Arrow Exterminators relied on their annual kickoff event to strengthen their close-knit culture – until COVID had other plans. We partnered with them to create a virtual event that celebrated employee accomplishments and brought new forms of collaboration to the (digital) table.
Arrow Exterminators is the sixth largest pest control company in the country, but it’s also a close-knit, family business at heart. The company’s annual fiscal year kickoff event has been a key part of that closeness for decades. Held between July and August, it’s a chance to gather, celebrate the previous year, recognize individual contributions, and talk about goals for the next year. Managers and corporate staff (to the tune of about 400 participants) fly in from 129 offices across the country for the event.
As the company continues to grow by 10-12% each year, the meeting has become even more critical for keeping the spirit of a fundamentally people-oriented business alive. It’s a time to learn new names and faces, enhance relationships and keep the business going.
In other words, everything a virtual event is not. Or at least, hadn’t been, up until that point.
By now, we all know where this story is headed: COVID hit in March, and Arrow had to redirect. The team originally planned to disperse their event into regional gatherings of about 12 people each. But as the public health crisis continued well into the summer, they realized a fully virtual option was necessary to ensure everyone’s health and safety.
When it came to a virtual event partner, ETA Creative Event Producers was the obvious choice, having collaborated on the live kickoff for many years. “We consider ETA a partner with this event. It was never a consideration NOT to contact ETA,” said Kevin Burns, Chief Development Officer.
“The studio visit cemented what we were going to do and how. We walked in there and it was like, wow. This feels really, really good. I get goosebumps remembering that because the work that ETA did on the front end, knowing what we want because we’ve been partners for so long, made us say, okay, we can make this happen.”
We invited the Arrow leadership team to tour our studio and discuss the location as an option for prerecorded talks and day-of streaming. We also went to work making sure the space (and the event) would feel “at home” for Arrow. When the team arrived, they found a customized, Arrow-branded set – and a new wave of confidence in the choice to go virtual.
The event went off without a hitch. Using Zoom, participants tuned in to live talks from CEO Emily Thomas Kendrick and President Tim Pollard, watched live reactions of award winners, and collaborated in breakout sessions.
95% of respondents rated the event positively in a post-event survey. And while everyone hopes to return to an in-person format in the future, some virtual features created more meaningful interactions than the former in-person setup. Breakout sessions that would normally all take place at different tables in the same (noisy) ballroom, for example, transformed into quiet, focused opportunities for true collaboration.
Safety first
In-studio COVID safety protocols included:
Thanks to our longstanding partnership, we were able to help Arrow deliver an event that captured the community spirit of their annual gathering while maintaining a safe environment for everyone involved.
“The entire staff, everyone working behind the cameras and at the production boards – you can tell these are folks that really wanted to make it happen for us. They’re not just there to do a job,” said Burns.
Perhaps Emily Thomas Kendrick said it best: “How in the world would we ever do this without ETA?”
We believe every virtual event is unique – and we want to learn about your audience and your message to create an unrepeatable experience for your company. Interested in strategizing your next virtual event? Contact us to get started today.