Freescale Semiconductor Replaces Live Events with VirtualEvents365℠ by CGS

Business Problem: The privately-held, US-based global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets has design, R&D, manufacturing and sales operations around the world. Freescale's annual user conference brings together customers and their entire ecosystem of partners for high impact education, training and knowledge sharing, comprising keynote presentations from company executives and customers, in-depth technical workshops, and hands-on product demonstrations from the company and its partners.

Due to a challenging macroeconomic environment and the resulting expense and travel restrictions, Freescale recognized that it would be difficult for many of their American and European customers to attend the user conference. As such, it chose a Virtual Technology Forum for its audiences in the Americas and EMEA.

The Challenge: Freescale’s user conference is known for its hands-on, in-depth training and knowledge sessions. It was very important for the company to find a way to replicate this experience in a virtual environment while delivering a compelling brand experience.

The Solution: Using VirtualEvents365 by CGS, Freescale successfully replicated many of the “physical” conference elements in a three-day virtual event, including multiple executive keynote sessions with live streaming video; more than 100 technical presentations and training  with 30 hours of video presentations; in-depth hands on training through a combination of E-Labs and collaboration rooms; in-depth discussions through the one-on-one interaction with company sales experts and partners in the exhibit hall; interaction with other customers to share insights and help each other through chat rooms and discussion forums; and a custom branded environment that captured the essence of the brand with clear linkage to the business.

Business Results: Freescale attracted over 2,500 attendees during the two day event and 250 additional participants in the first two weeks of on-demand sessions. The company saved $600,000 by eliminating costs associated with the physical venue and approximately $2 million in total. Overall costs were offset by extending paid participation to channel partners and other sponsors to exhibit and present.

On average, each attendee downloaded 7 documents (white papers, case studies, etc.). Freescale also created more than 110 hours of rich content to be leveraged in future sales and marketing initiatives.