Register for the subjects you want, then ask the questions

Restrictions during COVID-19 meant open days could no longer happen on campus. A university that usually welcomes around 30,000 visitors to its bachelor's and master's open days, spread across 400 to 500 programmes, needed to move that experience online without losing overview or clarity.

eVenue gives prospective students a platform to register in advance for the programmes and subjects that interest them. From there, the platform is interactive: questions can be asked directly to students or experts. Livestreams run from multiple studios, keeping the sense of a real open day while making the whole experience possible from anywhere. That last part turned out to matter more than expected, as international students who previously had almost no way to take part joined and engaged on the day.

eVenue is an existing livewall product, customised for this event with additions such as an expert chat module. The live sessions drew heavy viewership, and the option to ask questions saw far more use than the information market itself. Visitor flow across the different parts of the platform is tracked, giving organisers insight into which sessions and modules draw attention, insight that has since fed into further development of eVenue.

An online information market can easily become a black box for the people running it. At a physical open day, organisers see students and staff moving through the space and can read the room. Online, that visibility disappears, replaced by waiting for a message or a call to come in. Making that activity visible again, rather than assuming it, turns out to be the real work behind a platform like this.