December 11, 2020
ELFA (Equipment Leasing and Finance Association) is the trade association representing financial services companies and manufacturers in the nearly $1 trillion U.S. equipment finance sector.
ELFA provides member companies a platform to promote and advocate for the industry, including attracting and developing talent; a forum for professional development and training; and a resource that develops information about, and for, the industry.
ELFA runs a variety of events throughout the year including seminars, training sessions, roundtable discussions and their big annual convention that’s normally held in person. This year they decided to do this virtually for the health and safety of their members and event attendees.
Networking was always a big component of the show where exhibitors, sponsors, association members and event attendees were all able to get together in person to mingle, network and expand their network!
This year with everything being virtual and ELFA having over 850 members, ELFA needed to find something that simulated what a real organic networking event would be like in person so guests are engaged and excited at the prospect of meeting new people!
For a 2-day virtual event, they knew in order to keep things fresh and exciting - they needed a way to captivate attendees' attention and keep them engaged.
The team designed the event to be informative and educational but also fun and energizing for attendees at the same time! They had multiple opportunities to network and engage with other attendees to create lasting connections.
ELFA chose Rally to host their receptions because it was so easy to breakout and organically network. The background chatter that can be heard from the other tables in the room made the event feel very social and allowed attendees to feel relaxed and natural to join a table and start a conversation.
Using Rally throughout the event, they were able to break up the main conference with intriguing networking opportunities for guests. At the start of the conference, Rally was used not only as the opening reception to welcome attendees, but also included breakout rooms as networking opportunities for newcomer and first time attendees, as well as the Women’s Council.
On the last day, ELFA held their closing reception on Rally after the event to conclude the conference and allow for one last networking opportunity for attendees.
"This platform allowed our members to network and engage in away that had been able to in months. It was well received and we plan on using Rally for other ELFA events." - Lisa Ramirez
For ELFA, Rally designed 4 custom venues for the different receptions, each with 8 networking rooms to accommodate 300 expected attendees in total.
ELFA was able to successfully run their annual convention with over 750 guests in attendance and over 30% guests attended the reception to mingle with each other!
After having such a great time with their first virtual convention, ELFA decided they will be using Rally again for their next upcoming conference in February 2021! We are super excited and pumped to help support their event again!