Industry Overview and Purchasing Environment

Virtual conferences and event support services are more recently getting procured at volume now given the state of remote work, hybrid interest, etc. People now expect to have options for physical and virtual participation whenever possible, and this is true within the institutional context as well.

But not every event is created equal in terms of what’s needed, the ambition of the event managers/coordinators, and the budget allocated. 

Add in buyer urgency, knowledge gaps, and varying technical sophistication to fully appreciate the challenge.

Each virtual support and outreach bid welcomes a longer exploration than say, staffing or security, because of several factors related to how fast this technology evolves and the trend of skyrocketing segmentation.

Enter… The Win

Enter Virtual Velocity, a TKS client since March of this year, after responding to a message to: “[locate] someone to write up proposals/responses to RFPs in a clear and visually pleasing way.”

We isolated one opportunity in particular that looked decently viable for the State of Ohio; this seemed interesting because of the partnership brokerage required for securing the contract. After a 9-day dive into the particulars, TKS pivoted Virtual Velocity towards one that seemed like a better, less-saturated fit.

After handling some trickiness around confidentiality, notarized forms, and pricing uncertainties, the TKS team submitted on their behalf. We learned today (August 16th) of their contract win after two interviews and a BAFO negotiation round.

While the exploratory round was longer than our average development client, we’re happy that the trust was maintained and commend the Virtual Velocity team for their endurance.

With this award, we plan to see future opportunities alongside adjacent public agencies, future partnerships forged from executing on the work, and other generative work on the horizon. They can now spotlight this anchor contract for the next five years.

Closing Thoughts

In such a marketplace with thousands of startups, SaaS offerings, and production companies jumping into the mix, having an institutional contract is a major differentiator. It’s a milestone that no amount of commercial work could mirror or stand against. And it shows a level of transparency, financial stability, and reasonability that only a small percentage of firms possess.

We welcome explorations from other firms that may want to also add the public sector or a health network (for instance) to their client portfolio.

Hit the ‘Contact Us’ button to inquire about potential pathways we’d recommend to a successful contracting future. Or call us at 888-831-3643.