Post Trade 360° case study: How strategic design and a smart event platform supported a radical scale-up.

Merging five national conferences every year into a big pan-Nordic one would add value for the target audience, despite having to travel. This was the bet behind Post Trade 360° Nordic 2024, a remake that led to the world’s largest vendor-independent conference dedicated to a niche topic known as securities post-trade operations. The largest previous Post Trade 360° conference had a bit over 300 delegates. The new setup generated a 1,200-delegate event, which called for the operations to be more platform-based.

Alexander Kristofersson, who coordinates the organiser’s internal processes and system setup, credits b2match as a crucial partner in supporting the scale-up. Below, Alexander shares insights on how Post Trade 360° sought to combine its strategic vision with interesting platform capabilities to generate its innovative new event product.

The vision: Making the conference a community hub.

To Alexander and his team, hosting an event meant more than lining up speakers and filling seats. They aimed to create a space that felt alive, where attendees could engage in real-time with relevant industry changes and make new connections.

“We wanted to go beyond a place where people just talk about what’s happening. We wanted to be the place where change is actually happening, where the industry shifts are unfolding right in front of people’s eyes.”, Alexander explains.

The goal of scaling from a smaller, national series to a massive international gathering demanded a complete redesign of the attendee experience. Rather than dividing the event into linear sessions, Post Trade 360° embraced a more relaxed, “festival vibe”, with about four sessions starting in parallel every hour. Alexander explains, “We deliberately broke away from the classic school-day schedule. People could wander between sessions and the Expo floor, meet new people, and lose track of time—that’s what we wanted.”

Robust platform supported the vision.

To execute this concept, Alexander’s team turned to b2match, a digital platform that not only enabled smooth logistical planning but also enhanced engagement on the ground. For Alexander, b2match’s capacity for scalability, coupled with its flexibility, turned out to be a very good fit for their needs.

“b2match wasn’t just about checking logistical boxes; it gave us the tools to help create the environment we wanted”, says Alexander. ”The agenda feature allowed us to personalize the experience for each attendee. Each person could select the sessions they wanted, creating their own ‘linearity’ instead of following a set path.”, he says.

“My vetting process was long, and I must admire my b2match sales rep for her patience with me,” he laughs. “With these event platforms, there is a risk that a minor technical issue could be very destructive in terms of its effects for the organiser. For example, our company’s management demanded a more flexible front page design than the b2match core product was offering at the time. That was a tough nut. We were able to solve for it through close and constructive collaboration, definitely boosting my confidence in b2match as a provider.”

A key aspect of the platform’s success was its intuitive design, making it easy to manage an extensive event program without constant micromanagement. Alexander appreciated the freedom it provided, noting, “We needed a platform that could let us scale quickly without the hiccups. b2match was reliable and responsive, which was exactly what we needed with so many moving parts.”

Rethinking sponsorship: A new kind of engagement.

One of the most transformative changes made at Post Trade 360° was how they handled sponsor presentations. The previous format, with a “captive” audience, forced the organiser to tightly restrict how commercial the sponsor representatives could be in their messaging when on stage. While this is still true for many sessions that the organiser curates independently, a new sponsor-hosted session format was added, letting sponsors add content to their own taste.

“We partly turned the tables on our traditional sponsorship model. Now, sponsors could pitch however they wanted—but they had to attract the audience into the room themselves. If someone wanted to run a product-focused session, they could. We left it up to the audience to decide where they wanted to spend their time”, says Alexander.

This approach redefined the attendee-sponsor relationship, giving attendees more autonomy and allowing the organizers to maintain integrity. “It was important to us to be genuinely independent,” Alexander emphasizes. “Our audience trusts us because we’re not chasing every buzzword; we’re providing meaningful content. b2match gave us the flexibility to reflect that independence.”

Leveraging early engagement for a global reach.

One of the unexpected benefits of using b2match was the early engagement it facilitated. Weeks before the conference, registrants began logging in, checking the agenda, and networking online. This early start, Alexander believes, created a sense of community and excitement that carried through the event.

“We had hundreds of people logging in daily weeks before the event,” Alexander recalls. “Our sponsors had never experienced anything like it. For our attendees, the event had already begun. We were constantly encouraging sponsors to join that early engagement, so they didn’t miss the opportunity to connect with attendees in real time.”

The power of flexibility: Real-time adjustments.

Another value lay in the platform’s ability to support real-time event management. For Post Trade 360°, this meant being able to adjust rooms and session setups based on attendee interest.

“Before the event, we used b2match’s data to see which sessions were trending,” Alexander explains. “If a session was filling up, we could make room adjustments on the fly. It saved us from potential logistical headaches and allowed us to meet attendees’ interests right then and there.” He continues, “We even used the app’s scheduling feature for our sponsor dinners, giving each sponsor their own dedicated table in the agenda and showing delegates a dedicated map to its location in the dinner hall. This way, 400 dinner guests knew exactly where their table was. It was another way b2match helped us keep things organized while offering a customized experience.”

Looking forward: Scaling the vision with technology.

For Alexander, Post Trade 360°’s success this year is only the beginning. As he looks to future events, he envisions a shift towards a collaborative model where industry associations and partner organizations could host their own sessions within the main conference framework. “We’re moving from being just producers of the event to becoming a platform for the industry itself,” he explains. “Our next step is to offer other organizations the space to bring their own audiences and agendas. b2match has shown us that this platform model is not only possible but highly scalable.”

“It’s not about one standout feature. The platform is flexible and robust. It allows us to think big without worrying about technical limitations,” he says, also adding how he appreciates b2match’s all-features-included approach to service packaging.

The story of Post Trade 360° Nordic 2024 highlights the power of strategic vision and adaptability in transforming the way an industry connects and evolves. By blending innovative design with advanced tools and a bold rethinking of engagement, the event has set a new benchmark for what conferences can achieve. This is a reminder that when ambition meets thoughtful execution, even the most specialized sectors can come alive with dynamic opportunities, creating ripple effects far beyond the event itself.