Background
The Society of Radiographers (SoR) is the professional body and trade union representing radiographers across the United Kingdom. As a member-led organisation, the SoR places its membership at the heart of its governance, and nowhere is this more visible than at its Annual Delegates Conference.
The conference brings together a carefully selected, regionally representative delegation of around 300 members to discuss motions, debate priorities, and vote on the issues that shape the organisation’s direction for the year ahead. With over 30,000 members across the UK who cannot always attend in person, reach and accessibility are central to everything the event sets out to achieve.
Event Goals
- Uphold member democracy: give every eligible member a meaningful opportunity to engage with motions, regardless of whether they attend in person or remotely.
- Ensure a representative delegation: select a cross-section of delegates from every region of the UK, rather than opening registration on a first-come-first-served basis.
- Extend event reach: live stream the conference to over 30,000 members unable to attend, bringing the democratic process to the full membership.
- Enable on-demand access: make all speeches and motions available to watch back after the event, for both in-person and virtual attendees.
- Simplify motion management: replace the previous PDF-based approach with a dynamic, filterable, in-app experience that makes it easier for members to navigate and engage with motions.
Challenges
- Managing regional registration complexity: the SoR required a tightly controlled registration process to ensure a geographically representative delegation, demanding careful platform configuration and ongoing coordination.
- Scaling for a dual audience: supporting 300 in-person delegates alongside a virtual audience of 30,000+ members required a platform capable of handling significant concurrent demand without compromising either experience.
- Venue infrastructure failure: the day before the event, a critical patching system at the venue was found to be broken, something that had been confirmed as working. The CrowdComms team sourced cables, ran them through the roof to bypass the faulty system, and resolved the issue overnight. No delegate was aware anything had gone wrong.
- Driving member engagement beyond the room: ensuring that remote members felt genuinely included in the democratic process, not just passive viewers, required a platform with strong content accessibility and intuitive navigation for all levels of digital confidence.
Solution
Registration, built for complexity: the registration module was configured to support the SoR’s regional allocation requirements, giving the team full control over delegate selection rather than opening registration on a first-come-first-served basis. The result was a representative 300-strong delegation drawn from across the UK, managed smoothly through a single platform.
Event App, one platform for every member: within the app, members could browse, filter, and engage with motions interactively, a significant upgrade from the previous PDF-based approach. The document viewing feature allowed attendees to zoom in and comment directly on materials, making the content more accessible for all. All conference content was centralised in one place, from agendas to voting, reducing friction and improving the overall delegate experience.
Live Streaming, reaching the wider membership: CrowdComms delivered end-to-end filming and live streaming, bringing the conference to over 30,000 members nationwide. By consolidating both platform and production under one supplier, the in-room experience transferred seamlessly to a virtual audience, with zero disconnect between the two. All content was made available on demand post-event, extending the value of the conference well beyond the day itself.
On-site support, an extension of the team: the CrowdComms team operated as a genuine extension of the SoR’s own staff, fielding delegate queries at registration kiosks, resolving a critical venue infrastructure failure the night before the event, and freeing the internal team to focus where they were needed most. No delegate was aware of the issue. Zero disruption on the day.
Outcome
Key achievements included over 30,000 members reached via live streaming, 300+ in-person delegates, a 3-in-1 integrated platform, and 100% of content made available on demand post-event.