Good Growth
Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs
In October 2020, Forgather joined forces with Google, TCS, SVC2UK, Snap Inc., Founders4Schools, Digital Boost, and Enders Analysis to produce a virtual event that would champion, inspire and support women entrepreneurs.
Recent research has revealed that the global pandemic has affected women the most, and the UK is no exception. Good Growth: Unlocking the Power of Digital for Women Entrepreneurs was designed to celebrate the strength and diversity of women-led businesses; and what better day for it than Ada Lovelace day, a day dedicated to the achievements of women in STEM.
Combining inspirational keynotes, interviews with female leaders and deep dive workshops, the event provided a UK-wide community of women entrepreneurs, as well as both school and university students, with the digital tools and techniques essential to building sustainable businesses.
With multiple stakeholders involved, and three content streams tailored to size and type of business, it was a challenging event that kept us on our toes. As project leads, Forgather guided the event from start to finish – from the initial research to find the best virtual events platform for our needs, to the recruitment and management of our growing speaker line up, including Clare Gilmartin, CEO of Trainline, Maria Raga, CEO of Depop, Sharmadean Reid, CEO of Beautystack and Oona King, VP of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Snap Inc., and managing the commercial and content partnerships. We enjoyed a successful collaboration with SVC2UK who managed the scaleup sessions and effectively engaged their female founder community. We also worked closely with our production partners to get the best out of the event technology, and ensure polished and professional stage content.
To watch the event recordings, visit the Good Growth blog post.
Proud moments
Achieving a turnout of 475 guests, and defying virtual event fatigue with participants staying online for an average of 143 minutes*.
Managing a two-week print and digital campaign to gain national media profile and registrations for the event, through partnerships with the FT and brand agency FutureKings.
Kickstarting collaboration and learning between women entrepreneurs, with speed networking and small group breakouts where participants were invited to share challenges and best practice.
Building a community beyond the event – all those who registered were invited to join a Digital Boost programme providing one-to-one mentoring to support their business’s growth, as well an online community powered on Guild which continues to grow and remain active post event.
*The full event ran for three hours.
Praise
“What a wonderful conference. It was very well organised and the networking made it very real! Great effort, we look forward to keeping this momentum and taking this much further! Well done!!” – Priyanka Sethi, Head of Sales, Communication, Media and Information Services, UK&I, Tata Consultancy Services
“What a wonderful successful event - and I hope it has the impact we all desire!” - Nishma Robb, Marketing Director, Google
“Thank you for an excellent digital conference! A masterclass in technology logistics and execution. That in itself was a great take away from today. as was the content of course” – Sophie Dow, Founder, Salvesen Mindroom Centre
“The best bit? The inspiration I got from many, down to earth, women and role models. I felt profound solidarity and experienced confidence” - Claudia Mosca, Founder, Brifiworks
