NetApp Insight

NetApp Insight 2012 decided to move from hotel venues to a convention centre for the first time. The event broke all previous NetApp EMEA event records attracting 2,100 delegates from 60 countries.

Delegates: 2,100
Client: NetApp
Event: NetApp Insight 2012
Type: Conference
Date: November 2012
Days: 4

Brief

NetApp helps worldwide companies ‘go further, faster’ with innovative storage and data management solutions that deliver excellent cost efficiency. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has over 13,000+ employees and over 150 offices worldwide.

There are three Insight events worldwide each year – in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. PCO Corporate Rewards have been working with NetApp on the Insight EMEA event since the first event in 2008 which has seen significant growth since its inception. The 2012 event at The CCD broke all records with 2,100 delegates attending from over 60 different countries.

Solution

Due to anticipated growth and increased requirements for the 2012 event, NetApp decided to move from hotel venues to a convention centre for the first time.

Copenhagen, Madrid and Barcelona were considered as possible destinations, however The CCD was chosen as the organisers felt it offered “the unique ability of keeping the intimacy and networking opportunities of a smaller event, whilst providing us with the space we needed for a growing event” (Nicki Bird, Corporate Rewards). The CCD’s city centre location, good transportation links, branding opportunities and green credentials were also highly influential in the decision making.

The 4-day NetApp Insight event had exclusive hire of the entire venue and a packed schedule that offered delegates a range of different activities to facilitate teambuilding, education and networking. Following an opening drinks reception in The Forum on Wednesday, the 2,000 seat Auditorium was used for plenary sessions in the mornings, while meeting rooms on both the Liffey and Wicklow floors were used for breakout sessions and The CCD’s intimate boardrooms were used for one-to-one meetings. One of The CCD’s largest halls, Liffey B, was draped into five sections to facilitate silent theatres, a presenter’s lounge, a hands-on lab room and NetApp University Certification Examination room.

The Forum focused on experience sharing through NetApp’s Partner Fair, where over 50 companies exhibited, including Platinum sponsors Cisco, VMware and Microsoft. The layout of the exhibition was somewhat unconventional with a curved stand layout design, private meeting rooms, silent theatres, and a canteen. A merchandise store featured on the ground floor foyer together with registration facilities.

CCD Hospitality had presence continuously throughout the event, offering catering to delegates on all six foyers with a large central canteen in The Forum to ensure that delegates never went hungry or thirsty!

As NetApp Insight is an event put on by technologists, for technologists, The CCD ICT team were heavily involved in making sure that advanced ICT infrastructure underpinned all elements of the event. During the event, The CCD recorded its second highest number of devices connected at the same time to the network and delegates spent 8,542 hours online.

Results

Corporate Rewards were particularly impressed with The CCD’s Host service, which they had never experienced at a NetApp venue before. CCD Hosts were on-hand during the 4-day event to welcome and guide visitors around the venue, as well as offering assistance and expert knowledge of Dublin’s hotels, restaurants, transport links and many attractions.

In the post-event survey, NetApp delegates scored the event 4.8 out of 5 (96%), and NetApp were so impressed by the facilities and location that they are returning to host NetApp Insight at The CCD in 2013. This will be the first time that they have returned to the same venue two years in a row.

“The CCD definitely has a “wow” factor to it. It is incredibly well maintained, and is always immaculately presented. There are some fantastic branding opportunities within the building, which allowed the space to really feel like it belonged to NetApp for the week." Nicki Bird, Conference and Events Manager, Corporate Rewards