Last week I tuned into several online events on a variety of subjects.  The quality and impact varied significantly.   In the tangible events world, I made commitment to write up the highlights of the event to share a summary of the keynotes and panelists key takeaways.  It was also to capture the energy in the room.  But when the “room” is Zoom, Facebook,  or equivalent, all one can do is follow the chat or how many people might be logging off.  Here’s my quick summary of what I observed in these virtual events last week and perhaps it might help guide future programs.  My test is to see what I can remember that stood out 4-5 days later.  So here goes!

Authors & Innovators Conference: Hosted by Gennari-Aronson, this event is usually held over a Thursday evening and Friday morning.   This year it was a bit longer with more speakers and a personal introduction to the “innovators” who would normally be in an exhibit space.  That worked very well as each gave an elevator pitch.  What was missing was the wonderful networking that happens live.   Hopefully that will return at some point.

By far, the most broadly appealing and inspiring interviews were with Sarah Frey, Frey Farms, author of The Growing Season: How I built a New Life – and Saved an American Farm and Guy Raz, NPR Host of  How I Built this with the book of the same title.  Sarah’s story about taking over a family business after avoiding it – was likely a familiar one to many.  But her insight into the world of farming, especially from her unique point of view, was incredibly enlightening.  This is a world we simply don’t get to hear about in our tech-centered region.   But her lessons-learned are universal. In particular to really dissect what’s around us to understand what’s behind a label or a process.  It will be the key to bringing back many important parts of our economy.  Sarah is a true heroine of our time.  

Guy Raz provided a rich point of view on how he approaches the incredible people that have build modern industry.  He describes his interviews as “getting in the cockpit of the brain” of these business builders.  His focus is on giving and sharing vs. taking – LISTENING and learning not just how to build a business, but how to “think” entrepreneurially which is applicable to all parts of life and business.   

This virtual format seemed to result in more in depth academic discussions around the books that were teed up.  The conference was also a bit longer and it was easy to jump in and out on Facebook live (I had already heard some of the speakers before, so just chose a few sessions).   The day was filled with terrific content and I encourage everyone to go to the Babson Entrepreneurs Facebook page to view the sessions of interest.

Wall Street Journal, Future of Everything series on the Future of Work

From 12-1:30 this conference packed in three high powered speakers.  Two of the three had wide appeal, while the first one was hyper-focused on Silicon Valley and involved some political background on the specific situation there.  Kat Cole, COO & President Focus Brands (Atlanta, GA) n spoke directly to the type of leadership and listening required to respond to issues that are deeply impacting the workplace in her company.  She represents the highly challenging commercial real estate space supporting many food chains.   Having started low in the ranks of her business, she is totally in tune with how restaurant workers are faring. She spoke eloquently and realistically about the way they have build a diverse work place from the ground up.  She challenged the “pipeline” discussions with a completely new way of looking at this issue.   It’s about where you spend time and network.  That ultimately determined whether a management team can attract the diverse work force they would like to have.   It was a fresh and welcome perspective for leaders to consider seriously.

The last speaker was incredibly engaging and a true visionary.  Thomas Heatherwick, a British architectural designer spoke to the new designs that were underway before Covid hit, but will now fully blossom in the new hybrid or WIH work environment.   Thomas and his colleagues are moving ahead full steam on a new workplace that accommodates fewer, but more meaningful interactions in the office.  The office becomes a welcoming, collaborative environment.  You go there because it’s creative and collaborative space – not to sit in an individual space and do solo work.  Homes also become redesigned for the hybrid environment.  His hypothesis is that the longer we stay working in this WIH model,  the bigger imperative for companies to re-think the role the office has.  A simple and boring functional office will not do.  Their designs globally were awe-inspiring.

The Virtual Marketing Summit organized by Ethan Donati, an Australian success story.   It was among the other events that I attended recently and I was curious how this event was going to stand out in this environment and what new marketing tips might be discussed.   Very quickly, it was revealed that the goal of the event was to convince everyone they could become wealthy and successful if they follow Ethan’s path to being a global professional speaker on how to be successful – more less a self-fulfilling prophesy if you purchase all his books and talks.    The hook was the chance to hear Seth Godin from his home-office.   Seth’s advice to up and coming entrepreneurs was to “find the work that needs to be done” and not to just throw ideas at the wall.  He was the highlight of the event for sure.  As for the rest, in a time when so many need so much, I felt the message was out of sync with the socioeconomic climate.

I have also been privy to several events put on by the arts community on how to have better success online.    After taking in many hours of virtual events, my conclusions are:

• 1-1.5 hours was about the maximum that should be attempted at a time.
• Be cautious about speakers and messaging that are too tied to regional politics or situations – messaging needs to be geographically agnostic and culturally sensitive.
• Talking heads with no visuals is tricky. To do it right, the speaker has to be highly organized in their thinking.  Not effective to ramble on.  Better to have visuals to support points when the person isn’t professional.
• Use the range of “possible” speakers to full advantage, showcase people that might not normally be on the radar screen, but offer a unique story.
• Difficult to mix academic and political debates into a business discussion.
• Pay attention to the chat and change course if you can – think of the chatter as a big “hook” in a circus when many people are basically saying “when will the next person be on….?”
• Try to target the audiences better since the reach online is much broader. Throwing it out there to see what comes back may hurt your brand credibility.

No doubt it’s a learning curve, but as we round the corner to 2021, we should all get better at presenting virtually and making an impact.