Introduction
A pioneer in research on aging, The Buck Institute on Aging Research is now a global leader in the field. The Buck is the world’s only research institute singularly focused on the biology of aging, yielding insights into age related diseases before they start. Since 1999, their mission has been to end the threat of age-related disease for this and future generations.
On December 3rd, 2018, more than 350 researchers, aging-science aficionados and supporters of the Buck attended a day-long once-in-a-lifetime event: Live Longer Better: A Celebration of 30 Years of Research on Aging.
Held at the Buck’s headquarters in Novato, California, the symposium featured presentations and panel discussions that chronicled early discoveries, marked progress over the years, and highlighted new technologies and efforts poised to deliver treatments to those suffering from age related conditions.
The Buck was eager to extend the conference’s learning and impact well beyond those fortunate enough to attend the Novato event. With ExtendedSession, the Buck extended the conference’s key themes by organizing a roster of subsequent online conversations, each of which gave scientists and interested individuals the opportunity to learn from many of the same ground-breaking scientists who presented in Novato.
The result: Distinguished scientists and researchers from across the United States came together for a once-in-a-lifetime collection of conversations.
Currently underway, these sessions extended the Buck’s place at the center of the conversation begun at their in-person conference. Each online session is presented free, and recorded and archived for later access by scientists, students and other individuals interested in the long- and near-term future of aging and wellness.
Case Study
The Buck Institute’s Live Better Longer Online Conference
Cultivating new networks and engaging new members
AGENDA
We helped the Buck build upon the success of their anniversary symposium by developing an online agenda that advanced the themes of their annual conference–one that allowed members across the Buck’s network of scientists, collaborators, and donors more sustained access to conference presenters.
We introduced these extended sessions in ways that underscored the Buck’s position as a global leader in the science of aging, and worked in advance of each session to prepare speakers to host entirely new, engaging online conversations.
COMMUNICATIONS
We developed a new communications campaign for the Buck to promote the conference—one that help spread the word among the organization’s existing membership while at the same time introducing the Buck to a new collection of aging-science aficionados across the country and around the world.
We helped present these materials across the Buck’s partner network—and among each individual speaker’s network as well. And, we helped the Buck introduce the online conference and the organization itself to a new network of potential attendees via social media.
PLATFORM
We provided the digital conference platform upon which the new online conference was marketed and presented.
Our ExtendedSession Online Conference platform made it easy to register attendees and to enroll them in individual conference sessions.
Once the conference began, we managed each online session as it occurred, providing live session facilitators, and also preparing a video archive of each conversation so that even people who had missed a session could easily view what they’d missed—all on their own schedule.
COMMUNITY
Throughout, we made it possible for the Buck to further cultivate their audience’s interest in specific conference themes.
In the weeks preceding each live conversation, participants were invited to rank key questions for each speaker and even to submit questions of their own. After each session, we followed up with a quick digital survey gave the Buck insight into their members’ immediate and longer-term interests in the key issues related to aging and wellness.
