November 19, 2020
Osler is a leading business law firm practising internationally from offices across Canada and in New York. Osler will run recruiting events with prospective law students and social events for their current lawyers. In addition, lawyers are interested in hosting social events with their clients.
Osler runs social events for student recruitment. These recruitment events normally happen in person in a casual setting, such as in their reception area or at restaurants, to learn more about the students and for students to learn more about Osler. These networking mixers provide a great opportunity to introduce prospective students to more lawyers and students at the firm.
Osler also hosts welcome events, dinners and team building events for their students and lawyers. These events have taken place at other venues in the past and have been a great way to integrate new students into the firm and to also get everyone together to socialize in a fun setting.
It’s tough to replicate this casual event and networking setting online when all video calls feel structured and formal.
Especially with new students, having structured 1 on 1 meetings with lawyers can become very nerve-wracking. Instead of a casual and fun interaction, it turns into a stressful and awkward situation, which is the opposite of what these events are supposed to be!
Osler needed to find a way to recreate a casual and fun environment where both students and lawyers don’t have to feel like they’re in another zoom meeting.
Using Rally, Osler organized 5 teams of lawyers and students, where the students were Team Captains and led their teams of lawyers in a trivia challenge. This was a great way for students to interact and meet other lawyers that they may not yet had a chance to connect with while working from home.
A venue and room was set up and customized with Osler’s branding for this event. Students joined the venue to start 5 tables, while the lawyers joined their Team Captains. The event was lively and competitive, where the take the stage and chat features were used during the event.
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Recreating that feeling of random and spontaneous interactions online is the key to a successful networking experience.
Using Rally, Osler was able to run a successful open house where students and lawyers could casually mingle and meet each other in a more natural way.
A venue and room was set-up and customized with Osler’s branding specifically for this event. On Rally, users were able to freely move between different tables of conversation to speak with whomever they want without feeling like they’re stuck in one big group call. With this set-up, both students and lawyers felt more relaxed and comfortable, because they were easily able to move around without the obligation of staying in one place.
Along with the low background sounds of the other conversations at other tables, it fostered a social and casual atmosphere to simulate what a real in-person event at a restaurant would have been like!
“Everyone said it was the closest to an in-person event without it actually being in-person.” - Karina Pantella, Legal Talent
Being able to have these spontaneous conversations and events made a significant impact on recruitment and improving our students’ working relationships. Even without being able to have the regular happy hours or watercooler conversations that normally happen in the office, Osler was able to recreate the social dynamic online on Rally.