For Small Associations: How to keep members engaged and contributing to the community through events, training and resources.
Over 100,000 users and counting!
Case Study: For The Children
For The Children went from being unable to consistently reach and train thousands of volunteers to launching a single hub for all training, events, conferences and intranet content in under 3 months!
“With Unleesh, we were able to create engagement and value painlessly. Now the question is not, ‘Will people use a platform for our major events? It’s become, how can we move everything into Unleesh going forward!’”
Tiffany Everett
Director of Development
For The Children
Before: Inability to consistently reach and train thousands of volunteers.
After: A single hub for all training, events, conferences and intranet content.
Timeline: Less than 3 months
Case Study: Gap Year Association
GYA had no clear way to bring their community and sponsors together during COVID. With Unleesh they were able to host their largest conference and achieve their biggest margins ever in under 3 months.
Dianna Hahn
Assistant Director
Gap Year Association
“There are certainly a lot of positives for doing virtual conferences, we had our largest conference ever, too, this year...”
Before: No way to bring community and sponsors together during COVID.
After: Largest conference and margins ever! GYA broke industry trends and was able to reduce dependence on sponsors for their event profits.
Timeline: Less than 3 months
Source: ASAE Research Foundation
Case Study: Center for International Education Exchange (CIEE)
CIEE went from having no data visibility and insight
to ensuring compliance and engagement for thousands of participants per year for 5 years and running!
Olga Adamovich
Director of Participant Experience
CIEE
Before: Limited data visibility and insight.
After: Ensure 94% compliance and engagement for 20,000 participants.
“With [Unleesh’s] user friendly interface, we were able to achieve near-100% completion rates and we felt much more confident in the data than with our previous system.”
Timeline: 4 months to set up; client active 5 years and running.
Who is this for?
This is for association leaders who want to increase member engagement and program success, but are struggling to navigate a virtual and hybrid world.
What are associations offering online?
Source: ASAE Research Foundation
You can centralize and 10x Member Engagement in Under 3 Months.
There are virtual events that don’t nurture organic engagement because they are too focused on short-term, live solutions.
We are best at understanding how to provide long term engagement for membership organizations both in-person and virtually.
Team
Saul Garlick, Founder and Partner
Saul Garlick, founder and 4x entrepreneur brings 20 years experience in the social sector. While running programs globally he noticed that immersive programs did not scale well and failed to capture the lessons and ideas from program participants so they could be shared with others. He looked everywhere for a platform that could nurture community and collaboration based on program content and nothing quite did it. So he created Unleesh to be a simple, virtual platform that delivered deep engagement with learning and training content anywhere. When COVID shut down travel, associations turned to us as their platform to host conferences and events with overwhelming success. Unleesh’s solution worked better than we ever imagined. Today, Saul’s mission is to get this solution into as many associations as possible to continue to support communities doing incredible work around the world.
Dita Wohlauer, Co-Founder and Partner
Dita Wohlauer started her career in architect and after 12 years shifted her focus to building international organizations from the ground up. She has led finance operations for education and technology companies, non-profit organizations and medical practices, and brings Unleesh a wealth of experience in supporting organizations that work with global networks. Her most recent role was as a Chief Compliance Officer for a global education brand. She lives in Denver with her husband, three daughters and chihuahua.
The Unleesh team is guided by 3 basic principles:
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People are people everywhere. We all want and need connection and we want it to be authentic.
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Everything we need is right in front of us. You don’t have to look far to find solutions to most of our most pressing challenges.
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We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We can build the connections that bring access to opportunities we never even imagined.
Bring your community closer together and make your organization stronger… every day.
Host a Hybrid Event
Expanding access to events and conferences has changed
Old Way: Offering scholarships and discounts to get more people to attend.
Old Result: Few or limited numbers were able to participate
New Way: Provide a high quality platform used by people in-person and virtually.
New Result: More people enjoy the full value of the event from anywhere.
Widening your circle is the new norm.
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The openness of our networks is correlated to success.
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Virtual events and communities expand access and allow people to participate who are unable to pay for travel.
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Need to continue to support our core communities while widening the circle that engages with our content.
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Embracing this new norm has long-term benefits for your organization.
Q. Can virtual really be as powerful as in-person?
A. Virtual events CAN be as powerful. The key is to leverage the difference. Virtual events offer much deeper data collection and insights from your participants, but also easier ways to create valuable connections. No longer do participants need to feel awkward with other attendees standing next to the cookie table and strike up a conversation. Comments to one another flow seamlessly and lead to future opportunities for connection over phone, zoom, and even in real life. It's harder to build rapport with people virtually but it is easier to find the right people to talk to.
Q. Will virtual undermine our efforts to bring people together in real life?
A. No. Those who want to attend in person events (and have been for years) will show up in real life again. But now you have an opportunity to expand access to more people who never would have come because of prohibitive costs or scheduling requirements.
Q. What happens to networking when our programs are really large?
A. The platform is designed to break everything down to what is most relevant through our Step-by-Step engagement method. You can easily host hundreds or even thousands on our platform and not lose any of the value to individual participants.
Q. If virtual is so effective, why do in-person at all?
A. The biggest reason is for the opportunity to build rapport with others and to get the energy of live events. We love to listen to music on our iPhones, but we also love a good concert. They serve different purposes and the one does not negate the other. In fact, they are complimentary.
Enable Virtual Hallway Conversations
Virtual events don’t deliver on the crucial hallway conversations your members love.
Old Way: Using email, listservs, live chat, manual introductions to connect members.
Old Result: Limited genuine engagement
New Way: Enable hallway conversations virtually
New Result: People connect more meaningfully
Networking is based on substantive sharing
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People crave connection with others working on similar projects or initiatives.
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Spontaneous interactions lead to powerful partnerships.
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Sharing insights, reflections and aspirations leads to action.
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Most virtual tools do not adequately support this.
Q. How is this different from live chat on Zoom?
A. Live chat is in the moment dialogue that is not organized, searchable or sortable. Worse, live chat during events can be extremely distracting. Unleesh can include live chat capabilities, but the real power is in collecting reflections, insights and substantive answers from participants through activities. People can find the comments asynchronously and keep them easily organized.
Q. How is this better than random breakouts?
A. Our breakout groups allow for scheduling meetups that have an appointed time, date and location (physical or virtual). These are kicked off by any users and include RSVP functions to track participation. Breakouts are often randomized and are still available through third party tools that integrate with Unleesh, but our breakout offering is designed to deepen a conversation with other participants.
Q. Is this really just speed networking?
A. No. Speed networking is not core to the app, though it is available through integrations. We focus on continuous engagement, getting to know people more deeply and staying in touch.
Q. Does this require another social network?
A. No. Unleesh has all the social features built in so you aren't managing several social sites.
Q. Are there ways to meet beyond text-based chat?
A. Yes. Unleesh is working on call and video integrations to meet people on the spot.
Offer Access to Content & Community
Extend engagement opportunities.
Old Way: Using multiple tools to provide opportunities for communication and access.
Old Result: Confusion and low participation.
New Way: Increase integration for seamless experiences.
New Result: Continuous learning and engagement.
Events are an opening, not the final destination.
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The goal is to start with an event or conference and let the program organically create connections and engagement during and beyond the event.
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Keeping the conversation going after any event is challenging.
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Your events are not the full value you create for your community.
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Enabling ongoing connection through your content in a single place is the secret ingredient to lead your members forward.
Q. What if events are the core of my business model?
A. Great! Events are the gateway to building powerful communities and you can leverage technology to take your events business to many more customers and to create lasting engagement. This will only serve to multiply your business.
Q. How will this change the role of events?
A. It expands their role from being a moment in time when everyone crosses paths and learns together into a step in the journey of building community and learning from each other. You also will be able to immediately turn your event content into a library of resources available to all future members.
Q. What does continuous engagement really mean?
A. It means accessing the planned content at anytime throughout the year, getting new content in the same place on an ongoing basis, and building networking into the core experience.
Q. Does continuous engagement need to be synchronous or asynchronous?
A. It can be both. We encourage live and recorded events all year long to keep engagement high. You can add an unlimited amount of content throughout the year.
Q. What if my community only likes to meet during live events?
A. Then make sure to offer livestream opportunities and couple that with your in-person events to expand access to more people.
Q. Who is responsible for maintaining continuous engagement?
A. You would be responsible for coming up with content and we will help you manage the path if you need it!
Track Engagement Data
Analyze better data.
Old Way: Sending out surveys
Old Result: Few replies, not real-time, generally high-level data
New Way: Ongoing data collection and reporting
New Result: Data that informs future planning
Your community will show you the way, if you let them.
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Constantly review the data that comes in and understand your participants’ wants and needs.
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Go beyond standard metrics: number of participants, time in videos, total survey responses.
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Build a library of searchable information from your events and community engagement to better serve your members.
Q. Will this create privacy issues for participation?
A. No. User's private information including phone number and email is kept private from other users.
Q. Is the data secure?
A. Yes, we have SSL and store content in Amazon Web Services with their security.
Q. How is this data different from sending out a survey?
A. The data you collect can be anything you want: from information about how the conference went overall to how a specific session made a lasting impression on participants. The critical difference is that people are sharing information that others can see, so it will inevitably provide more insight into what topics people are actively working on. More information about them (the member) than you (the host).
Q. Does this replace surveys and other data collection we are already doing?
A. It can, or it can be a place that directs participants to a survey you want them to take.
Q. Who analyses this data?
A. Typically the client does, but we have some tricks up our sleeve to make it really quick and easy to review the content.
Hosting Events the Hard Way
Most struggle to make the most of a virtual and hybrid world.
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Do you piece together tools like Zoom, Slack and various other platforms to try to create engagement?
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Are you juggling content, delivery and communication tools with no end in sight?
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Are you losing out on the power of a catalytic event to create lasting engagement?
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Are you missing the crucial reporting and data needed to improve how you can support and grow your community?
The Easy Solution
Work with Unleesh to centralize and 10x member engagement in under 3 months.
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Unleesh is a virtual platform that provides in-the-moment activities that increases engagement 10x.
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Members and participants are able to contribute in real time and maintain continuous involvement during and after your event.
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Unleesh enables the hallway conversations in a virtual and hybrid world which ultimately expands access to events and programs.
Again, this is for association leaders who want to increase member engagement and program success, but are struggling to navigate a virtual and hybrid world.
For The Children got 10x engagement in 3 months
Tiffany Everett
Director of Development
State 1:
Inability to consistently reach and train thousands of volunteers.
State 2:
Single hub for all training, events, conferences and intranet content.
Timeframe:
3 months
Tiffany Everett, Director of Development was scrambling to adjust when COVID forced the cancellation of their annual conference. She was able to turn around a virtual experience with 10x profits and meaningful engagement in 3 months:
“Our community of volunteer leaders come from all walks of life and varying experiences with technology, but with Unleesh, we were able to create engagement and value painlessly. Now the question is not, ‘Will people use a platform for our major events? It’s become, how can we move everything into Unleesh going forward!’”
In August of 2020, For The Children knew they couldn’t offer their community a live, in-person event and their network was devastated. They needed an alternative that brought together great speakers, concerts and training programming, and they needed it fast. The event had already been postponed to October, and they had just a few months to get something done well.
After using Unleesh, they had 10x the profit margin on the event, had built a community of contributors sharing over 400 ideas and experiences that were captured in one place for the first time ever, and were able to expand reach to people who could never travel to the in-person event. Not only that, the biggest feedback from the event was to do more just like it!
For The Children used us to achieve fantastic results.
Dianna Hahn
Assistant Director
State 1:
No way to bring community and sponsors together during COVID.
State 2:
Largest conference and margins ever.
Timeframe:
3 months
Gap Year Association increased attendance and profit margins at their annual event by 30%
Dianna Hahn, Associate Director was looking for an easy-to-use technology to bring their community together for their first-ever virtual annual conference.
“There are certainly a lot of positives for doing virtual conferences, we had our largest conference ever too this year...”
The community is tight knit, and the association knew that it needed to find a way to keep the feeling of easy social connection central to the experience. They had looked at a number of products but liked that Unleesh could provide a platform for their big events, but also an organizing tool for weekly committees and other engagements.
GYA went from small event margins dependent on high exhibit fees to 50% margins with reduced exhibit fees. They got it all done between August and October!
Olga Adamovich
Director of Participant Experience
CIEE
State 1:
Limited data visibility and insight.
State 2:
Ensure 94% compliance and engagement for 20,000 participants
Timeframe:
4 months
CIEE was able to get near-100% completion rates with 20,000 participants.
Olga Adamovich, Director of Participant Experience, and CIEE came to Unleesh looking for a tool that offered a simple and structured experience to onboard thousands of students for their international programs. They needed to track individual activity with great detail and they wanted the system to easily update for future cohorts.
CIEE partnered with Unleesh and has successfully onboarded over 60,00 individuals, while easily customizing training an onboarding for each season. The data visibility into compliance is unprecedented, and they are able to ensure that nearly 100% of all students have completed the necessary preparation.
Before CIEE had Limited data visibility and insight into their participant preparations. Today that can ensure 94%+ compliance and engagement for every program!
It took CIEE 4 months to get set up; 5 years later they are still up and running seamlessly.
What are the benefits of using Unleesh?
Centralize and 10x member engagement in under 3 months.
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You can even create deep, ongoing engagement in your community for a hybrid world in under 3 months.
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You can finally get rid of being overwhelmed by the tools, logistics and hassle of putting on virtual and hybrid events.
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And you can forget about virtual events or activities that fail to support networking.
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I will feel in control again because, with step-by-step engagement, your community will always be moving forward together.
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Before, when you wanted to host a conference you had to organize an event in person.
Now, you can use this simple step-by-step engagement tool to bring your community together without being overwhelmed and worried that people will not attend.
Do you see how easy this is?
Features
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Event + Community Platform
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Synchronous and Asynchronous Experience
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Seamless integrations
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Step-By-Step Engagement
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Direct Messaging and Breakouts
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Integrated Communication
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Scheduled Reporting
Questions and Answers
Q. What distinguishes you from everyone else?
A. Every session invites active engagement -- both synchronous and asynchronous.
Q. Who are you guys, anyway?
A. We are a couple entrepreneurs who have been building programs that support experiential programs that nurture community. We built Unleesh when we saw an opportunity to build a better way to keep people engaged with program content for the long term.
Q. Why is Unleesh spelled with 2 "e's"?
A. EE stands for experiential education, which underlies our reflective approach to engagement with content and each other.
Q. What happens if I wait?
A. You may not get the opportunity to work with us in time! We only have 20 spots per month. You may also lose out on bonus content support time.
Q. What results will I actually get from this?
A. You will be able to centralize your conference, event, learning and training efforts while creating 10x member engagement. You will be able to quickly take your community to the next level and learn more about them than ever before.
Q. Are you guys going to steal my credit card and run away?
A. Nope. We offer no contract, cancel anytime. If you want a refund because you are unsatisfied, we will give you to that too!
Q. What exactly am I signing up for? What are the features and benefits?
A. You are signing up for a platform that delivers live and recorded content, builds a deep directory of your community with their own user-generated content, hosts conferences and events, and enables private and public messaging within specific groups. You can build as much content as you want, engage users all year long, and collect data and insights from virtual and hybrid events forever.
Q. How much does it cost?
A. Pricing is based on the number of users you have and is monthly. Click Get a Price to meet with us and find the pricing structure that meets your needs.
Q. Are there any long term contracts?
A. Nope. Monthly. Cancel anytime.
Q. What’s included in the training call?
A. We walk through the entire system and train you on how to build your own content. We will also schedule content support meetings. Every package includes time for strategy and content.
Q. How do I present this to my team?
A. It's easy! Let them know that you have a new, much easier way to deliver events, training and more that is a fraction of the cost of other major tools.
Q. What does it integrate with?
A. Unleesh integrates with thousands of tools--live streaming, whiteboarding, calendars and many others. We also have a special package for Salesforce!
Q. What exactly are you promising? What evidence do you have to back up these promises and claims?
A. We are promising that you will be able to centralize your membership network and 10x their engagement in as little as 3 months. We've had clients rave about our product and we know that through our partnership approach you will not feel lost in the process.
Q. How do I know your solution will work for me? Who hasn't it worked for?
A. It will work if you have a community you want to bring together and engage with events or trainings. We don't have a million custom features, so if you are looking to build a platform that needs to be specialized for your specific business model, it probably will not work for you. But if you want to engage your members for the long term, we are your tool.
Q. What are typical contract terms?
A. Monthly. No contract. Oh, and you own all your content.
Q. Where did you get the idea to offer this solution?
A. Saul Garlick, our founder, was running programs for students in rural Africa in 2011 when he thought: "Why isn't there a way to create virtual access to programs like this for thousands of people around the world?" And that's when Unleesh was born.