Summary

  • Make sure you have enough time to plan for your event.
  • It’s so simple but so easily forgotten. Always remind others of your event. Not only that, make sure you don’t send the same boring message every time you send them a reminder to avoid reminder fatigue.
  • “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Like the African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Tell us about your experience as a Customer Success Manager for Fairwiz. What does it entail, what are you exposed to daily, and why is your role important?

As a Customer Success Manager (CSM), I support our customers by ensuring that they can effectively utilise the right tools in having a successful virtual event on Fairwiz. Onboarding and training are essential to what I do as this assures our customers that we are here to assist them all the way.

How are virtual open days & education fairs different from other virtual events? What misconceptions about running virtual events on Fairwiz have you encountered?

Virtual open days and virtual education fairs are different from other virtual events as they create a personal relationship between the attendee and the exhibitor. For new students looking to continue their education, contacting an education counsellor via these virtual events is essential to the marketing & student recruitment strategy. You can choose to chat or have a voice/video call with the education counsellor during a virtual open day or virtual education fair. This way, students rest assured of all the information they need before deciding.

With inexperienced virtual event organisers, there is always room for improvement. What kind of mistakes have you seen, and how do you ensure their success?

All great things take time. Many of our clients are first-time virtual event organisers, as everyone adapts to how COVID-19 has changed our daily business operations. A great virtual event needs time to plan. At least three months lead time to the live event is a reasonable time frame. This time frame allows our clients to prepare exhibitors (external parties or interdepartmental), put a marketing plan into place, execute the plan, put people in charge of live chat, etc. There is always room for improvement after each virtual event, so Fairwiz sends an automated survey to participants once an event ends. We (our customers & us) will get first-hand feedback from participants on their experience and what to do to improve.

You work closely with event managers throughout all stages of the event management process—from onboarding to planning to being on standby on event day and even after the event. What key learnings or best practices have you gained from witnessing their processes?

Some best practices would be planning reminder emails. We don’t want to spam our participants with reminders every day. It’s best to space them out with different reminders. For example, a reminder seven days before the event, live talks not to be missed, and a promotion or scholarship opportunities up for grabs. Different content will engage participants more.

Can you give an example of one problem you solved for a customer? What short- and long-term needs did you satisfy after solving their issues and clearing roadblocks that challenged the success of an event?

Event organisers usually have a marketing team with the right resources ready for virtual events. But we sometimes have clients that are overwhelmed by having a virtual event. I have helped our clients prepare their virtual hall for a virtual open day. Virtual halls are essential as this is where participants mostly spend their time visiting virtual booths, accessing live webinars, and connecting with counsellors. It’s necessary to have a virtual hall with a great design yet easy to manoeuvre to ensure a smooth user experience.

While you may want to meet every customer's need, there will be scenarios where this isn’t possible. Can you give an example of one time this happened? What did you do to manage the customer’s expectations so they didn’t feel let down by Fairwiz?

Communication with clients is critical. It is vital to inform clients what Fairwiz is for and not. A common question is if Fairwiz can host webinars. As a virtual event platform, Fairwiz can’t host webinars on its own. However, we integrate with Zoom, Facebook Live, and Youtube Live. These integrations allow our customers to host their webinars on these platforms, and participants can join them directly from the event – they won’t be required to participate on a different platform/browser.

What’s your number one advice to event managers when it comes to organising their virtual open days or education fairs on Fairwiz?

Have a good team. It's important to segregate the work you have before an event. As event organisers, you will have to communicate to your exhibitors, prepare how your virtual event would look, ensure each exhibitor has access to a live chat dashboard, and more.

Not everyone has the luxury of having a team to manage the event from preparation to post-event. What advice can you give to that group of people?

I completely understand that every organisation works differently, and that’s okay. If you’re a one-man/woman show, it’s essential to have your plan of action ready. Jot down all the things you will need to have a smooth and successful event. I recommend having a plan that includes pre-event, event and post-event actions. This will help you keep everything organised and well, start early!

Any final words you’d like to share with existing or potential customers of Fairwiz?

Ask me anything! I’m more than happy to go through each step with you. Planning a virtual event can be overwhelming as we are all very accustomed to physical events, which is why I’m here for you. I’m always available via email as well as WhatsApp. Connect with me.

When was the last time you interacted with someone from a Customer Success team? What was your experience?

If you’d like to learn more about Fairwiz and how we onboard and ensure your success, book a demo or email us to learn more.

Elaikha Zahar is a 28-year-old born and raised in Malaysia. She’s always worked in the education industry, and for more than a year, she’s been helping our customers host successful virtual events on Fairwiz. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, she runs her home-based online businesses selling ready-to-wear batik clothing and ring wristlets that can hold keys, cards, and phones. As someone who works hard and closely with customers daily, she enjoys seeing them happy after solving their problems. When she’s not working or hustling, she’s either watching crime dramas or playing Animal Crossing on her Nintendo Switch.