Brentford Football Club has always been about more than just the game. Since its founding in 1889, the club has had a close connection with its loyal fans. And now with its promotion to the Premier League — the highest tier of English football — Brentford is doubling down on its commitment to engaging fans with initiatives such as the Fan Forum.
The annual forum was originally an in-person event that allowed supporters to connect with senior club officials and learn about Brentford’s plans and priorities, on and off the field. With the event returning after a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the club was determined to make it better than ever — and to attract the biggest turnout possible.
“We decided a hybrid event would open up the forum to more fans by giving them the flexibility to participate in person or online from anywhere,” says Sally Stephens, Fan and Community Relations Director.
For the Fan Forum’s virtual platform, BlueJeans Events was a natural choice for the club because it “offered a unified platform for our events and in-house meetings,” says Technology Director Mike Morris. “And it easily integrated with our existing IT infrastructure.”
More importantly, the platform offered all the capabilities Brentford needed to organize and carry out its first hybrid fan event. This included being able to easily invite hundreds of supporters to the forum via email. The platform also provided the tools supporters needed to interact with and listen to Brentford CEO, Jon Varney; Director of Football, Phil Giles; and Head Coach of the Premier League team, Thomas Frank.
Thanks to the inclusion of virtual attendees, the event was a huge success. More than 500 supporters attended the forum, twice the number who could fit into Brentford’s physical venue.
Delivering Flawless Live Streams With BlueJeans Studio
BlueJeans Events played a key role in this success. Its production platform BlueJeans Studio, for example, enabled Brentford’s events team to create and manage live streams without difficulty. They were able to add backgrounds and graphics to the live stream in real time, allowing partner logos to be displayed prominently throughout the session.
“Muting the presenters, switching between videos and graphics, and ending a stream were simple,” says Morris. “It was easy to navigate around the platform, enabling us to focus on creating an engaging event.
“With internal moderators from Brentford and external moderators from the BlueJeans Events support team, we could focus on ensuring the event ran smoothly — without having to worry about issues like stream quality, negative engagement, and unforeseen technical problems.”
Adding moderators was also a breeze, says Morris. “The moderation screen was simple to navigate, allowing us to control every facet of the event, right down to reviewing fan comments.”
Hybrid Is Here To Stay
After the resounding success of the first hybrid forum, Brentford plans to continue holding similar events. These events will play an important role in keeping the club at the top of its game, on and off the field.
“It’s the future for our events, allowing people to participate from the comfort of their homes or anywhere else if they’re unable to attend in person,” says Stephens, adding that the club plans to keep using BlueJeans Events and Studio.
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About the Author
Sharni Medina is the Director of Customer Marketing at BlueJeans Network, where she is responsible for sharing the voice of customers through customer-driven content and supporting business reference needs. Prior to joining BlueJeans, Sharni worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, leading their customer advocacy and referencing organization. Sharni holds degrees in Education and Physical Education from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco. Outside of the office, Sharni enjoys spending time with her family and traveling.
