Sarah Xu
How Impact Summit Will Connect Virtual Conference Attendees

Every year Impact Labs, a non-profit that increases access to opportunities that leverage technology for social good, hosts the Impact Summit. At the Impact Summit, students explore the intersection of technology and social good through speakers, technical workshops, a career fair, and a pitch competition. Past speakers include Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff, CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, and Bonnie Lei, Head of Partnerships at AI for Earth at Microsoft.
The 2020 Impact Summit will occur virtually from August 14 to August 16. One challenge of virtual conferences is finding a way to recreate the natural connections people make with other attendees at in-person conferences. That’s why Impact Summit will use Glimpse, a platform that engages groups through one-on-one, time-boxed video calls in a virtual room.
“We’ve got tons of events planned already, but conferences are so much more than that,” said Aaron Mayer, Director of Impact Labs. “To really have the attendees meet one another face to face and connect, we’ll be using Glimpse so that they can meet each other in a casual, friendly way!”
During the down time between events, attendees can hop into a Glimpse room and meet other attendees. They can select their interests and match with other people with the same interests. In each video call, there are interesting questions to talk about and fun games to play.

“We love Glimpse because it’s a technically sophisticated product, while retaining a playful vibe, which is exactly what we’re going for!” Mayer said.
If you want to use Glimpse at your virtual conference, here are some tips and tricks:
Follow our Hosting Guide for general advice to get started :)
End your kick-off event with a link to a Glimpse room! The time-boxed, one-on-one conversations are a great way to get people excited about the event
Decide on a match length(default is 2 minutes) that makes sense for your team
Customize the match types to suit your event