Challenge
As National University expanded its hybrid work initiatives and annual virtual conferences, the team needed a better way to support engagement across a growing professional community.
Their previous enterprise event platform offered extensive functionality, but the experience often felt overly complicated for speakers and attendees navigating virtual sessions and event workflows.
According to Melody Rawlings, their previous platform created unnecessary friction during conference preparation and participation as it was not very user-friendly.
The university needed:
- A simpler virtual event experience
- Easier speaker onboarding
- Ongoing engagement beyond conference days
- Stronger communication across internal and external audiences
Solution
Using Tradewing, National University created a centralized engagement hub where faculty, staff, students, alumni, researchers, and external professionals could stay connected throughout the year , not just during major events.
The platform became a space for:
- Virtual conferences
- Ongoing announcements and communication
- Group-based engagement
- Research and resource sharing
- Collaboration across university centers
For the university, simplicity became one of the biggest advantages. Tradewing reduced friction for both organizers and attendees while still providing the functionality needed to support growing initiatives and virtual events.
Rawlings also highlighted how the embedded event functionality created a more familiar and accessible experience for participants already comfortable using the platform in their day-to-day work.
Rather than forcing attendees to learn a complicated new system, the experience felt intuitive and easier to navigate.
Impact
Instead of engagement ending after conference sessions alone, National University created a more continuous member experience where conversations, updates, and participation could continue year-round.
As more initiatives and events were hosted through Tradewing, the university steadily expanded its professional network while strengthening connections across audiences both inside and outside the institution.
Today, the community is approaching 1,000 members, driven by ongoing participation across events, groups, and community communication.
