Sponsored by the Friends of the Berkeley Public Library with donations from Straus Family Creamery and the San Francisco Opera. (Unfortunately Pollinator Posse will no longer be able to join us that day, but stay tuned for an event with them later on.)
The element we liked most about Hopin is their “Connect” feature. Similar to many companies this past year, connecting in the virtual space has been top of mind. We found our match and decided to use Hopin. We leaned on Emily Davis and Liz Bravo from our Field Marketing team to help us evaluate a tool, since they were in the process of evaluating options for our annual summit, Forward. After doing some research, we learned that the provider we typically use couldn’t support the interconnection and engagement we were looking for. We host our weekly All Hands using a traditional web calling provider, but we wanted this event to feel different - and special. Our next goal was to find the perfect platform for our unique needs. With clear objectives and an extraordinary planning team, we set out to answer these questions. Where do we begin? Will it be on Zoom? How many people can fit on Zoom? What will be covered? How do we keep everyone engaged? How do we make it fun? In response to this new way of engaging - in addition to huge growth at Blend, as we hired over 300 people in 2020 - we had some big questions to answer.
We knew we had to adapt to the needs of the moment and change to a virtual event. Over three days we covered the company and sales kickoff, booked over 40 reservations for employees to connect at dinner, recognized employees and celebrated the past year, and built excitement for the year to come. We flew employees in from across the company: our second hub in New York City, our Blend Insurance office in Southern California, and our remote team members from across the country.
In the spirit of inclusivity and bringing the whole company together, starting in 2019 we moved to a fully in-person event in San Francisco. Our kickoffs over the years have functioned as an important moment in time to foster the connection that being present with one another can bring. Gathering and celebrating have always been important at Blend.