Case Study: National Book Festival achieves a fully virtual, interactive 100,000+‑attendee festival with BigMarker

The Library of Congress' National Book Festival Pivoted to a Fully Virtual Event Experience

The National Book Festival (Library of Congress) faced a sudden pivot in 2020: turn its 20th annual, in-person literary celebration into a fully virtual experience without losing author engagement, interactivity or thought leadership. The festival needed a platform that could handle 50,000+ attendees, 60+ speakers, live Q&A, gamification and more — and chose BigMarker’s virtual event platform to meet those requirements.

BigMarker delivered a comprehensive three-day online festival with 12 themed stages, a “Roadmap to Reading” hub, “Meet the Authors” and “Explore the Library” on-demand media, plus a sponsor hall with gamification and live author chats. Using BigMarker, the National Book Festival hosted 120+ authors, welcomed notable speakers such as Chelsea Clinton and Sandra Cisneros, and drew more than 100,000 guests over the event’s three-day runtime, becoming one of 2020’s most popular virtual literary events.