Save My Service Charge Educates Leaseholders in the UK with Leaseholder Expo 2022

Save My Service Charge hosted their first ever virtual event the Leaseholder Expo 2022 on the 11th of August, 2022 with vFairs. The event was focused around educating leaseholders about safety standards and fire hazards. Attendees were able to network with industry leaders from across the country and get their hands on valuable resources from the event.

Highlights

“We put on this event to get leaseholders in touch with the experts that can help them with these problems as well as give them the confidence to challenge agents or freeholders if something is wrong. The event is also an excellent chance for leaseholders to network and make connections they otherwise wouldn’t have in the leasehold sector.” 

Ben Taylor, Managing Director of Save my Service Charge 

The residential property management company wanted to educate and empower leaseholders by providing them with the right information. Whether it is building insurance, property management, or fire safety standard maintenance. So, the company decided to host a virtual event with home management companies, leaseholders, and homeowners to bring them all together. Moreover, the company also got a remarkable opportunity to publish and spread informative resources for fire safety, how to read your lease, EV Guide, and other resident information brochures. The webinars were the highlight of the event that got over 500 views.

The Challenge

“Aside from those extraordinary issues like the Cladding Crisis, there are the more everyday ones that leaseholders face, like extending a lease or challenging service charges, which are often swathed in legal jargon.” – Ben Taylor

Save My Service Charge is a first of its kind innovative service and they wanted to make lease management procedures hassle-free for homeowners through this event. The home management companies in the industry are one too many and many leaseholders don’t fully understand what they’re paying for.

In the previous year, the company hosted an in-person event with the same purpose. Although that event was a success, they wanted to expand and reach more leaseholders at a national level.

The Solution

Going virtual made complete sense to them as most of the exhibitors operate nationally. It was next to impossible for them to set up shop at a local event and expect a remarkable outcome. They could get a much wider reach with a virtual event like the Leaseholder Expo 2022.

“We did a live event last year, which went well, but didn’t have enough reach. Moving online made complete sense.” said Ben Taylor.

Ben was directly involved in the thorough vetting process of multiple virtual event platforms. vFairs became the natural choice because the immersive virtual environment and event visuals were much more appealing to them. They were also impressed by the virtual event solution technology and their dedicated Project Manager helped them set up the event seamlessly.

Leaseholder Expo 2022: Success Factors

The event organizers incorporated multiple features from the vFairs virtual event solution to make their event a more practical and immersive experience for exhibitors and attendees.

Exhibit Hall

The exhibit hall was one of the main features at the Leaseholder Expo 2022 with 13 exhibitor booths with custom layouts and booth settings. The booth admins could upload unlimited resources to their booths that attendees could view and download. Other booth features included live booth chat, reserve chat slot functionality, external links, etc. Most exhibitors showcased who they were, what the company did, and focused on networking with the attendees. 

“The exhibit booths were a great success and most exhibitors were able to collect leads and make contacts. We will consider adding another hall next year with vFairs.” – Ben Taylor

Downloadable Resources and Video Vault

The event focused largely on educating the attendees about their lease contracts and how to manage hazards around their homes. So, the event organizers chose to upload resources like videos, brochures, presentations, newsletters, etc., for attendees to view and download. The booths at the event received more than 270 document views and 90+ video views.

Ben addressed this by saying:

“The resources that exhibitors and event organizers uploaded were received very well. vFairs made it easy for attendees to view, save for later, and download them.”

Attendee Search

Save My Service Charge used the attendee search feature in the vFairs platform to understand their audience better. The feature was vital for figuring out what the delegates wanted and were most interested in. Exhibitors were also able to find suitable attendees to approach and interact with. 

Networking Features

One of the biggest takeaways from the event was the networking opportunity for event hosts, delegates, and exhibitors. Most exhibitors were able to get in touch with their target audience through the event. Brilliant networking features like private and group chat and networking lounge were great ways for everyone to stay in touch during the event.

“Biggest positive outcome was the niche networking opportunity provided by the event to all exhibitors. Most of us generated business from the event and I see this as a huge success.” Ben commented.

Leaderboard

Event organizers wanted to make sure that the attendees would have incentive to register for the event and have fun as well. The event hosts did not want the Leaseholder Expo to become a sales event. So, the leaderboard became a great way for them to reinforce that policy. Attendees could report being approached by an exhibitor or other attendee to get points for the leaderboard. Leaderboard winners could also win exciting sponsored prizes which was another way to offer more visibility to sponsors.

Photo Booth

Event organizers also added in a Photo Booth contest with sponsored prizes for the winners. This gamification tool from vFairs improved attendee count and engagement. The prizes were a great incentive for attendees to maximize engagement.

In The Spotlight: Semi-Live Webinars

The MD of Save My Service Charge, Ben Taylor, said that the semi-live webinars were the highlight of the event for delegates and exhibitors. There were multiple webinar sessions lined up throughout the day with leading industry experts. Most of them were followed by live Q&A sessions and attendees found value for their time.

The Result

Event hosts were looking to educate leaseholders from around the country and bring together leaseholder sector professionals to make meaningful connections. The event was branded as “UK’s Biggest National Leaseholder Event of the Year” and the event organizers saw a jump in leads as compared to last year’s physical event. 

Going virtual for the expo turned out to be a great decision for all stakeholders as the event was highly interactive and informational. Attendees were able to watch videos, view documents, and attend webinars which were the highlight of the event. 

The virtual exhibit hall was a great success as the host was able to bring national level vendors on board as sponsors and exhibitors. Exhibitors who offer their services across the country made important sales connections as their reach expanded through the virtual event.