6Connex | Case Study | USO

Case Study: USO

6Connex Helps the USO Create a Safe Space for Women Service Members and Military Spouses The Challenge Since 1941, the USO has been the nation’s leading organization to serve the men and women in the U.S. military, and their families, throughout their time in uniform. From the moment they join, through their assignments and deployments, and as they transition back to their communities, the USO is always by their side.

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Case Study: USO

The USO Women’s Empowerment Summit was created to provide women of the military community a safe space to ask questions, engage with industry experts, and receive encouragement and motivation to pursue success as they face transitions.

The Summit includes networking opportunities and an exhibition hall as well as breakout sessions featuring speakers who offer attendees the opportunity to engage individually and learn from successful military spouses and women professionals. States Molly Giles, Transition Lead Southeast Region for the USO, “We know women face greater professional challenges than their male counterparts, but women of the military community often face even greater barriers unique to their circumstances. Our goal for the Summit is to empower

more women service members and military spouses to overcome these barriers.”

With a global audience to reach and under the shadow of the pandemic, the USO Summit planning team knew the best format for the Summit was virtual. At the recommendation of their third-party event management partner, USO leaders decided to leverage a virtual venue technology vendor with unique expertise in program-driven, large-scale virtual events, and the team began its vendor selection process.

The Solution With vast experience creating highly customized virtual events and a showcase of unique, well designed virtual exhibit halls, the USO selected the 6Connex virtual venue platform for its Summit, and planning for the event began. Taking advantage of 6Connex’s flexible event space designs, the Summit planning team built a diverse agenda that included topics such as: ¥

Women Service Members: How to Advocate for Yourself in and out of the Military

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Military Spouses: Knowing your Legal Rights in Interviewing, Licensure & Job Transfers

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Growing your Family & Advancing your Career

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Leveraging Education into Professional Progression

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Advancing in Male Dominated Industries

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Setting Goals for Mentorship

Remembers Giles, “By using the 6Connex platform to host multiple programs, we were able to underscore one of our main messages to these women, which is

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Case Study: USO

that ‘transitions’ does not just refer to getting out of the military, but to all evolutions the military community encounters.”

In addition, the USO team worked hard to make the event a success and used every available marketing channel within the USO as well as the 6Connex platform’s promotional tools to achieve their event goals. Says Giles, “The extended USO team put real time and effort into engaging in the ‘white space,’ and we used all available features and functionality in the platform to create buzz around the program and its different offerings.”

Giles also credits the 6Connex team for taking the time to understand the USO team’s priorities and goals for the Summit, especially around visual presentation, and then bringing their vision to life. “The team was fantastic. I gave them ideas for how we wanted the event to feel, and they delivered ten-fold. Presentation and appearance are imperative when hosting an event, and that import multiplies in a virtual event.

We wanted the Summit to feel inviting and safe to encourage engagement and networking. And it was! The colors, the imagery, and the ease with which audience members were able to register and navigate the site achieved our goals.”

Giles also shares that 6Connex Program Visionary Michael Chance played a key role in planning, sharing best practices, and ensuring the team’s decisions aligned with their goals. “Michael was super responsive and helped us navigate any issues we were having. He offered best practices and pointed out when things needed to be altered. The result was a super polished event space that had areas for networking, meeting employers, and sharing personal information.

It flowed well and supported the purpose of the event.”

The Results The USO Women’s Empowerment Summit attracted 250+ registrants and the keynote presentation logged 135+ unique views. In addition, approximately 60% of attendees engaged in all six breakout sessions, and more than half of the audience stayed in the platform for longer than two hours. Summarizes Giles, “We received excellent on the spot comments from our attendees, and our leadership was extremely impressed with the professionalism and polish the platform afforded.” Lisa Elswick, USO’s Vice President of Transitions, concurs, “We expect a certain level of professionalism at all our global events, and this event blew that expectation out of the water.”

When asked if the USO would do anything differently for their next event, Giles surmises, “Next time, I would expand the USO team working with 6Connex, so we can build more rooms and add features.” Giles also adds that she sees an opportunity to leverage the platform for multiple uses. “I would imagine that we could leverage more of our events on this platform and further involve our partners to create more activations.”

Summit presenters were also pleased with the event format and experience. Stated breakout session speaker Dr. Bridget Miller, Veteran and Military Spouse, during the event, “I’m so impressed with the event thus far, way to go on putting together such an empowering Summit.”

Giles notes one of the highlights from the event was a fireside chat with Tamika Tremaglio, Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association.

“She is a force of wisdom and vulnerability, and we received many positive comments from attendees about her willingness to share her personal experiences.”

Attendee comments echoed the Summit planning team and speakers’ enthusiasm for the fireside chat and other available programming:

What an amazing event. It was chock-full of great content, and the whole event seemed to be designed especially for us!

I attended the USO Women’s Empowerment Summit today, what an incredible event.

The resumé session was one of the best I’ve ever been to!

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Case Study: USO

About 6Connex Virtual Event Solutions & Event Tech Our Digital Experience 6Connex is the leading provider of in-person, hybrid, and virtual event technology for enterprises worldwide. Our cloud-based product portfolio includes in-person event apps, virtual venues, webinars, learning management, and more.

Designed for corporations in need of engaging with communities in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid fashion.

From marketing, sales, recruitment, training, and HR communications, to event planning, nonprofits, remote offices, and more, we allow you to engage and transform big ideas into real-world results.

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