duced as a citywide event, utilizing the large
convention center for the program, multiple
hotels for housing and a variety of additional
venues for special events. Foldvik says as the
conference has been growing each year, they
felt it was time to try this model.
“Convention centers usually give you a little more leniency on branding and you have
more space,” she says. “Whereas at a hotel, you
may have other groups moving in and out, you
have transient traf;ic coming in through the
hotel space or smaller groups taking a room
here or a room there. The hotels also control
more of what you can and cannot put around.
So for us it was a great branding opportunity.”
Foldvik says they were unsure how attendees would react to the change of not having
everything—hotel rooms and the conference
program—under one roof, but the feedback
was overwhelmingly positive.
“They really liked being in a downtown
environment where there were other things
to do and restaurants to visit,” she says. “Some
that are held under one roof you don’t even
get to experience the outside weather… so just
being able to walk from their hotels, they ap-
preciated being able to get out and experience
the fresh air.”
The conference ran for two full days
on Monday and Tuesday and half a day on
Wednesday. During that time, attendees heard
keynotes from Pulitzer Prize-winning New
York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and
actress and political activist Ashley Judd, and
they received updates about new products
and future plans from Blackbaud CEO Mike
Gianoni and other executives. Additional con-
tent included large sessions led by industry
leaders on topics and trends such as fund-
raising, nonpro;it technology and measuring
outcomes and dozens of breakout sessions
grouped into seven tracks, some for speci;ic
sectors such as education and others based on
function such as online communications and
marketing.
This was the ;irst year that Jennifer Claudy,
development services of;icer for Beech Acres
Parenting Center in Cincinnati, was able to attend the conference.
“I really liked the variety of sessions—
from the keynote speakers to the big concept
sessions down to the smaller more technical
learning sessions on the software products
themselves,” she says. “It was a nice mix.”
The conference also includes an exhibit
hall that offers displays and hands-on demon-
strations from about 60 partner companies, as
well as Blackbaud itself.
To bring the feel and ;lavor of Austin into
the event, organizers worked with a local destination marketing company, Kennedy Creative Events.
“One of the challenges was we wanted
people to have the experience of Austin but
we obviously needed to keep them within the
convention space so they could enjoy all the
great content we have, so we did everything
we could to inject the Austin vibe into the conference,” Belanger says.
Austin’s motto is “Live Music Capital of the
World,” so naturally live entertainment was a
critical piece of that strategy. Cristin Meehan,
director of operations for Kennedy Creative
Events, says initially they were talking about
using just a couple of entertainers during the
conference, but as the planning progressed
they added musicians anywhere they could ;it
them in, from opening the general sessions to
lunch time to breaks.
“There are musicians around every corner
here, which is such a great thing about our
city,” she says. “You can get people that are up
and coming for great prices.”
To bring energy to the opening general
session on Monday, Meehan and her team
brought in a drumline that performed as it
strolled down the aisles and then up onto the
stage. Additional entertainment included rov-
ing acrobats, a one-man funk band known as
Henry + The Invisibles, vocalist and guitarist
Ben Cina and singer-songwriter Drew Davis.
“You can’t bring a group to Austin and not
have live music,” Meehan says. “I always cringe
when people ask about a DJ.”
Austin-based indie folk-rock band Friendly
Savages headlined a reception Tuesday night
at the convention center. To help it feel like a
casual backyard party, Meehan and her team
used a variety of local wild;lowers, succulents,
aloe, moss and birch twigs to create ;loral
arrangements for the event. Faux food truck
façades, picnic tables and linen fabrics added
to the party’s rustic feel.
The conference also includes more than a
dozen smaller receptions tailored to speci;ic
groups of attendees, such as those working
in education or the arts. Organizers say they
include these types of events every year based
on attendee feedback that they value these
networking opportunities.
“It’s important to our clients when they are
coming to a larger conference like that to be
able to really have some one-on-one time or
smaller group time with people who are doing
the same thing they are doing in the industries
and verticals that they are supporting, so they
can learn from each other in a casual environment,” Belanger says.
In Austin, the reception for those working
in the arts took place at the Blanton Museum
of Art, which is a customer of Blackbaud and
offered to host the event.
The Austin location also allowed organizers to involve staff from the local Blackbaud
of;ice in the conference. In addition to being at
the event to interact with customers, some local staff members served on the “bbconcierge”
team, assisting attendees at registration, with
directions and in other support roles. Foldvik
says this meant she had to hire a few more
temporary workers than she does when the
event is held in other cities.
Shilpa Bakre, senior communications
manager for the Austin CVB, cites the city’s
wide variety of hotels, entrepreneurial spirit and walkable downtown as some of the
reasons Austin is growing in popularity with
meeting and conference planners. The city
will add more than 2,000 hotel rooms in
2016, bringing the total number to more than
10,000 rooms downtown and nearly 37,000
across the city.
“The recent and future additions of new
hotel product continue to intrigue meeting
planners as do the many local eclectic venues that are all very well versed with hosting
events with local ;lair,” Bakre says.
Foldvik says that while the overlap of her
event with the Formula 1 race was not ideal,
she’s proud of the way she and her team managed all of the challenges and produced a conference that was well-received by attendees.
“I don’t know that we’d necessarily do anything different,” she says. ■
“There are musicians around every corner here, which
is such a great thing about our city. You can get people
that are up and coming for great prices.”
