Good Growth: Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs

Good Growth
Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs

The brief

In October 2020, Forgather joined forces with Google, TCS, SVC2UK, Snap Inc., Founders4Schools, Digital Boost, and Enders Analysis to produce a virtual event that would champion, inspire and support women entrepreneurs.

Recent research had revealed that the global pandemic had affected women the most, and the UK was no exception. Good Growth: Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs was designed to celebrate the strength and diversity of women-led businesses; and what better day for it than Ada Lovelace day, a day dedicated to the achievements of women in STEM.

The solution

Combining inspirational keynotes, interviews with female leaders and deep dive workshops, the event provided a UK-wide community of women entrepreneurs, as well as both school and university students, with the digital tools and techniques essential to building sustainable businesses. Three content streams provided a ‘choose your own adventure’ experience, with sessions tailored to size and type of business. Speed networking and small group breakouts also encouraged collaboration and learning, with participants invited to share challenges and best practice.

Our role

As project leads, Forgather guided the event from start to finish – from the initial research to find the best virtual events platform for our needs, to the recruitment and management of our growing speaker line up, including Clare Gilmartin, CEO of Trainline, Maria Raga, CEO of Depop, Sharmadean Reid, CEO of Beautystack and Oona King, VP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Snap Inc., and managing the commercial and content partnerships. We enjoyed a successful collaboration with SVC2UK who managed the scaleup sessions and effectively engaged their female founder community. We also worked closely with our production partners to get the best out of the event technology, and ensure polished and professional stage content.

Proud moments

  • Achieving a turnout of 475 guests, and defying virtual event fatigue with participants staying online for an average of 143 minutes in a three hour event.

  • Managing a two-week print and digital campaign to gain national media profile and registrations for the event, through partnerships with the FT and brand agency FutureKings.

  • Building a community beyond the event – all those who registered were invited to join a Digital Boost programme providing one-to-one mentoring to support their business’s growth, as well an online community which continued to grow and remain active post event.

Praise

“What a wonderful conference. It was very well organised and the networking made it very real!  Great effort, we look forward to keeping this momentum and taking this much further! Well done!!”
Priyanka Sethi, Head of Sales, Communication, Media and Information Services, UK&I, Tata Consultancy Services

“What a wonderful successful event - and I hope it has the impact we all desire!”
Nishma Robb, Marketing Director, Google

“Thank you for an excellent digital conference! A masterclass in technology logistics and execution. That in itself was a great take away from today. as was the content of course”
Sophie Dow, Founder, Salvesen Mindroom Centre 

“The best bit? The inspiration I got from many, down to earth, women and role models. I felt profound solidarity and experienced confidence”
Claudia Mosca, Founder, Brifiworks

Labster: 1 Million & Beyond

Labster: 1 Million & Beyond

The brief

It had been a huge year for Labster. With their virtual labs, science education can take place anywhere, anytime. An amazing democratic resource for students amidst a global pandemic. Labster enlisted the help of Forgather to celebrate their 1 million student milestone with a team get together – although by the time we got to celebrating they had hit 2 million!

The solution

The chance to gather in person was just not possible, so Forgather moved the festivities online. We brought together 157 Labster employees across 19 different countries to celebrate their successes whilst enjoying cakes in Copenhagen, breakfast in Boston, dessert in Bali, and so on…sourced and sent by us.

Our role

Mindful that people were joining from many different time zones, we designed and delivered pacey and engaging content, keeping Labster people at the core of the programme. The continuous cheering and words of appreciation that zipped through the chat gave a real buzz to the event. Whether people were just waking up or ending their day, the enthusiasm was contagious. 

Forgather managed crowd sourced videos (which made the client cry with pride!), combining footage from both bashful and boisterous Labsterians. We worked with Labster employees all over the world to deliver live panels where they shared stories and experiences from their Labster journeys. These panels, coupled with breakout lounges and speed networking opportunities, created a real sense of camaraderie and fun.

As our client noted, we made their HR team look like superheroes – job done!

Proud moments

  • Giving people the chance to meet with someone they might not have otherwise – 147 connections were made during the speed networking rounds, or the “colleague raffle” as one person termed it.

  • Creating a strong sense of engagement and involvement – the energy and enthusiasm from employees was contagious, with over 500 comments cheering on the speakers, and people staying on the platform to chat, long after the event ended.

  • Sourcing and delivering 80 food hampers to employees across the globe, to be enjoyed during the event, a logistical challenge when there are multiple destinations and time zones involved.

  • Giving our HR client, the confidence to step up and share Labster’s diversity story, when she would usually take a behind the scenes role.

  • Mic’ing up a Lobster!

Praise

“In doing a little research, I ended up speaking with the team at Forgather to review my super exciting thoughts on our virtual party. I had no idea what I was doing since this is not necessarily my wheelhouse, but I couldn't have imagined a better, more kind, thoughtful and well-executed team than Forgather. They knew what questions to ask and all of the planning that went into it. They also had a great understanding and sense of the best feel for the event and boy they blew it out of the water! They made the HR team look like superheroes, and I am still getting comments from team members on how epic this was!"
Laura Babin, HR, Labster

Net Zero Sessions

Net Zero Sessions

The challenge

As well as working with clients, we also build our own event properties which bring together communities around important topics.

The Net Zero Sessions was one of Forgather’s passion projects - a series of virtual events and curated conversations on the role business can play in tackling the climate emergency. Our aim was to build a new community around this critical cause.

The solution

We gathered business leaders and policymakers from scaleups to blue chips to connect and find creative ways to collaborate in this time of climate crisis. We co-created this event series with Oli Barrett - serial entrepreneur and our favourite conference and awards host.

To make this event series a success, we forged partnerships with three organisations whose values aligned with our own and who supported our marketing efforts - The Future Economy Network, ADLIB and Ecologi. We also ran targeted social media campaigns, as well as tapping into our wide network of entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Proud moments

  • A speaker lineup including Greg Jackson, CEO & Founder of Octopus Energy; Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods; Vicky Murray, Sustainability Manager at Pukka Herbs, and Blandine Surry, General Manager of Loop Europe.

  • Creating opportunities for our community to connect, through 1:1 speed networking, and intimate virtual roundtable discussions.

  • Planting a forest of over 6,700 trees - through our partnership with Ecologi, funded by ticket donations.

Praise

“A truly inspirational and cross-sectional group of people all committed to solving the climate crisis - fantastic to be part of!”
Tessa Clarke, CEO, OLIO

“Like a lockdown human espresso! Super slick staging, loved the fireside chat. Would have happily listened to more.”
Ben Keene, Co-Founder, Rebel Book Club

"Stimulating, invigorating and inspiring. Net Zero Sessions help you dream a better future."
Sebastian Dreyfus, CEO, Adgistics

"The Net Zero Sessions were perfectly pitched to gain knowledge and insight into this important topic."
Cath Mcilwham, Head of CSR, SPAR UK

Virtual dinner with a difference

Virtual dinner with a difference

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”  - Virginia Woolf

The challenge

Sharing good food and wine together is at the heart of Snowball, our community of tech entrepreneurs, investors and business leaders. How could we do this in lockdown? With plans on hold for our regular Snowball dinners at hot spots around London, we pulled together a virtual dinner with a difference.

The solution

We teamed up with Jimmy Garcia Catering to create the first virtual Snowball dinner. With the help of Jimmy and his team, we organised delivery of 25 gourmet meals to our guests around London, and for those outside of London we shared recipes so they could recreate the magic at home. Through delicious food, shared together across all of our homes, we aimed to create the same feeling of togetherness we’d usually experience in person.

The details

We hosted the event as a Zoom meeting, and kicked off with a chat from Jimmy who talked us through the menu which included amongst other deliciousness New Zealand spring lamb rump, fondant potatoes, salsa verde, cavolo nero and garden pea puree.

In keeping with the foodie theme, we also heard from entrepreneur Tessa Clarke, CEO & Co-Founder of food sharing app OLIO, to share how they’re connecting local communities even in times of social distancing, and getting food to those most in need under lockdown. 

After a group chat, we split off to have more intimate conversations at smaller ‘tables’ using Zoom’s breakout function. All that was left for us to do was provide regular prompts throughout the evening to keep people on track with their cooking timings…and revel in the scenes of kitchen chaos and plate picture-sharing.

Proud moments

  • Livening up lockdown – sharing good food and good conversation with an international gathering of inspiring tech leaders from around Europe and the US.

  • Supporting a great cause – Jimmy shared details of how we could back his #donateadinner campaign to send healthy meals to vulnerable elderly communities.

  • Getting 30% of our diners to download the OLIO app to fight food waste.

  • Being asked to host this format for a group for one of our guests.  

Praise

“What a total triumph last night was! Thank you all so much for what was - hands down - the best night of lockdown so far.  We both had so much fun, but the logistical and organisational challenges must have been quite something. You made it look easy and serene, which must be testament to a huge amount of work beforehand. Really, a huge thank you.”
Ali Griffiths, Director of Strategy, Innovate Finance

“Thank you for arranging a fun and interactive evening…it worked really well and I know that is down to hours of organising!”
Carla Stent, Chair, Savernake Capital Ltd

“The format was intimate, compelling – particularly the breakouts! I'm in love with it.”
Richard Titus, Co-Founder & General Partner, ARK Fund

Yext

The Art of Location

The brief

Originally founded in New York, global location data management leader Yext had launched in London, and needed to make their mark on the UK retail and tech scene.

The solution

We partnered with Yext to create a series of events that would help raise brand awareness and drive new business. The first event The Art of Location, marked the official arrival of Yext in London, and took place at the Viewing Terrace, on the 10th Floor of the Switch House, the brand new development at the Tate Modern. 

Proud moments:

  • Challenging guests' perception of location and the nature of trespass with stellar speaker and urban explorer Dr. Bradley Garrett.

  • Bringing the content and location to life by using AR app Skignz to place digital signs over landmarks seen from the Viewing Terrace.

  • Our quickest ever venue turnaround; we transformed the space in just one hour between the gallery closing to the public and our guests arriving...

Praise:

“The Art of Location was a key event for Yext, as we celebrated our official launch in the UK. With our marketing team based in the US, we needed a trusted event partner to be an extension of our team and manage things on the ground seamlessly. Forgather are creative, versatile, brimming with great ideas and always a pleasure to work with. Like everything we’ve collaborated on, the event was faultlessly executed, and we were thrilled to achieve a great turnout and tremendous feedback from both attendees and senior leadership”.

Jon Buss - Managing Director, Yext

Microsoft: The Gallery of the Future

The brief

Microsoft Accelerator wanted to ratchet up a notch their London’s cohort demo day. We were thrilled to help them create The Gallery of the Future - an immersive showcase aimed at London’s tech elite and innovation seekers, designed to provide insights on the technologies shaping our future and the way we do business.

The solution

Spanning 22,000 feet in the heart of the West End, Bloomsbury Square’s Victoria House basement was our venue. After eight quick fire pitches from the Accelerator cohort and two lightning TED-style tech talks from a leading academic and senior evangelist from Microsoft’s Lift London, our guests were able to sample the latest in mixed reality technology from HoloLens. The conversation continued in our cohort lounge over food, drinks and music courtesy of DJ Anna. 

A sample of the brands who joined us: Accenture, BBC, Burberry, Capgemini, Centrica, Coop, Coutts, Dentsu Aegis, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Jaguar Land Rover, JP Morgan, KPMG, Mediacom, Metro Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ocado, Ogilvy & Mather, Sainsburys, Santander UK plc, Shell, Sky, Tesco Labs, Vodafone, WPP.

Proud moments:

  • With a target of 300 attendees, we were delighted to open our doors to 450 tech influencers, investors, corporates and startups, despite there being a tube strike on that day… 

  • Transforming a cavernous white space into a stylish gallery-style installation, complete with large format graphics, and two custom-built HoloLens experience rooms. The transformation was so seamlessly achieved, some members of the audience thought it a permanent Microsoft home.

  • Helping forge deeper connections between Microsoft Accelerator and Microsoft’s corporate customer base and playing a significant part in shifting perceptions to a new Microsoft as a platform for business innovation.

Praise:

"The Gallery of the Future was born out of a desire to challenge the startup demo day status quo. Forgather came up with the concept and pulled off an ambitious event that got the London Accelerator talked about by the rest of Microsoft and Microsoft’s customer base. 

Once again my faith and trust in Forgather has been exceeded. Once again, no glitches and no screw ups which is why we choose to exclusively work with Forgather for all of our events. I look forward to working together again to raise the bar".

Warwick Hill, CEO-in-Residence & MD, Microsoft Accelerator London

Balderton

Balderton’s CEO Collective 

The brief

Balderton Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe, wanted an event to help them forge stronger relationships with their CEOs, encourage peer to peer learning, and share the latest news on the firm. We were appointed to co-create and manage their inaugural retreat, which we went on to design and deliver in partnership with Balderton biannually, in some gorgeous locations in the UK and beyond.

Proud moments: 

  • Achieving a net promoter score of +95 with 98% of people rating it ‘excellent’.

  • Delivering a fascinating speaker line-up including trailblazing neuroscientist Moran Cerf, and cultural expert Erin Meyer, who decoded how cultural differences impact international business. Acclaimed by the CEOs as the most relevant speaker.

  • Playing our cards right against international poker player Patrik Antonius, the winner of the biggest pot in the history of online poker, at $1,356,947. In the post-dinner tournament one founder nearly took him…

  • Tackling entrepreneur burnout by offering yoga, wild running across a vineyard and frank story sharing sessions.

  • Hosting the event outside the UK and forging life-long bonds over wine tasting, pétanque and our own ‘Tour de France’ road biking.  

Praise:

“Outsourcing Balderton’s CEO Collective retreat to Belinda and Forgather meant we had a trusted partner to design and manage this important bi-annual event. It’s a discerning audience (both internally and externally) and Belinda shaped the event communications, developed the agenda with us and picked a venue that everyone loved. With Forgather sweating the details that made a difference to the experience, we could concentrate on the event’s participants – the CEOs/founders in our portfolio companies. I look forward to working together on the next big thing”.

Suranga Chandratillake – General Partner, Balderton

There were lots of serendipitous chats with other CEOs and partners, resulting in actionable next steps. I’m leaving with a bunch of things I want to follow up on.

Chris Morton, Co-Founder & CEO, Lyst.

Location and timing were both excellent, compact enough to be highly energetic throughout, expansive enough to refresh and think anew.

Ed Cooke, Co-Founder & CEO, Memrise.

It’s amazing feeling that we are a family of great entrepreneurs all looking to help each other if needed. And that’s powerful.

Karim Kaddoura, Co-Founder, Virtuo.

For us, scaling is key. To have so many people with actual helpful advice in one place - priceless!

Andreas Liffgarden, Co-Founder, Soundtrack Your Brand.

Video highlights from the Balderton CEO Collective 2022 at Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.

Highlights from the CEO Collective 2018 at La Coquillade, France.

Not wanting to forget some favourite moments, below is a snapshot of the CEO Collective from Chicheley Hall in 2014, and when we took over Soho Farmhouse in 2016.

Connections

Taking an event to new heights

Artesian was a customer intelligence software solution that provided contextual, relevant insight into companies and their markets. Forgather partnered with Artesian to help them grow Connections, their B2B sales and marketing conference. The ambition was to attract new customers and prospects, and position the conference as the leading event dedicated to sales and marketing excellence. Following the success of the event we were retained to run two annual Connections conferences, providing a wrap around project management service - tackling everything from speaker recruitment to onsite production.

Proud moments:

  • Delivering an 86% turnout on registrations. Unheard of in London.

  • Achieving great customer satisfaction with 95% of guests saying they would recommend the event to their colleagues.

  • Securing a range of stellar speakers to inspire and challenge traditional thinking - from GB cycling team psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters, to Scotland Yard hostage negotiator Richard Mullender. 

Praise:

“Belinda knocked it out of the park at Connections. Over 200 attendees and the most stimulating and thought provoking afternoon of content we could have wished for – Forgather just rocks!”

Andrew Yates, CEO, Artesian

Criteo in the Park

An afternoon of inspirational content, cocktails and pedalo-ing on the Serpentine...

The brief

A summer event for 100 digital marketing and eCommerce contacts in Criteo’s Retail and Travel client base, which would combine marketing insight and some summer fun.

The solution

A hands-on thought-provoking view of the future of customer experience held at the glorious, Zaha Hadid-designed Magazine Restaurant in Kensington Gardens with keynotes from Wired Editor, David Rowan, and German futurist, Dietmar Dahmen. Coupled with a gallery of immersive installations demonstrating Virtual Reality, AI and delivery robots in real world applications. 

Proud moments:

  • Powering an event of full-on participation: with Google glasses for all, and voting on future trends via audience engagement app Glisser.

  • Curating the cream of the latest customer experience from digital showrooms and shop floors made by Imagination, Inition, Holition, Starship, Digital Genius and Village.

  • Pedalo racing on the Serpentine in the summer sunshine wth Forgather (the next generation) providing the pedaling power.

  • Breaking the cardinal rule and holding the event on a Monday, and getting a full house. 

Microsoft Accelerator Founders' Summit

The brief

Microsoft wanted to bring together tech company founders and graduates of its Accelerator programme from across the globe, to build relationships, swap stories and help solve each other’s business challenges. The event was to be a catalyst in building a connected, alumni community.

The solution

Historic Chicheley Hall was our home for 24 hours, with a packed agenda covering funding, talent and culture, negotiation and listening, as well as intimate ‘Founders’ Dilemma’ storytelling sessions. Yoga, poker and laser clay shooting also provided opportunities to relax and unwind.

Our role

With the stakeholders based in Israel and the US, we took an active role in shaping the agenda, recruited all external speakers, found the perfect venue and added all the finishing flourishes to create the feeling of a cosy, family-style gathering. We had fun unleashing our creativity on Chicheley Hall - completely re-styling it by bringing in vintage furniture and gorgeous flowers to provide an authentic country house environment.

Proud moments:

  • Achieving a net promoter score of +93; with 83% scoring the event ‘excellent’ and 17% scoring it ‘above average’. The highest our client had ever seen for an event.

  • Challenging the status quo of a typical tech event, with a female-dominated speaker line-up, including Jane Reddin from Balderton and Nancy Fechnay from Flight Ventures.

Praise:

"This was our inaugural founders’ event, the first of its kind and another step in Microsoft Accelerators’ efforts to help and connect our global alumni. It was crucial that it went well. As I am not based out of the UK, I needed someone that knew the tech ecosystem, best facilities and local vendors - Forgather came highly recommended and they did not disappoint. They were partners every step of the way, connected us to the best speakers and content and helped construct the schedule from A to Z.

We sprinted from the idea for this event to delivery in less than two and a half months and I felt like I had great support from the Forgather team. This truly was a wonderful event, and I’m thrilled with the results. The numbers speak for themselves – a net promoter score as high as +93 is a huge achievement. I couldn’t have done it without you".

Toni Hasson, Global Alumni Program Manager, Microsoft Accelerator