Were you supposed to attend a conference this year? Or was your company planning to sponsor or have a booth at a tradeshow? If you were like most of us, your professional development and networking opportunity morphed from the normal in-person event to an online experience. Some provided good value while others needed work to improve engagement and connectivity for participants.
In this week’s podcast, Murray and Samantha are joined by Wes Scott, the President and CEO of EventWorx Corporation. They are organizers of large conferences like the Oil Sands Conference and Trade Show, Petrochem Canada Supply Chain Expo and Smart Energy. Wes shares some of his experiences from 2020 as his company has had to shift from planning in-person, face-to-face conferences to virtual events.
So, how did the organizers of these events find the challenging year that was 2020? And what can we expect for next year?
Some insights Wes shared with us include:
On the positive side, virtual events are a more affordable way to develop your people, with no shortage of webinar topics for professional development and education. Companies took advantage of new learning without having to invest a lot of money into travel. As well, employees had the opportunity to expand their international reach to log into events and conferences around the world.
Wes also gives us an interesting snippet of the work EventWorx is currently doing to encourage deployment of COVID rapid testing. And what that might mean for the comeback of in-person live events. But you’ll have to listen to the podcast to learn more…
Virtual events will be around for at least several years so we need to make the best of them.
Vendors are going to have to do a better job of engaging with attendees via the virtual apps and in virtual networking functions.
And hopefully, as 2021 progresses, we’ll be able to safely meet face-to-face – in offices or networking events – and recapture the personal experience that virtual cannot replace.
YOUR SPEAKERS
MURRAY QUIBELL
President
As a Chartered Accountant, business owner and IT specialist, Murray’s insight into financial software is unparalleled. You’ll also love his business-first approach in every technology discussion.
SAMANTHA NITON-DEFORGE
Business Solutions Specialist
With experience deploying hundreds of ERP implementations and enhancements, Samantha brings a wealth of technical expertise to find the right solution.
WES SCOTT
President and CEO of EventWorx Corporation
Wes has more than 25 years of event and conference management experience. Prior to launching EventWorx, Wes was the Executive Vice President, Energy at dmg events, a role he had between 2012 and 2017. Wes joined dmg in June of 2000, as Sales Manager. Over the course of seventeen years, he enjoyed a number of promotions, and ultimately became EVP in 2012. As Executive Vice President, Wes had overall responsibility for a large group of event management professionals, launched and grew a portfolio of international conferences, trade shows, and trade missions. Within his role, he led a group of three concurrent vice presidents, as well as sales, marketing, digital marketing, conference production, operations & logistics, finance and human resources departments. Prior to joining dmg, Wes held the role of general manager and publisher at the Petroleum Society of CIM. Wes taught for five years at Mount Royal College from 2012-2017 and has been active with the Canadian Association of Exhibition Management.
Aqurus Solutions
Aqurus Solutions : Nov 6, 2020, 1:00:49 AM
Murray Quibell : Feb 14, 2019, 3:00:38 AM