Converge

About Challenges Solutions Services Results

An event for event veterans

When IDeaS, a SAS company, decided to partner with an event expert for their annual Converge client summit, ETA strategically upped the ante to elevate the experience for a highly discerning audience.

IDeaS is a hospitality revenue management solutions provider that helps hoteliers increase profitability through forecasting and demand-based dynamic pricing. Each year, IDeaS hosts Converge, a hospitality revenue summit for their clients that unites hundreds of hoteliers for a full day of immersion focused on education, products and services. The upcoming event was to take place in Miami, with a subsequent event in Bangkok for Asia-based clients.

What makes Converge so unique from a strategic perspective is that it’s a conference for C-suite and VP-level professionals who have spent years hosting events at their own properties. In other words, their expectations are high. “It really takes a lot to wow them,” explained Senior Director of Global Marketing Lizzie O’Rourke. “Making sure this event is exciting, memorable and energizing is something we put a large focus on.”

USER CONFERENCE IN THE EVENTS INDUSTRY

MIAMI, FLORIDA

250

Partnering for success

Historically, the IDeaS team had hosted and produced Converge themselves, managing everything from graphics to content, theme, creative, transitions and beyond. But as the event continued to grow – expanding from 88 participants in 2022 to 250 in 2024 – Lizzie and her team looked to partner with an events expert who could manage the day in and day out of planning.

“We needed to bring in some experts so we could start focusing on what we are experts in, and that’s creating meaningful content for our clients, connecting with them and building those relationships,” said Lizzie.

Through a referral, IDeaS found the right partner in ETA: one committed to unique event experiences for their guests, year after year.

Ideas from IDeaS

At ETA, we’re focused on finding the best solutions for our customers’ communication goals. Sometimes that means bringing new ideas to the table, and other times, it’s about refining great ideas the customer already has in mind.

“When we engaged with ETA, we came to the table with a whole bunch of ideas,” explained IDeaS Senior Director of Marketing Operations Chad Borenz. “ETA was very nimble in terms of taking the things that we’ve already done historically, re-imagining them and putting a fresh spin on it. It really made the entire planning process very, very streamlined. I felt like it was a true partnership.”

For example, the IDeaS team wanted to create a “wow factor” by incorporating an LED wall. ETA helped the team compare pricing with a stretch screen and monitors, as well as visualize the concept. In the end, we were able to achieve the desired effect while still staying within budget.

Blending space & place

One of the keys to a standout event is creating an atmosphere that aligns strategic goals, brand ethos and physical place in equal measure. Because both the Miami and Bangkok iterations of Converge would be taking place by the water, Lizzie and her team planned to lean into purples, pinks and rich blue hues rather than their traditional green and blue brand style. ETA helped bring the visual concept to life across a number of mediums.

“We came to the table with a full brand for this event,” said Chad. “And so, when we presented to ETA, they were able to take our initial vision, which was a good foundation, and really layer in all of their specialties from the standpoint of motion graphics, digital totems, and the different pieces and components that we hadn’t even thought of.”

Genius execution

When ETA collaborates with customers, we think about the entire attendee experience–not just the presentations. The IDeaS team also wanted to make sure that attendees had places to connect during breaks in the program to get more information. ETA executed the IDeaS team’s “Genius Bar” concept, creating a space where product owners would be available to discuss IDeaS offerings. The ETA creative team also developed a visual identity for the bars that would still coalesce with the company branding.

“The genius bars were super well received at Converge this year. I think people just really appreciated the opportunity to talk to the people who build the product that they use every single day,” said Lizzie.

Our production team also worked to make sure that the energy doesn’t drop from session to session. “We think about how to maintain great program flow and pass the baton on energy so they don’t have to re-energize the crowd from speaker to speaker,” said ETA Senior Producer Chris Cannis. “We like to think of it as creating one arc from the first morning to the closing party.”

Consultative partnership

Sometimes, being a good partner is about pushing back for the sake of creating the best result. The IDeaS team planned to use two of the three available ballrooms at the venue to create the intimate environment they were after. But during the first site visit, ETA raised concerns about how the smaller room size would impact comfort levels for attendees taking in a full day of content.

“The ETA team explained to me, this is not going to create the environment that you want. It’s actually probably going to detract from the experience. And so they really were helpful in challenging us on what we thought was right,” said Lizzie. She appreciated the team’s willingness to champion the right solution for the space. “I appreciated that because that’s what I look for in a partner.”

A new kind of “day-of” experience

The event experience is everything, but we also want our partners to have a great experience leading up to the big day. If we’ve done our job right, the teams we work with get more enjoyment out of both the process and the end product. Converge was no exception.

“This was one of the first shows that we’ve been on where I didn’t feel like I had to be on a headset and contributing and putting orders in or correcting things,” said Chad.

Instead, the extra bandwidth meant Lizzie and her team could spend more time perfecting content and prepping speakers. “What was different this year from previous years is we were actually able, myself and my team members, to sit and work with our speakers on their sessions instead of worrying about the stage being built,” she shared.

“No detail left unturned”

After extensive planning and prepping, it was finally time for Converge to come together. For Lizzie, stepping into the ballroom felt like a promise fulfilled. “On the event day, when I walked in, I was amazed at how the space, which has lots of warm tones, really just came to life with this new, fun and vibrant brand that we had created for Converge,” she said. “The lights were amazing, the sound was amazing, the stage looked amazing. The way the room was set up was exactly the kind of experience that we were hoping to create.”

Attendees concurred—100% of survey respondents said they would attend again.

Services

Event strategy

Pre-event planning
Goals & needs assessments
Strategic analysis
Project management
CAD & room diagrams
Budgeting

Creative

Theme development
Graphic design
Pre visualization Renders
Presentation development
Environmental branding
Custom set & scenic displays
Plan & design event environments
Furnishing selections
Custom fabrication of installations

Production

Audio
Video
Lighting
LED
Stage Management
Show Calling
Presenter Coaching
Venue logistics
Dock scheduling
Labor Management
Security

Program support

General Sessions
Receptions and dinners
After Party
Lounges and ancillary areas
Sponsor Showcases/Support

“Even though we have the skills to create something ourselves, we found that partnering with ETA made the event so much better than we could have ever dreamed, and they’ve allowed us to continue to raise the bar for our show.”
LIZZIE O’ROURKE
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL MARKETING
IDEAS

On to the next

Lizzie and the team originally planned to take a “rinse and repeat” approach to transitioning from the Miami to Bangkok event, but they quickly realized that due to a number of logistical, linguistic and cultural factors, an exact replica just wouldn’t do. ETA jumped in to help tailor the event for a new audience and context.

As the collaboration between both teams continues to evolve, ETA has become an extension of the IDeaS team, helping them keep Converge both fresh and tailored to the moment at hand.

“I would recommend ETA to anyone who’s looking to create a really high-quality event for either their customers or their internal employees,” said Lizzie.