Success Story

This account illustrates how American Meetings, Inc., (AMI) helped Stratus build a hybrid, hub-and-spoke model for its national sales meeting during the global pandemic.

The Challenge

For Stratus, a healthcare technology firm, in-person meetings were a staple to their business. However, COVID-19 changed all of that, making travel and in-person gatherings not possible.

“We had an urgent need to get together now more than ever, but with the pandemic, we had limitations on being able to fly everyone in for a large meeting,” said Charlie Alvarez, Stratus Chief Executive Officer. “We wanted to do all we could to support the business need and keep our teams safe.”

COVID-19 was changing the way sales representatives meet with and educate physicians on the Stratus home EEG testing service and monitoring devices. The company was also implementing a new sales system and launching a corporate rebrand.

The Solution

Alvarez and his team worked with AMI to create a hybrid meeting environment that was branded with the new corporate messaging, included sessions to learn about the new systems, and forums to communicate with corporate leadership—all in real-time. They also wanted meeting segments where individual regions could provide local updates to their sales reps. Since they were using virtual components, they thought this would be a perfect opportunity to invite headquarter staff, who usually do not attend this meeting.

The Stratus’ corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas served as the event’s main meeting hub. The setup included a professional-grade broadcast studio and a live stream, that was configured and managed by AMI.

The kickoff general session was streamed to sales team groups of 10-12 at multiple locations throughout the U.S.

Onsite, AMI carefully selected dine-arounds that met social distancing criteria, at hotel and area restaurants to provide some breaks as well. Everyone followed the same agenda and listened to the same presentations. A Stratus executive was available at each “spoke location” to answer questions.

Using some Stratus-owned AV equipment, AMI created event “pods” to accommodate clusters of attendees who traveled to regional locations to experience the event. While most were able to drive to these locations, a few had to fly, which created a level of complexity to the logistics due to COVID-19.

AMI ensured that all local safety protocols and recommendations were followed and provided to attendees. To reinforce adherence to safety, AMI developed a Safety, Sanitation, and Resource Guide for the event.

AMI recorded the event so that Stratus employees who were unable to attend the event could watch on-demand.