RealWear

REALWEAR CONNECT: EMERGENCY PIVOT FROM PHYSICAL TO VIRTUAL EVENT IN FOUR WEEKS

Scope definition under constraints · Accelerated project planning · Parallel workstreams · External partner coordination · Risk management · Quality control · Virtual event production

Pivoted RealWear’s flagship in-person event to a fully virtual two-day format in four weeks with no prior playbook, coordinating 16 external partners simultaneously, and delivered the best-performing event in company history.

The gap
RealWear Connect‘s first edition drew 120+ customers, leads, and partners in person and became a cornerstone of field marketing. COVID made the second edition impossible to run live. Cancelling cost momentum, delaying ceded first-mover advantage. The only option was building a virtual event from zero in four weeks.

What I built

• Scoped the project around three non-negotiables (professional format, credible speaker lineup, fast enough promotion to still drive registrations) and left everything else flexible.
• Ran format design, content development, and marketing activation as parallel workstreams instead of sequential, managing dependencies in real time.
• Built contingency directly into the run-of-show, buffer slots and backup content, so one late partner couldn’t collapse the program.
• Managed briefing, technical requirements, and rehearsal schedules for 16 external partners (Zoom, Cisco, OverIT, AMA) simultaneously, each with their own approval process and timeline.
• Held quality standards under pressure: rehearsals, speaker prep requirements, on-brand delivery, treating production quality as a reputational risk, not just a logistics one.

Result
1,000 registrations, RealWear’s best-performing event to date, up from 120+ at the first in-person edition. 16 partners, 7 customer speakers, two days, on schedule. The post-event framework was replicated across global markets and became the foundation for an event now run three times a year.