BIO2020 LIVE

Over 100 speakers and 400 delegates in three days using a brand new platform... surely this event had ‘DANGER do not enter’ written all over it?

But, to borrow a frequently used online version somehow fostered a greater sense Huge credit to everyone that supported BIO2020 word in the post (and during) event of camaraderie and openness as delegates shared – sponsors (including lead sponsors, Unipart), social media comments, BIO2020 jokes in the chat function or came on screen to exhibitors, speakers, hosts, official support partners was a TRIUMPH……no danger! ask speakers questions direct, in many ways a and delegates. It really did surpass everyone’s more personal and intimate experience than a expectations. Managed and curated by B4, one of Oxfordshire’s physically live event would allow. leading B2B networking communities with SpecialEffect were the official charity of BIO2020 speakers covering a huge range of topics, a But whilst this was an event for Oxfordshire and an online raffle and auction (including a Lionel running theme of purpose in business (and in businesses there were delegates and speakers Messi signed Barcelona shirt) raised £2,667.50. our lives generally) and a strong feeling of family from around the world including the USA, Canada, What a fantastic effort for an amazing charity. and community spreading like wildfire from the Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Spain, Italy, opening session to the last, which enabled some of Tunisia, France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Hats off to the team behind the scenes, to Lorna the speakers to share their own very personal and Ireland, UK, Poland, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Waterfield, Keith Simpson, Rob Scotcher, Ed, Sue incredibly emotional journeys…wow!, BIO2020 Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the and Colin Rosser and event host, Richard Rosser. had everything summed up with one message Philippines…hopefully this will be an evolving on social media after the event ‘where’s my daily theme with BIO and B4 moving forward. THE STORY BEHIND BIO2020 fix?’ BIO2020 FROM TEAM B4 From start to finish there was a packed schedule of That was the secret of BIO2020’s success as content, from opening warm up sessions to closing So what on earth possessed us to schedule a summed up by one delegate, ‘It got steadily more panel sessions including a hugely beneficial panel three day on line event? Well, as many readers addictive!’….that ability for delegates to turn up the run by Oxfordshire LEP on the second afternoon. will know, the 7th annual BIO was always due to volume on their computer when they wanted to Delegates could choose from two talks at any one take place over three days at Jurys Inn, Oxford. hear a particular speaker enabled them to continue time, each of which ran for 20 minutes with a 10 But, as it became clear the pandemic would deny working at home or in the office whilst still feeling minute break in between.. a format which provided us of physical events, we had to act fast. part of a welcoming and vibrant event. So many the right level of content leaving delegates wanting benefits of a physical event were lost but the more.                                                            WHAT OUR DELEGATES TOOK AWAY FROM 3 DAYS AT BIO2020 “Continue to reach out to offer support during and beyond COVID-19. We really want to build momentum in how businesses can be supported in their ‘new normal’ and assist in new ways of working with people at the heart of any change required.” Ian Mundy, Director of Strategy, You HR Consultancy “BIO2020 demonstrated the dynamic and innovative nature of Oxfordshire’s business community. It was inspiring to hear so many show their passion and commitment to driving Oxfordshire forward into a better, fairer, more sustainable future.” John F Kennedy, Marketing Chief, Flexible Funding

                                                              “At BIO 2020 I recognised more than ever what a supportive group B4 is and how diverse the actual businesses are. As someone working for a charity that is invaluable.” Tim Wraith, Corporate Partnerships Manager, Sobell House “I will be including 2 minute mindfulness practice into my working days, I felt so calm after Sophie Maclaren’s session.” Emma Wyatt, LinkedIn Strategist, Social Conversations by Emma

Some Fantastic Feedback

“Well done and thanks indeed to Richard Rosser and B4 team. It certainly was quite an achievement and a brilliant gathering of souls who seemed to share a common motivation that just maybe #BIO2020 could be the pivotal once in a lifetime moment to #changethewayyouthink and #beaforceforgood #joiningupthedots.” Jayne Woodley

“To Richard and team, and everyone I’ve met and interacted this week, thank you for a brilliant event - absolutely superb experience! I look forward to many more, in the real world too - thanks again! It got steadily more addictive!” Stephen Spencer & Associates

“Richard Really tremendous achievement to put on such a wide ranging and dynamic event in current environment. Very well done.” Mark Beard, Beard Construction

“When you have your headphones in Richard you look like a pilot flying a plane; this has been a fantastic journey for us all - feel like I’ve been round the world and back - and your wonderful co-pilots too, all to be congratulated and thanked!” Lucinda Whiteley, Novel Entertainment Ltd

“An excellently organised event, using technology in the right way to bring a wide range of information to a broad audience in a safe and professional manner with just the right level of humour. Everyone wanted this to be a success and it is.” Richard Dorey, Digitizelectric Limited

“I wanted to say to you all that today was a total triumph for all your hard work. Dominic Hare, Blenheim Palace

“Very well organised. It was very enjoyable. I spent most of the day working and listening to the talks. Looking forward to todays’ talks.” Cheryl-Lee Foulsham, Oxford Duplication Centre

“Unbelievable co-ordination and event management!! I think Joanna Mundy is right... you’ve made the impossible possible! Really looking forward to tomorrow.” Hannah Scott, Bioregional and Oxfordshire Greentech

“Spot on event Richard and team... you’ve started something now hashtag#changethewayyouthink” Jonna Mundy, YouHR

“Richard morning, just wanted to drop you a quick line to say you and the team have nailed day 2 at BIO2020 and its only lunchtime. Meant to be dropping in and out but have been in all morning. Great work and really enjoying it - congrats.” Andrew Hancock, BrandAsylum

“Congratulations to you and all the team for an excellent event. The organisation, communication, software and management to deliver a great experience for so many was just brilliant.

When you go for it, there is nothing you and your team can’t deliver with quality. Mike Foster, The Entrepreneurs Mentor

“BIO2020 showcased the variety, energy and versatility of the Oxford business community. I will take away the importance of working together, being flexible and innovative, always looking to the future.” Duncan Crine, Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution Oxford, Freeths LLP “Being able to talk more freely in sessions makes them even better…” “How we can work more in a virtual way…” “‘Chat’ can be more insightful than standard Q&A sessions….” “Introduction to unknown businesses…” “Wanted to join more sessions but interrupted by work commitments during the day.” “How strong B4 is as a platform for local businesses of all sizes good preparation for speakers in advance of event.” “Adaptability.” “Learnings from others.” “Great conversation kickstarter.” “Subjects covered was great.” “Use storytelling more” “B4 Team is fantastic! They pulled together their first virtual huge BIO event so quickly!” “Platform to get feedback from a wide variety of people.” “Focus on business for good was a great success I thought.” “Loads of inspiring ideas.” “Good audience.” “The world has changed and that brings possibilities.” “The talks become way more important.” “There are many opportunities beyond COVID 19 - stay optimistic and engaged online platforms are reliable.” “Excellent community spirit.” “Google Ads and FB Ads seem to be rated.” “Short session content worked.” “Important to know the B4 community are willing to collaborate with each other. Networking and collaboration is crucial.” “The buzz and participating as a delegate, speaker, networking, being on the stand.” “Ability to dip in and out of sessions / connect with others.” “The ability to experience a 3-day event around my own work / home school schedule.” “I got so much more out of the event being able to pick and choose my way through a 3-day agenda when I would only have been able to attend one day of the traditional event.” “The virtual aspect lowered usual barriers to interaction when face to face - the interaction on the talks in the chat was a brilliant stimulus for further conversation and was more active than some post-talk Q&A sessions can be when everyone’s in a room together.” “You did it! Team B4 pulled off a superb event connecting the business community when we need each other most - thank you and well done!” “The feel and look, ability to select sessions to attend.” “The ability to jump in and out of sessions all day. Had the event been in person, I wouldn’t have been able to attend across all 3 days and for as much of the time as I did.” “The initiative shown by B4 was outstanding and you should all be congratulated.” “The huge amount of speakers and the quality of the talks available. B4 truly are an incredible team. Well done.” “Well organsied and impressive B4 effort to do this. It would have been an enormous amount of work and congratulations to Richard, Lorna and the team for your first go at this.” “The enthusiasm, energy and range of subjects.” “Richard set the tone with his easy-going nature which must have hidden the chaos that was undoubtedly going on in the background!!” “It was easy to come in and out of things.” “The variety of speakers and the breadth of the event was impressive, not least at such short notice. The team were really kind, helpful and hard working, and I’m sure worked tirelessly to make it run smoothly.” “Being able to dip in and out of talks that I was interested in throughout the day while still being able to carry on with day to day work. Also the length of the talks was a good amount of time to for enthusiastic and insightful summaries rather than drawn out lectures.” “It provided a really helpful opportunity to think more generally about strategy and marketing. There was plenty of practical advice, which was great, and input was from speakers from a range of business stakeholders (diversity beyond my own industry is always welcome as I like pulling in ideas from elsewhere).” “The sense of community.” “It was dynamic - short, punchy sessions work well.” “The intimacy and the ability to interact with the speakers and other audience members.” “Excellent topics and the Hopin platform was mostly seamless. Great interaction with the speakers/moderators with the audience via the chat box.” “The large number of different talks was great. I feel like I ‘attended’ far more talks than I would have been able to physically in person at an event like this. That was a real high point, I was able to squeeze that much more out of the event!”                                                                                16 WHAT OUR DELEGATES TOOK AWAY FROM 3 DAYS AT BIO2020 AND MANY MORE KEY TAKEAWAYS….

We cut our teeth by delivering over 40 live webinars covering a whole host of support topics for businesses, every day at 12pm. On some days we ran up to four live webinars and we felt pretty stretched, so how on earth would we cope with over thirty A DAY?!

The secret was in the planning. We chose the right platform (we didn’t know that until after the event, mind you) as Hopin provided a warm and friendly, gated environment which not only provided easy access and ‘Hopinabilty’ between talks, but also the chat function which allowed what seemed like lost friends to reconnect. The only downside was the inability to see everyone, as per Zoom, but it worked, it was more than enough and allowed our speakers to plough on with their talks. So thank you Hopin, a new platform but a great platform.

Once the platform was chosen, the real hard work began. In a matter of days, we had set up over 100 promotional tiles for speakers, sponsors, official support partners and exhibitors; over 30 promotional videos to help the speakers get word out that they were speaking at BIO2020; a comprehensive website with a growing agenda and so much more. Lorna and Keith managed the speaker platform familiarisation trials over three days; delegates, speakers and exhibitors were given crystal clear instructions how to navigate the platform and much, much more. We were delighted to get SpecialEffect on board as our official charity…that added a great feel good aspect to the event. The opening session with Frank Nigriello from Unipart, Rob Panting and Nigel Tipple from Oxfordshire LEP, Emma Wyatt’s (daily) LinkedIn update and auction and raffle latest news from SpecialEffect gave us a great start.

To get feedback from so many people that they logged in on the Tuesday morning with the intention of going back to work within a couple of sessions, only to be still glued to BIO2020 ‘like a good book you can’t put down’ was all the praise we needed to tell us that BIO2020 had been a success.

Yes we’ve had some great praise but it’s important to understand where we can improve and with webinars and digital content a key element of B4’s life moving forward, we have to learn to be better whenever possible.

Thanks again to everyone who supported us… the next one’s already in the works!!

Sadly not everyone was happy….. “Refreshments were poor and I was looking forward to my delivery of pizza at the end of the event - very disappointing.”

To see the full agenda of content please visit: www.businessinoxford.com

Some Fantastic Feedback

“The last 3 days have been brilliant and I cannot thank the team at #b4 enough for making Business in Oxford such an amazing experience.” Stephen Cook, V Purposeful Strategy

“Well done to everyone at B4 - an amazing 3 days!” Michael Pawley, Proficio

“Richard you and the rest of the team have done so much in such a short notice, Well Done....and Thank you Keith, Rob and Lorna for all your support and guidance.” Placi Espejo, Oxford Technology Park

“Really felt like a family affair in the best possible way- glad to be a part of it!” Lucinda Whiteley, Novel Entertainment

“5 star event - loved the ability to pop in to loads of interesting sessions over the 3 days without having to move! And enjoyed the good level of interactivity - via chat and great moderation. Hats off to the team!” Judy Davis, Judy Davis Marketing

“And a huge thanks and respect to Richard and team BIO. What a great achievement to have put on such a brilliant expo, and in such an easy-going, friendly way. It has kickstarted a lot of us into the online 21st Century (or maybe just me).” Mike Jennings, Jennings of Garsington

“Fantastic effort guys! Really well done. What a great achievement!!! When’s the next one?!” Amy Hewick, Amy Hewick Events

“Great work by the #BIO team and speakers, thanks again for your support for SpecialEffect.” Nick Streeter, SpecialEffect

“Epic three days. You put the heart into business. Well done and thank you Richard and the B4 team! Have a well deserved drink or two!” Gita Lobo, Autism Family Support Oxfordshire

“Yes a brilliant event. WELL DONE to the entire BIO2020 team for making it happen. Thanks also to all the great speakers.” John F Kennedy, Flexible Finance

“I’m so sorry I’ll miss the final session as I have a 5pm I can’t change. So great that you all pulled this off in a BIG way. Congrats! And it was wonderful to connect with all my Oxford pals! Nick Streeter excited you’ve been able to raise over £2.5k! “Can’t believe I was on at the same time as @Emma Jones (one of my total heroes)” Joy Foster, TechPixies

“This has been a fabulous event. Thank you to the entire BIO2020 team for making this run so smoothly and be of huge benefit and so much fun.” Sally Green

“Congratulations team B4 - nailed it. Well done and thanks for all your efforts.” Alex Sayers, XIST2

“Thank you everyone… Now get outta here!” BIO2020 LIVE