SAPPHIRE vs SAPPHIRE NOW

Broadcast centers will share programming from Frankfurt and Orlando with attendees in both locations, online and at satellite events in other countries. The design team will help decide which perspectives to bring in from industry experts, analysts and journalists.

Category SAPPHIRE SAPPHIRE NOW
Cadence Moment in time Continuous experience; Connected moments
Content Push; Show and tell; SAP Centric Pull; Experience; Ecosystem, community and individual-centric
Online Event site Community site
Physical One-time event Multi-touch
Relationship Attendee; Isolated Community Member, Individual; Open to rest of the world

The team thinks about virtual delegate engagement design as well. With SAPPHIRENOW.com and a strong social media component, the online experience will be a dialogue, not a presentation.

The field sales team shares ideas—from securing time with board members to using the show floor and resources. The team also produces education sessions to help sales reps customize their agendas, create unique value propositions and use special interest activities in one-to-one sales campaigns.

The social media campaign creates Twitter (#sapphirenow), Facebook and LinkedIn properties that strategically "leak" information. Email blasts, ads and other channels promote the new SAPPHIRE NOW name to boost expectations of a new experience.

The plan works. In about three weeks stakeholders, bloggers and customers pick up SAPPHIRE NOW as the new brand.

The team also launches a social media-monitoring tool about 90 days out to track mentions in blogs, tweets and discussion forums. The rebrand makes monitoring essential to track volume, retweets and online dialogue tone as well as questions, attitudes and concerns.

From the Show Floor

Planning is complete, time to launch the experience. Onsite, the central broadcast centers feature three studios and a control room that rivals any major network. A large, interactive video screen constitutes one of the center's walls.

Over three days, the team produces more than 400 programs in the broadcast center, which are also streamed live via SAPPHIRENOW.com. Pre-program interviews set the context for on-stage speeches, and post-presentation interviews dive deeper into subject matter. Pre-taped shows demonstrate the ways customers use SAP.

There's buzz about the concerts (Santana in Orlando and Duran Duran in Frankfurt). The choice of these musicians is conscious; like everything else, entertainment is strategy down, not logistics up.

The campuses are organized around topic areas and at each campus, theaters show 20-minute presentations on pertinent topics. Nearby, speakers and participants meet in discussion rooms. Virtual delegates participate via streaming video. Experts host "on demand" discussions in the Executive Meeting Center, demo areas and kiosks.

Every campus has areas with tables and chairs and a projection area for hosting micro forums, or small group discussions on specialized topics. Everyone has access to more detailed content online.

The show floor encourages interaction with round tables, couches, small meeting rooms, small amphitheatres and telepresence rooms for virtual conversations. Sound and lighting are key to creating personal experiences across the show floor.

Delegates use kiosks to access personalized information. Other show floor areas include the Boardroom of the Future and Meet Our Customers. Everything in Orlando is mirrored in Frankfurt, though EMEA also hosts rooms for each of its regions. The Leadership Forum targets c-level execs.

The keynote center and show floor feature 60-by-18-foot screens. A video loop delivers brand messaging.

Big video screens are particularly useful at a time when there's a big brand rollout or you're trying to convey something like a very big, simple idea. And in this case, where there is so much new stuff that we are trying to convey, the screens are really helpful. There is a macro view from afar which conveys an emotion or reinforces something very general and broad. And then a micro view when you get down in the campus, where you're at eye level looking at things. You have to organize things there so people know where to start.
Rick Stockton, senior creative on the SAP Global Events design team
It’s important for the people attending to have everything they need right there. In addition to an open design, customized space for each content element and soundproofed meeting rooms on the show floor, this also meant comfortable seating and all-day dining. We had to anticipate every need so that each attendee could stay onsite doing business and networking. Ultimately, this meant that they—and SAP—could make the most of the SAPPHIRE NOW experience.
Julie Lynch, director, global events

Customers and ecosystem partners delivered more content than SAP employees. The content steering committee developed content around what customers wanted to know, not what SAP wanted to convey.

The online experience mirrors the SAPPHIRE NOW focus on conversation. Twenty-four live feeds stream to the virtual platform.

Day 2: the event is the fourth-top trending topic on Twitter. "Social media ambassadors" report from each show floor, sending out info to the online audience.

Social media ambassadors also capture video content. Two video editors (one in Frankfurt and the other in Orlando) download and edit videos. One editor per location doesn't seem enough; the ambassadors are prolific and global communications has a Content News Team capturing footage.

Team members alert the online audience when new content is available. While connecting virtually, online delegates can send questions to onsite moderators.

Twitter serves as an "event concierge" communications backchannel. People ask questions and receive quick answers. Delegates use their mobile devices to build personal agendas and record sessions.

A slide at the end of each session reminds delegates to complete evaluation surveys and provides information for online access.

Telepresence rooms augment the Meet Our Customers and Executive Meeting Center areas. Salespeople connect customers with similar challenges to discuss shared solutions.

Media have a pressroom on the show floor. In the keynote studio, they have worktables with power outlets, Internet and digital audio and video feeds.

Three of these screens surround the broadcast center. No matter where you are, you know where center is. Here's a video ad that played on the screens during the day.
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