Summary

With large public gatherings still in question, HRAI held all three of their Divisional AGMs in a virtual setting on the same day at staggered times. As a non-profit organization operating in Canada, HRAI has a legal requirement to hold divisional AGM’s for its members. For HRAI’s team, hosting three divisional AGM’s virtually for the first time alongside a townhall, seemed a complex problem to solve which is why BUKSA’s role was vital in ensuring that HRAI’s divisional AGMs were successfully and seamlessly transitioned from in-person to virtual.

Our Role

BUKSA was brought in as a consultant to assist the HRAI to transition their AGM to a virtual experience and to elevate and enhance the work of their in-house staff. BUKSA’s focus was on ensuring a high-quality virtual event where all users were confident in the platform and how to participate. BUKSA was responsible for establishing a critical path, reviewing communications, orienting speakers and board members to the platforms and virtual world, and providing technical coordination of the platform leading up to and throughout the event.

Value Add

Follow the Path: Critical Path Development
With a short planning time frame and HRAI staff working remotely, it was important to have a critical path for the team to follow. A robust plan was established to ensure staff was meeting deadlines, clear roles and individual responsibilities were outlined, and that all bylaw requirements were met. The plan was reviewed on a weekly basis and was key to the AGMs coordination in a tight time frame.

Consulting Services
HRAI has an amazing team of staff in place and required BUKSA to come in as a consultant and assist and elevate their new experience in a virtual world. Our team is trained at providing consulting services and guiding clients, which resulted in the seamless execution of the AGM allowing our client to shine.

Platform Confidence
Ensuring that all of the board members and key stakeholders felt both confident and comfortable using the platform was a necessary ingredient for the success of HRAI’s back to back AGMs. By engaging BUKSA by taking on the role of platform rehearsal and management, it gave the board members and stakeholders the opportunity to listen, learn, and feel confident in using both Zoom and LUMI. Sometimes it’s helpful to have an external expert guiding and coaching your team for them to focus and listen to advice.

Technical Coaching
Creating a simple, transparent virtual experience for HRAI’s membership was integral to the success of their transition from in-person to the virtual environment.

The BUKSA team focused heavily on IT and AV testing, offered rehearsals, individual coaching and additional support sessions. As the saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect!’ and BUKSA facilitated one-on-one technical training rehearsals on both platforms that were used during the AGM. There were two full event rehearsals, which also included meeting with each speaker from three different divisions to discuss all the finer details including virtual backgrounds, clothing, presentation tips and tricks.

Presenter guidelines and coaching was offered to ensure that all were fully comfortable with the event platform and are presenting with confidence. Videos and animations were incorporated into the slideshows to create dynamic presentations and turn some of the more lackluster parts of the AGM (finances!) more visually appealing.

This extensive preparation gave the Executive confidence in providing members a positive virtual AGM experience. Post-AGM attendee survey results proved this sentiment with most commenting on a seamless experience and no suggestions for improvement.