Case Study: GEDSI engages 600 alumni across the Indo-Pacific with Howspace

Breaking barriers by virtually engaging 600 alumni in the Indo-Pacific

GEDSI, through the Australia Awards and Alumni Engagement Program, needed a way to run the 2021 Regional GEDSI Leadership Summit online during the pandemic while still engaging around 600 alumni across 18 countries and multiple time zones. The challenge was to sustain interaction, collaboration, and networking in a purely virtual 3-day event focused on “Breaking Barriers: Working Together Towards Inclusive Recovery.”

Howspace provided the platform for pre-event and live engagement, enabling participants to connect, share stories, and collaborate in a safe, anonymized environment. With Howspace, GEDSI boosted participation before the summit, supported virtual institutional visits and social impact exhibits, and created what organizers called a benchmark for virtual events, with attendees praising the interactivity and collaboration and the majority saying Howspace and Zoom encouraged their participation.

GEDSI

Milalin Javellana

Program Director