Helping Bruegel keep audiences engaged — before, during and after its Autumn Annual Meeting
Designing a seamless digital experience for Europe’s most influential policy conference
The challenge
Bruegel is one of the world’s leading economic think tanks, with a reputation for running the best events programme in Brussels. Its annual meetings draw policymakers, senior economists and EU decision-makers for multi-day, multi-session discussions.
But complex events like these often create a digital headache. Many organisations rely on third-party platforms to display agendas and manage speaker information. That adds cost, takes audiences away from their main site and reduces engagement with valuable content like video recordings and follow-up materials.
Bruegel wanted a better solution: to host everything on its own site, while giving audiences an intuitive way to explore sessions, speakers and supporting information.
The turning point
We knew the answer wasn’t just about design — it was about the underlying structure. Using Drupal’s microsite builder functionality, we created a flexible – and reusable – event template where each speaker and session became its own entity. This made it possible to surface connections:
- Users exploring the agenda can click into any session and instantly see speaker bios.
- From the speakers list, users can jump straight to the sessions those people are contributing to.
- A dedicated sub-navigation pulls everything together, from programme and speakers to registration, logistics and post-event content.
This approach meant Bruegel could showcase the depth of its events, while keeping the experience seamlessly integrated within its main site.
The website developed for our Bruegel Annual Meetings – celebrating our 20th anniversary – has allowed us to share information efficiently and serve as a central point of reference for all participants. It’s been a key tool in delivering clear and intuitive content.
The solution
The result was a self-contained digital events hub that works hard for Bruegel:
- Audiences stay on the Bruegel website, strengthening long-term engagement.
- The microsite supports the full lifecycle of an event — from early promotion to post-conference video content.
- Staff save time and money by avoiding external platforms.
For Bruegel, this wasn’t just about one event: it created a reusable framework for future conferences, ensuring the organisation can keep delivering the most engaging policy events in Europe — online as well as in person.
The Soapbox Difference
We didn’t just solve a technical problem. We helped Bruegel rethink how events live digitally: turning a logistical headache into an integrated experience that amplifies their reputation as a convenor of Europe’s most important economic conversations.
Explore it yourself: Visit Bruegel’s events hub here.