Case Study: Southern Baptists of Texas Convention achieves hybrid reach and actionable attendee insights with Bizzabo

How an In-person Conference Added a Virtual Component by Leveraging Bizzabo

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), a large nonprofit, pivoted its Empower 21 conference in February 2021 from a planned in-person event to a hybrid format to reach attendees who couldn’t or wouldn’t travel and to accommodate different regions and time zones. Event coordinator Sheryl McFadden needed a platform that could seamlessly integrate onsite and virtual experiences, manage registration and ticketing, and support COVID-safe onsite logistics.

SBTC selected Bizzabo for its intuitive hybrid features, using separate virtual and in-person ticket types with conditional logic, the native mobile app (floor locator and venue maps), QR-coded signage, socially distanced exhibitor layouts, and a multi-camera production that streamed sessions live and made them available on demand. The hybrid approach attracted 1,366 total attendees (1,069 onsite, 297 virtual), 37 speakers and 16 sponsors, and delivered rich engagement data that helped SBTC measure session and speaker interest.

Southern Baptists of Texas Convention

Sheryl McFadden

Event Coordinator