and ePoster sessions. There were ePoster sessions that were virtual tours for international delegates, including one specifically for delegates from China. A separate ePoster session was set up to provide candidates interested in studying medicine with a space to meet with UQ representatives and have their questions answered.

Members of the EventsAir team assisted with getting UQ events personnel trained in how to use the OnAIR software and provided best practices for the event. EventsAir also ensured that the UQ staff members involved could make their own edits, if needed.

Full support was provided throughout the event, including in-person onsite support and an online support team who monitored and responded to live support tickets raised.

“They provided a really bespoke, comprehensive hands-on solution that included helping us to set up the portal and run the event on the day,” said Claire.

Result

Reaching more people than ever before
“Running this event online for the very first time meant that we were able to open the event up to people all across Australia and, vitally important for us, we were able to open it internationally,” said Jess Glass, Senior Marketing Coordinator at UQ.

As a result, people from more than 100 countries attended the event on the day.

“That was just fantastic,” said Jess, “because we have never been able to have that level of international attendance before.”

Guidance and support from the EventsAir Team
“EventsAir was great,” said Claire. “They offered us a lot of help and guidance along the way. They provided excellent project management support and held our hand throughout the process. They were just brilliant!”