oneGov Pop-up Event “Have You Met oneGov”?

(12 November 2023) oneGov hosted a pop-up event, ‘Meet oneGov’, at the SME Hub, where members of the public had the opportunity to engage directly with us.

This is the first in a series of monthly marketing events that we’ll be holding at popular and easily accessible locations.

Our goal with these events is to engage citizens by disseminating information on oneGov.

Now that the Meet oneGov event is over, we wanted to give you a deeper look into everything that went into making the event successful from conception to execution and its impact.

The Idea

One of our marketing goals this year is to introduce oneGov to as many Maldivians as possible, making oneGov a household name. We want to inform and enlighten the public on how oneGov can improve their interactions with public services.

With this iteration of the event, the key demographic segment we targeted was office workers. This segment was identified as important audience to their regular engagement with public services and their familiarity with digital solutions and technologies in their professional environments.

Next, the team began looking for a venue to host the event. Our search led us to the SME Hub.

With three floors of vendors (two of which are mostly food vendors), the SME Hub is a very popular spot amongst our target audience. It is a spot where they can gather, choose from a wide selection of lunch options, and enjoy conversations.

After this, we discussed how to convey information about oneGov to event attendees. We used three main components in our approach.

The first component was an informative booklet on oneGov for a quick read or easy reference later.

The next component was an interactive element. This was presented to the attendees as a QR code on a card that they could scan for more information.

For the third component, we decided to include a small gift to show our appreciation to the attendees.

The Event

We arrived early at the SME Hub on Sunday and promptly got set up there for the event. A shout out to the SME Hub team for all their help and support before, during, and after the event!

Let’s quickly run you through how the event went:

DJ Maanu in the House

The oneGov team was joined by DJ Maanu who brought life to the event through his musical stylings. With breaks for prayer time, the DJ gave us some great beats throughout the event.

The DJ’s music really brought the event to life and encouraged us to put a little pep in our step. The unique atmosphere he created made the event really stand out.

Meeting the Team

Members of the oneGov team approached the attendees and had one-on-one conversations with them.

This personal touch is crucial to our approach to disseminating information. It is also very different from the typical informational sessions where attendees passively listen to speeches or watch videos.

We really enjoyed introducing oneGov to the attendees individually and answering any questions they had.

Your Feedback

We were able to get some really valuable feedback from the attendees too.

One of the most common comments we heard was for more agencies to make their services available through oneGov. The oneGov team is hard at work to make this a reality.

We also received some feedback regarding the lack of a Dhivehi version of the website. We are working on resolving this very key issue.

We look forward to sharing any updates as they come.

A Learning Experience

One of the best parts of this event for us was being able to convey key information about oneGov to the attendees.

The team spoke to new and potential users of oneGov alike. We informed them about oneGov services and our future plans.

The high informational value of the interactions reinforces our goal of building awareness through outreach programs.

A Token of Appreciation

We also gave all of our attendees a little gift as a token of appreciation for hearing us out. It was a voucher for MVR20 off for the vendors on the first floor of the SME Hub.

The voucher was very well-received by the attendees.

Something to Take Home

During the event, we distributed our booklet to enhance awareness about oneGov and its features. These booklets served not only as an informative guide during the event but also as a valuable take-home reference for the attendees.

Recognizing the importance of reaching a wider audience, extra copies were made available at the SME hub. These were distributed by SME staff in the days following the event, catering to those who were unable to attend.

Reflection and Appreciation

The Meet onGov event was a huge success. We got the opportunity to interact and exchange information with nearly 200 attendees.

The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. The attendees expressed keen interest in understanding the unique features and advantages of the oneGov platform. Many were pleasantly surprised to learn about oneGov’s existence and capabilities.

We want to express our appreciation to the SME Hub team and DJ Maanu. Your support was vital to the success of the event.

An equal amount of appreciation goes out to all the members of the public who attended the event and spoke to us. We hope that you enjoyed meeting some of the faces behind oneGov and learning about the future of digital governance in the Maldives.

If you’d like to stay updated on information about our next pop-up and our latest news, you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

We also have a YouTube channel where you can check out our vodcast, oneGov Insights. And if you’re on Tiktok, you can find us there too.