How The Wall Street Journal hosted its first virtual event on Hopin

About WSJ Health Forum

Every year, The Wall Street Journal brings together national healthcare experts and policymakers to discuss the current state of the healthcare industry. In March 2020, the novel coronavirus made this WSJ Health Forum event especially critical, given the impact of the pandemic and the uncertainty of the future.

Challenge

Attendee and speaker interaction—Q&A sessions, networking conversations, and "lunchtables"—were paramount to the success of this important event, but due to the lockdown, the typical face-to-face format couldn't take place in-person.

WSJ needed a virtual platform that could bring everyone together and still facilitate a conversational and connective experience.

Solution

In two weeks, The Wall Street Journal worked with Hopin to create its first virtual Health Forum. The Dow Jones team built a branded interactive event using the Hopin studio to broadcast program interviews between WSJ journalists and healthcare experts and policymakers.

The Sessions area was used for:

Result

An influential audience of over 900 individuals attended the event and participated in a variety of virtual fireside chats with high-profile speakers, including Larry Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, Patrice Harris, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, and Governor Jeff Colyer, M.D. One guest, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was scheduled to speak but was called away last-minute by the White House.