Meet Snyk, a developer security company that engaged thousands of developers and customers by hosting a one-of-a-kind global security conference on Hopin

PLANNING A NEW KIND OF EVENT

A best-in-class conference for security specialists

SnykCon is an annual virtual conference that engages and educates the developer community, all while inspiring them to build with security in mind. The conference is organized by Snyk, a leading developer security platform that helps developers automatically find and fix vulnerabilities in their code to create a safer digital ecosystem. Snyk uses its annual conference to educate and engage its community, share customer success stories and best practices, and grow brand awareness globally.

Snyk’s events team were on a tight timeline to plan and deliver their second virtual SnykCon and so needed a self-service platform with excellent customer support. They also had a number of ambitious event goals to hit including an immersive level of customization that was far beyond the capabilities of most platforms. After extensive research, Snyk decided Hopin was the best solution on the market and a true long-term partner to help the team deliver incredible event experiences.

"We felt at the time – and we still feel several months into the partnership – really confident that the current tools Hopin was able to provide us were not just a fit for the current needs and scope of work, but were comprehensive enough [...] to grow as partners over the coming years. So it was both the current tool stack as well as the flexibility and trajectory of growth in the near future." –Lindsey Cohen, Director of Event Marketing, Snyk

Hopin’s integrations proved invaluable during the planning stage of SnykCon. Snyk’s team made use of the platform’s Figma integration to build out the complex custom elements that would elevate the event experience for attendees and drive engagement. They also made use of Hopin’s Marketo and Salesforce integrations to drive registrations and track which accounts had already planned on attending the event across customers and prospects.

"When it came to Hopin being secured as our platform of choice, we were able to go back to our sponsors and offer them even more. The interactive functionality and the engagement capabilities of the Expo were a huge value add."

Lindsey Cohen

Director of Event Marketing, Snyk

IT’S SHOWTIME

Empowering a global community of developers to prioritize security

Snyk ran three days of seamless content, with more than 100 speaker sessions spread across five tracks. Speakers from both the developer and security communities joined the event stages, helping to encourage dialogue between disciplines.

On SnykCon’s main stage, ‘people hacker’ Jenny Radcliffe discussed how the human aspect of security is often its biggest vulnerability and Microsoft Regional Director Troy Hunt shared his story of processing more than 11 billion records of breached data. Snyk’s leadership team also delivered keynote speeches, and the company’s product team offered demos of Snyk’s capabilities.

“We really set out to achieve a pretty diverse set of speakers in terms of the speakers themselves and in the topics they were going to present upon. We market to two very distinct audiences, and SnykCon is an event in which we bring those two audiences together.” –Lindsey Cohen, Director of Event Marketing, Snyk

To get everyone involved, Snyk organized a number of interactive experiences, including a game of “Fetch the Flag,” a 10-hour capture-the-flag-style live hack event featuring Snyk’s mascot, Patch the dog. This popular activity engaged developers from around the world, helping them connect with and learn from thought leaders beyond the traditional conference format. Snyk’s security research team created these challenges and attendees used the Expo area of the virtual conference as a help desk for advice and troubleshooting.

Snyk also hosted a number of engaging sessions to vary the pace and get attendees networking between sessions including performances by a magician, a developer-turned-comedian, and a DJ who codes his sets.

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The Hopin features that made SnykCon a success

These are some of the Hopin features that helped make SnykCon 2021 the most engaging and interactive to date:

Registration: Snyk used Hopin’s registration functionality to create different ticket types for the various event audiences and target personas.
Customizability: Hopin’s adaptable nature meant Snyk could build a truly customized, on-brand experience.
Integrations: Hopin’s integrations with Marketo and Salesforce were vital to Snyk’s pre-event promotion strategy. The integration with Figma also allowed for beautiful design elements throughout the conference.
Event Stages: Developer security experts took to Hopin’s event stages to share invaluable expertise on how developers can work with their security counterparts to build more securely across their applications.
Expo area: Snyk hosted an interactive “Fetch the Flag” competition for SnykCon, using Hopin’s Expo area as a help desk where attendees could chat with experts. Sponsors also enjoyed their own customizable booths where they could host content, answer questions, and offer exclusive discounts.
Chat: The Snyk team engaged directly with attendees via chat, encouraging lively conversation as the community reacted to SnykCon speakers and product announcements.
Networking: Hopin’s one-on-one and group networking features facilitated connections among attendees during fun, informal sessions.

"Huge kudos to the team across the board because the live event itself felt as though it could not have been more seamless."

Lindsey Cohen

Director of Event Marketing, Snyk

HOW IT TURNED OUT

A new gold standard for Snyk’s virtual events

SnykCon 2021 exceeded registration goals and set the standard for future company events in terms of execution and impact. More than 12,000 people registered for the event and attendees stayed engaged throughout the experience, sharing nearly 3,400 chat messages. Just one week after the conference, Snyk had new business generated and directly attributed to connections made during SnykCon.

The conference’s high production quality and slick user experience impressed all of Snyk’s key stakeholders. SnykCon’s content also lived on after the conference, which allowed Snyk to share talks and sessions on demand with registrants who couldn’t make the event. This content was tailored to specific organizations’ needs and industries, allowing Snyk to build business relationships long after the event was over.

“More than anything, I’m proud of the partnership. I give full credit to the teams from both Snyk and Hopin for setting out to achieve a challenging task. I know that this partnership is something we are going to continue to grow together and push each other to be better as a result.” –Lindsey Cohen, Director of Event Marketing, Snyk

Off the back of SnykCon 2021’s success, Snyk is launching a number of proprietary events, including a new hybrid edition of SnykCon that will serve both a targeted in-person audience as well as a global virtual audience of developers and security experts. In preparation for the event, the team is using Hopin’s in-depth reporting to inform decisions related to SnykCon 2022.

12,000+

Registrants

3,400+

Chat messages among attendees

96%

Of survey respondents said they plan to attend again in 2022

"SnykCon 2021 was by all means a huge success for the business [...] We set the bar high, which we tend to do here at Snyk, and I am looking forward to being a part of the team that gets to achieve that tenfold with new event programming."

Lindsey Cohen

Director of Event Marketing, Snyk