Case Study: National Conference for Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) achieves nearly 1,300 virtual attendees and lasting on-demand engagement with OpenWater

National Conference for Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education - Customer Case Study

NCORE (National Conference for Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education) needed to move its annual conference online with a small team (a dozen staff) while preserving networking and growing attendance. They selected OpenWater’s Event Cloud platform and services to host a large virtual program—54 sessions, 28 posters, and 7 exhibitors—aiming to recreate the in-person engagement virtually.

OpenWater delivered a simple, easy-to-navigate platform plus training and day-of support that enabled morning and evening breakout networking (some rooms with 60+ participants) and drove strong participation—close to 1,300 attendees, many first-time participants. Using OpenWater, NCORE kept content on demand through April 2021 to generate ongoing registrations and passive income, and the success has informed a planned hybrid model for future conferences.

National Conference for Race and Ethnicity in Higher Education

Belinda Biscoe

Senior Associate Vice President