How an SAP company used Vouchers to spice up its annual conference

SAP NS2, an analytics-driven cybersecurity company, was gearing up for its biggest events of 2020 when the pandemic hit. Field marketer Angeleque Fultz remembered getting the news to stop everything just one week before a large music festival, where NS2 would have had a sizable installation. “I’m not going to lie,” she says. “I felt like my life was over because a huge aspect of field marketing is outside events and being with people.”

It became clear that the only option was pivoting to virtual events, so Fultz and her team focused on making their annual conference, NS2 Now, really stand out. The company had previously relied on big-name keynote speakers, like actors or global leaders, as a method of driving event engagement, but the team felt that wouldn’t translate as well over video. In thinking of other ways to encourage registration, they also wanted to provide more than just the typical branded swag. One idea was to send welcome boxes, but a finite timeline and various executional challenges made the team realize they needed a faster, nimbler solution. 

Because events often have a food component, Fultz and her team thought meals for delivery would be an unexpected perk to offer at NS2 Now. They had no idea how to provide this to a large and disparate audience, but a quick search led them to Uber for Business. Vouchers for Uber Eats allowed NS2 to treat all participants to a meal of their choice during the event. All they had to do was redeem the voucher and order from their favorite local restaurant on the Uber Eats platform. Fultz recalls, “It seemed like it would be so difficult, especially when you’re targeting over 1,000 attendees.” But she was pleasantly surprised at how simple it was to create an Uber for Business profile and design a vouchers program. 

The ability to set custom time and date parameters was an added selling point for Fultz and her team. In an effort to encourage quality signups, they didn’t advertise the Vouchers gift before NS2 Now. Instead, they presented them on the day of the event as a way to thank attendees for signing on and to incentivize them to stay tuned in for the duration. Using the Uber for Business platform, Fultz designated a specific time window when the vouchers could be used, giving participants the flexibility to order a meal at lunchtime or a bit later in the day if they wished. This also helped NS2 control cost, as the company was only responsible for the vouchers that attendees actually used. It was a huge success: out of 1,200 attendees, 1,100 redeemed the vouchers and almost 900 ordered meals within the allotted time frame. NS2 received positive feedback after the event as well. “Attendees thought it was a great perk,” Fultz says. “It was different. Not a lot of companies had done it, which I was surprised by, [given] the ease of setting it up.” 

As the world slowly reopens, Fultz and her team are now navigating how events will take shape in both a virtual and hybrid landscape. The success of her experience with Vouchers has also made her want to explore more ways to use them, such as providing rides to speakers for future in-person events. “Uber for Business really came through with the vouchers,” Fultz says. “It added something special.” 

Learn more about using Vouchers for your events here.