Vox Media increases Code conference attendance by 125 % using Zoom Events

Werner Enterprises is a company that knows the value of building things from scratch. What Clarence L. Werner started with just a single truck in the 1950s has now become one of the nation’s largest logistics and shipping providers with more than 14,000 associates and contractors. The organization has even built its very own innovation arm, Werner Edge, which is committed to advancing the performance and safety of its drivers, shippers, carriers, and associates by delivering the latest technology-rich solutions in the transportation industry.

But managing the safety and operations of thousands of drivers, trucks, and other assets that are constantly on the move across the country is no easy feat. The teams at Werner recognized that to move into the future with confidence, they needed to rethink their communications infrastructure. So they took on a bold new mission — to become the first transportation company to fully migrate to the cloud. 

That’s where Zoom came in. 

The need for enhanced flexibility — and safety

While providing on-time, exceptional service is the name of the game for the teams at Werner Enterprises, the safety of their drivers is always their number one priority. With the unpredictable nature of traffic, road, and weather conditions, reliable communication is a must-have. However, the limitations of Werner’s legacy on-premises communications solution made it difficult to maintain that critical connection. 

“One of the biggest headaches with our old system was the reliance on physical infrastructure,” said David Hawley, Network Manager at Werner. “So if I have a phone that I have to plug in at a desk, it has to be on my network. And if anything happens to that connection, if we have a remote area where the weather knocks out communications, I don’t have my phone service there now, and until I can get another port set up, I’m not going to have it.”

Werner also wanted to simplify the management of its communications infrastructure.  

“I had telecom engineers doing server maintenance and OS patches, and I wanted their focus to be how to get a driver experiencing a service event on the side of a road connected to a roadside specialist as quickly as possible,” David said. “We had 27 servers running to support the previous solution. It was just too much — if I wanted to create a voicemail, I had to go into another server.”

“We also had integrations running to support our data center infrastructure, and if one piece of any integration is broken, that roadside specialist isn’t getting that call from our driver,” David added. 

Going where no transportation company has gone before — the cloud

For Werner’s Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Danny Lilley, moving to a cloud communications solution was a critical aspect of executing Werner’s “Cloud First, Cloud Now” initiative and enabling innovations that will help them prepare for the future. 

“As we think about our ten thousand mobile associates, ensuring the simplification of their day-to-day operations and reliable connectivity is imperative,” Danny said.

And with Werner’s associates already well-accustomed to the simplicity and reliability of Zoom Meetings, Dave and his team could see the clear benefits associated with further embracing the Zoom platform.

“Because we were already using Zoom Meetings, we already had the Zoom app. And Zoom Phone is on the app with Meetings — that’s one less app my users have to sign into every day,” David said. “So I can have my users open up one application for both their phone and their meetings. That’s a simpler day for my end users.”

Virtual attendees could not only watch the mainstage interviews but they could also network with other remote viewers in between sessions using the Zoom Events lobby feature. What’s more, all attendees could access the video-on-demand library to view content after the event concluded, a first for Code’s in-person participants.

Hybrid move generates 125% growth

While they initially wondered if the virtual element would inhibit people from attending in person, the Vox Media team was excited to see that their total attendance increased 125% from the previous year.

“We wondered if offering a virtual option would reduce the interest of people coming in person, but we actually saw that was not the case,” Tara said. “People who wanted to be there truly wanted to be there. It opened up another attendee type,” she added.

By making Code 2022 available online, Vox Media could sell virtual tickets and open the conference to additional journalists, guests, and the general public. This extended the Code brand beyond its Beverly Hills ZIP code and landed an even bigger audience. All told, the positive feedback from the conference cemented Vox Media’s decision to host more hybrid events in the future. 

Looking ahead to Code 2023

As most event marketers know, there’s little downtime between one event ending and planning for the next. Looking ahead, Tara envisions another hybrid Code conference, hoping to expand the virtual offering.

“There’s more we can do. We kept the first one fairly simple, but we definitely saw the benefits of the Zoom Events features,” Tara said.

Code 2022 not only enabled Vox Media to expand its guest count and earn additional ticket revenue, but it provided the opportunity to find a new technology partner in Zoom. 

“There’s no greater way for us to evaluate vendors and platforms and decide who we want to work with than to look at what’s worked before. Zoom was the perfect vendor for Code 2022 and that was really exciting for us,” Tara said.