Since 1978, MPI Toronto has been committed to the success of its members by connecting the Toronto meeting and event community to learn, innovate, collaborate, and advocate in raising the profile of meeting professionals while fostering a community grounded in the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Challenge

As required by their bylaws, MPI Toronto conducts an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to update their membership on the chapter's vision, hold elections, and perform other activities that are integral to the chapter's operations. Traditionally conducted through a live, in-person event that allowed members to participate in the chapter's governance and network amongst themselves, the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding restrictions forced MPI Toronto to conduct their 2020 AGM virtually.

After independently conducting their 2020 AGM virtually via Zoom, the MPI Toronto Leadership team decided to once again conduct their AGM virtually for 2021. However, with the goal of increasing member participation, voter turnout and engagement being a top priority.

After meeting internally and reviewing the processes from their previous meeting, MPI Toronto Chapter President, Christina Northcott, and her team determined that providing their membership with a more engaging attendee experience and improving the proxy voting process would be integral in improving meeting efficiency, increasing member participation and engagement at their upcoming meeting.

So with a clear understanding of what they required to achieve their goal, the MPI Toronto Leadership team began searching for suitable solutions that could help them provide their membership with a more streamlined and engaging meeting and voting experience.

The Solution

Shortly after they began planning for their upcoming AGM and communicating with selected vendors, Christina and her team realized that they required more than Ineventors' user-friendly virtual event platform and Quest Audio Visual's industry-leading audio-visual resources to conduct their meeting.

The chapter needed to conduct critical elections and voting during the meeting that were integral to their operations. As a result, they would need a user-friendly solution to allow their members to securely cast votes either before the meeting via proxy or live during the meeting to ensure maximum participation, accurate tabulation, and smooth meeting execution.

Aware of how crucial selecting the right voting platform for this meeting would be, MPI Toronto Director of Special Events, Zaman Ishaad, decided to reach out to GetQuorum.

Impressed with the dynamic feature set of their electronic voting platform demonstrated by the GetQuorum team in previous interactions, Zaman felt that their electronic voting platform could meet their unique requirements. After conducting their initial platform and procedures walkthrough with GetQuorum, Christina, Zaman, and the rest of the team were impressed by what they saw.

GetQuorum's electronic voting platform was exactly what they needed, a secure, electronic voting platform that provided members with a convenient way to cast proxy and real-time votes electronically. In addition, the GetQuorum voting platform would tabulate the electronic ballots in real-time and would relieve the chapter's team of time-consuming tasks usually associated with the distribution, collection, and tabulation of electronic email and paper ballots.

And after some brief discussion and coordination with the Ineventors team, the GetQuorum team was able to integrate their voting platform into the Ineventor virtual event platform, providing a truly seamless attendee experience from start to finish.

With a clear understanding of the processes, seamless integration amongst platforms, and support readily available from the GetQuorum, Ineventors, and Quest Audio Visual teams, respectively, the MPI Toronto team was ready for their 2021 Annual General Meeting.

The Results

Overall, the meeting couldn't have gone better. The GetQuorum voting platform, Ineventors virtual event platform, and Quest Audio Visual's systems integrated seamlessly to provide members with an engaging, virtual meetings attendee experience from start to finish.

Members appreciated the improved convenience, efficiency, and accessibility of conducting an AGM and proxy voting electronically. As a result, MPI Toronto saw a significant increase in proxy ballot submissions.

"It was a pleasure working with the GetQuorum." Said Christina Northcott, President, MPI Toronto Chapter, "The team guided us through the process every step of the way. The voting platform is sophisticated yet simplistic from the attendee perspective."

Looking ahead, MPI Toronto will ensure that many of their in-person events moving forward will have a virtual component. The chapter plans to continue working with vendors such as GetQuorum, Ineventors, and Quest Audio Visual to provide virtual attendees with an engaging, positive experience.

If you'd like to learn more about our Hosted Virtual Meeting or Advance Electronic Voting solution for your upcoming meeting, click here.

If you're interested in learning more about Quest Audio Visual or Ineventors, connect with their teams today.