The Challenge
The Sports Backers organization of Richmond, VA set out to create a national conference, “Movement Makers: A national active living summit,” focused on active living in local communities. The conference was in conjunction with the three-day outdoor sports and music festival, Dominion RiverRock, planned by the same organization.
To maximize the number of attendees and quality of conference experience at Movement Makers, Sports Backers required an agency to aid in the planning and management processes.
Sports Backers needed in-market assistance, with personnel that could attend meetings, research and visit local venues and vendors and work locally throughout the planning process as well as during the conference itself.
The Solution
Wilkinson Sports Advisory (WSA) created a position for an account coordinator to work on the Movement Makers Conference to start immediately. The account coordinator attended all meetings prior to the event and worked in the Sports Backers office two days a week for the duration of the planning process, adding additional time as the conference approached.
The account coordinator was responsible for creating and maintaining an active work-plan with due dates and notes, recording all progress at internal meetings, scouting potential vendors, researching and ordering branded merchandise, organizing registrations and editing creative for signage and informational/marketing materials.
During the event, WSA was responsible for all catering, vendor and guest communications. WSA was also responsible for the supervision of technical set up, talent management and in-conference schedule supervision.
The Result
With the help of Wilkinson Sports Advisory, Sports Backers was able to plan and execute a seamless conference with over 150 participants representing various fields across the country.
In conjunction with this conference, the 3-day RiverRock Festival was run with no conflict and the staff of Sports Backers was able to leave preparation and operational duties of the Movement Makers Conference to WSA as they focused on other duties.
After the conference, WSA worked with Sports Backers to evaluate the success of the event and analyze how to adjust the conference in the future to best align with the mission statement of the Sports Backers organization and the needs of the Richmond-area.