Third Consecutive Successful Online Edition of the NOBCO Symposium

On 24 November, the 13th NOBCO Symposium on Coaching & Research took place

On 24 November, the 13th NOBCO Symposium on Coaching & Research, Evidence-based Practice in Coaching, was held. For the third consecutive year, the organizers chose to host the online event on the Networkapp platform. The event was once again organized by MOS Events, based in Nijkerk. We spoke with them about their experience.

Looking for the right solution

MOS Events organizes several events each year on behalf of NOBCO, including the annual scientific symposium, which has been held online in recent years. The partnership with Networkapp began in early 2020, when circumstances required all events to move online. Since then, several successful projects have been delivered together. Because participants responded so positively to the virtual editions, this year’s symposium was once again organized online. The aim of the symposium is to inspire professional coaches involved in evidence-based coaching research and provide them with opportunities to explore topics that are directly relevant to their field of work. The event opened with a plenary session, after which participants joined the breakout session of their choice.

The platform requirements

The organizers were looking for an online event platform that offered:

Full customization in NOBCO’s corporate branding.
A programme featuring multiple workshops from which participants could choose.
The ability to assign individual Zoom links to each programme session.
Smooth guidance for participants when sessions started.
Opportunities for attendees to connect through one-on-one chat and video meetings.
Reliable participant support throughout the event.

How we approached the project

Having worked together on previous editions, both teams had a clear understanding of each other’s expectations. Our project manager, Iris, built the event platform based on the information provided by MOS Events. Monique de Brabander explains: “I relied heavily on Iris’s expertise, and she supported me tremendously. I simply didn’t have the time to build everything myself.” Once Iris had completed the initial setup, Monique took over the platform management herself and was able to make last-minute updates whenever necessary.

“At the last minute, I implemented the changes myself, and I actually understood the system almost immediately. That’s because it’s set up logically.”

The results

In addition to the positive collaboration, Monique also identified opportunities to make future events even more engaging. For example, by segmenting participants based on their coaching experience, highlighting their areas of expertise, and collecting information about the challenges they are looking to solve. This would make it even easier for participants to connect with the most relevant people.

The result was an online platform that participants found easy and enjoyable to use. They were able to connect with one another successfully throughout the event. Among the 283 activated users, participants made 150 new connections. In addition, 28 discussion prompts were posted, with each receiving an average of four responses. These numbers clearly demonstrate the participants’ strong willingness to exchange knowledge and engage with one another.

What they thought

According to Monique, the collaboration was highly efficient because expectations and responsibilities had been clearly agreed upon in advance. “What I really appreciated, and something that’s often missing in our industry, was receiving genuine advice. Besides explaining what was possible, Iris also recommended the best way to approach things. Her suggestions always made perfect sense, and that gave me a lot of confidence.”

Monique continues: “For MOS, it’s incredibly valuable to have a platform that works so well. That makes the decision to use Networkapp again much easier.” She concludes with: “Next time, I’ll definitely choose Networkapp again because I know how user-friendly the platform is!”

“Iris is amazing. I’ve benefited greatly from her expertise. She really took the time to walk me through both the front and back ends.”

Networkapp for your event

In addition to our experience with in-person events, we’ve also gained extensive experience organizing online events for a variety of audiences. Are you planning an online event yourself? And after reading this case study, would you like to hear from us about how this could work for you? If so, please contact us.