Four Key Tips for Producing Successful Virtual Events Globally

By Ranganath Jagannath, Director, Growth, Agora

Are you wondering how to produce a quality virtual event that will attract your target audience and decision makers? 

As the world is adapting to the new rules of social distancing, I thought it was important to put together a list of the top 4 tactics you should use to ensure your virtual event is a smashing success.

Content is King but Engaging Speakers Are Key

Like traditional events, content is even more important in a virtual event because viewers are able to walk into your event as fast as they are able to head for the virtual doors.

From my personal experience I can tell you that successful events are always rich in quality and engaging content. However, the best events seem to have one thing in common: engaging speakers.

Hunting down a speaker who is truly an expert in their field is one thing but finding a speaker who is also engaging is a key tactic that is often overlooked by producers of virtual events. 

Make sure to produce content that has real value for viewers of the event. Don’t forget the main reason people attend virtual events is to learn something new. Only use engaging speakers and hosts who are comfortable talking about the subject matter.

Invest in Paid Promotion

Just like a traditional event, your virtual event should include a plan on strategic paid promotion.

Build a virtual event promotional communications plan that utilizes digital marketing, email marketing, and social media promotion. Don’t just post an event on your social media channels, sponsor the post to reach your target audience.

Virtual event communications are key so make sure to use email and social media channels on a regular basis leading up to the event. Your communications should emphasize the value of the event in every communication piece sent out. Create a strong, vibrant, and engaging landing page for the event. Overbook the event, meaning if your targeting 100 attendees, your promotional plan should strive to drive 225 signups.

Choose a Platform with Innovative Interaction Capabilities

Deciding which platform to use for your virtual event is equally as important as the content you produce. Think about the times you’ve walked into a physical event and actually were wowed by the look and feel of the event. The same can be said for virtual events that deliver quality video, audio, and interactive experiences to viewers.

Delivering quality video, audio, and interactive experience really does matter! The platform you select should come fully loaded with interactive capabilities and include the opportunity for the inclusion of branding elements on the screen. Make sure to turn the virtual event into a well-oiled branding experience, which means including branding elements prior to, during and at the end of the virtual event. 

Now if you really want to take your virtual event to the next level, consider incorporating live audio or video questions from the audience. Questions via chat are good but live audio and video questions are considerably more interactive and engaging for audiences.  It isn’t that people will stop craving for human interaction in a post covid world, they would rather attend an online event where they would be able to make meaningful human connections through real time engagement. 

Virtual events have a distinct advantage over physical events, viewers are able to instantly interact with speakers and hosts of the event via chat. Incorporate interaction elements throughout the entire event; things like emojis, poll questions and prompting the audience to ask questions via chat work extremely well. Take advantage of advanced virtual event platforms that allow audio and video questions from viewers and encourage interaction between attendees. Success can be measured against parameters such as how much percentage of event attendees were engaged by the interaction elements.   

The Event Lives on Long After It’s Over

So, you’ve spent all this time and money to produce a quality virtual event, now what? The truth is, your event has only just begun because you now have a recorded event that has the capabilities to live on for years. Think of a recently completed virtual event as ongoing branding and lead generation vehicle. While the content from the event might seem old three months down the line, it will be new for those who are viewing the event for the very first time.

Promotion is key to making sure a recently completed virtual event will continue to have success for months to come. Pin-point highlights from the event and use them as promotional items. Remember a quality virtual event has the shelf life of at least a year.

Give Wings to Your Photography Dreams with the All New Lava Z66

Indian mobile handset brand, Lava International Limited, announced the launch of its new smart phone- Lava Z66. The Lava Z66 is equipped with a 13MP selfie camera with screen flash to capture stunning portraits even in low-light. It also sports a dual rear camera setup of 13MP + 5MP with LED flash which renders a superior photography experience. To enhance the user experience further, the smartphone camera has been packed with premium features like beauty mode, night mode, HDR mode, burst mode, panorama, time lapse, slow motion along with filters for every mood.

The smartphone is powered with a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor for a seamless performance and features a 6.08-inch HD+ notch display with a 2.5D curved screen & 19:9 aspect ratio. This 3GB RAM smartphone has a storage capacity of 32GB (expandable up to 128GB) for storing your precious moments and videos. Priced at Rs. 7777, Lava Z66 is currently available in three striking colour variants – Marine Blue, Berry Red and Midnight Blue. This Made in India smartphone is currently available at offline stores and will soon be available on Amazon and Flipkart.

The Lava Z66 draws power from 3950 mAh battery which provides up to 16 hours of talk time*. The smartphone runs on Stock Android OS (Android 10) and is free from pre-loaded bloatware which ensures a smooth performance and a clean Android experience. For improved device security, Lava Z66 has been equipped with a fingerprint scanner and a face-unlock feature that unlocks the phone in just 0.6 seconds*.

Commenting on the launch, Tejinder Singh, Head- Product, Lava International said, “Lava Z66 is an exceptional device in the budget segment for all the photography enthusiasts out there. This beautiful device not only lets you click the most stunning pictures but also delivers a power packed all round performance.”

The Lava Z66 comes with dual sim support (4G+4G), Bluetooth V4.2, OTG support, Micro-USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The phone also has an array of sensors that includes an accelerometer, ambient light and a proximity sensor.

*under Lava testing conditions

Lava International Limited 

#ProudlyIndian

Lava International Limited is a leading Indian Mobile Handset Company with operations in 20+ countries. In the international markets the company is growing rapidly and is already among the top players in many of these countries it operates in. 

Lava has always been at the forefront of Govt. of India’s ‘Make in India’ initiative. Lava was the first mobile brand to take a lead in support of this important nation building program and had set up a design team in India, becoming the first brand to design phones in the country. With this ‘Design in India’ initiative, Lava is now the only Mobile handset company that makes truly ‘Made In India’ phones with complete control on design and manufacturing within the country. 

With the vision to “Empower people to do more, to be more” the company was established in 2009. Lava International Limited is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The company has its manufacturing facilities and a repair factory in an approximately 300,000 square feet area in Noida. The manufacturing plants have a capacity of manufacturing 40 million phones per annum.

We Make in India, We Make for India.

Netmagic, Zerto Partner to Expand its Disaster Recovery as a Service

Netmagic, an NTT Company, and India's leading managed hosting and multi-cloud Hybrid IT solution provider, today announced its partnership with Zerto to enrich its Disaster Recovery as a Services (DRaaS) portfolio. The partnership will enable enterprises with faster and cost-effective disaster recovery of critical IT infrastructure. Zerto, a leader in IT resilience, replaces legacy solutions with a single platform to enable disaster recovery (DR), data protection, and workload mobility across hyperscale clouds, hosted services, and on-premise data centers.

Netmagic DRaaS is a complete DR Management platform with a pay-per-use model. With workflow automation capabilities, it simplifies DR processes and dashboards to provide real-time visibility that is tied into the organization's objectives in terms of availability, Recovery Point Objective (RPO), and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). With this new partnership with Zerto, customers will get a lower-cost alternative to traditional DR solutions. With Netmagic managing the entire DR process, customers can stay focused on their core critical business.

Speaking about this, Nitin Mishra, Chief Product Officer, Netmagic (An NTT Company) said, “The partnership with Zerto will enable us to boost up our existing capabilities in DRaaS. With the Zerto IT Resilience Platform, we will be able to provide Cold DR Solution which will enable on Demand DR and a reduction in TCO for customers. This will be an end-to-end DR service allowing for the design, plan, and implementation of DR, with the key highlights being automated failover and failback operations beside dashboards for governance. By leveraging Zerto’s IT Resilience Platform, we will provide managed services for all aspects of DR planning, testing, and management.”

With organizations shifting to a new normal and work from home approach, data security and digital transformation initiatives are more significant than ever. Netmagic is a pioneer in offering the best tech-based solutions and with Zerto, these offerings will be further enhanced. Netmagic DRaaS service is based on per protected workload (Virtual machine) on a pay as use model. Customers will not only benefit by an upscale data continuity but also a much-optimized pay per use infrastructure.

“We are excited to have Netmagic join Zerto’s ecosystem of partners. We see Netmagic as a critical component to our strategy of providing DRaaS to the marketplace in India. Netmagic’s offering will allow customers to consume DRaaS, with the ability to scale on demand.  This offering will meet the needs of customers who need world class DR while taking advantage of the cost benefits of the pay-per-use model,” said Greg Bailey, Director of Channel & Cloud Sales EMEA, Zerto.

L&T Technology Services Expands Collaboration with Microsoft to Offer Solutions for Workplace Transformation

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure-play engineering services company, today announced that it has expanded its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation and launched its latest and enhanced version of the state-of-the-art i-BEMSTM solution on Microsoft Azure to transform buildings into future-ready smart campuses.

With growing digital transformation, there has been a clear impetus on the need for organizations to revamp their office premises to be eco-friendly, taking into consideration sustainability aspects including greenhouse gas and carbon emissions. Another important aspect for office and facility administrators today is to find balance in their buildings to ensure health, safety and wellbeing of their workforce.

LTTS’ award-winning Intelligent Building Experience Management System i-BEMSTM is a system-of-systems solution that focuses on creating digital experiences and intelligent space management. The cloud-based smart buildings/campus/spaces solution helps monitor and manage building operations and optimize business metrics leveraging advanced IoT based Edge Analytics and machine learning algorithms.

i-BEMS™ uses advanced energy analytics and fault diagnostics for energy savings, and net-zero energy compliance. i-BEMSTM has enterprise-grade security features and can create a digital twin to test changes in a virtual build of the building.

LTTS has earlier collaborated with Microsoft to develop a smart campus in Israel for a leading technology company. The two companies have also partnered to leverage  Azure IoT platform for Sustainability solutions and connect with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Field Service to enable real-time optimization, improve ROI and employee productivity for Facility Management and Operations globally. In 2018, LTTS furthered their working relationship with Microsoft by setting up a Digital Industrial Transformation Applied Innovation Centre for shared enterprise customers.

The current expanded collaboration leverages Azure to enable i-BEMSTM to act as a Facility Information Broker, unifying data from all systems making the building/campus a single entity rather than a heterogeneous collection of systems focused on employee health and safety and preservation of the immediate environment.

Experts from LTTS and Microsoft also shared the latest best practices on the holistic approach for enterprises planning eco-friendly and safe smart buildings, which can be read here: Smart buildings: From design to reality.

Alind Saxena, Chief Business Officer - Transportation & Alliances, L&T Technology Services said, “With digital transformation, enterprises are also increasingly focusing on finding sustainable ways to grow, while protecting the planet and its resources. Another important determinant for companies is maintaining employee safety and wellbeing within a building by reducing resource usage and improving operational efficiency. i-BEMS covers the best practices from designing to construction to operations for enterprises planning environmentally friendly and socially responsible smart building projects. We are excited to further expand our partnership leveraging Microsoft Azure IoT & Edge technology to serve enterprise customers with industry-leading solutions.”

Sanjay Jacob, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation said, “As a leader in engineering solutions for smart and sustainable campuses, LTTS’ Smart Building solutions enable modern workplaces by leveraging cutting-edge Microsoft Azure IoT, Edge & AI technology. Employee safety, energy-efficiency and sustainability is the need of the hour and LTTS delivers an integrated, advanced Azure based Smart Building solution for global enterprises to deploy smart and sustainable campuses. The whitepaper provides an excellent template with the most current best practices for enterprises to go from design to reality of their smart buildings.”

About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 53 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 16,600 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 51 innovation labs as of June 30, 2020.

Home Credit India Offers Easy Smartphone Loan Options in Unlock 3.0

Smartphone Loans

* Own a smartphone sitting at home with customer-friendly schemes from Home Credit

* Customers can now process loans from their homes with the help of Home Credit’s robust online program

As the nation sees ease in lockdown, businesses have also started to open. Having been closed for business for over two months, retailers are still unsure about customer walk-ins and how to service their demand. Home Credit India, a local arm of the international consumer finance provider with operations spanning over Europe and Asia, is focused to strengthen its partnership with offline retailers. The company has been functioning business actively in Bangalore with 940 key retailers. Big retail chains like Sangeetha Mobiles, Pai International, Devi International and standalone retailers like Colors Mobiles, Hanuman Telecom, Uday Electronics etc. are now open with all the necessary precautions and adhering to govt guidelines.

The retailers have witnessed 75% footfall in comparison to pre-Covid era. Most of the customers are venturing out for key purchases only and are following social distancing guidelines

In the given times, Home Credit has also built a robust online program for customers who choose to not venture out fearing COVID-19. Customers can now own a smartphone and get their KYC/loan approval procedure executed from the ease of their home without being physically present at the retail shop. Post the formalities, the mobile phone is delivered to their doorstep. Online outreach is further supporting the retailers in their sales during these challenging times. 

On the occasion, Mr. Ankush Khosla, Chief Sales Officer, Home Credit India said; “These unprecedented times have brought in significant behavior change among customers. With the country easing lockdown with restrictions, it is time that the Corporates come forward and take innovative steps towards supporting economic revival in the country. Home Credit is extending full support to its retail partners across the country with the hope to support our customers in every possible way, to make their loan taking journey less stressful even during these anxious times.”  

Home Credit India has resumed its operations country wide based on Government directives. The company has its operations spread over 350 cities across 22 States in India with a strong network of around 31,500 points-of-sale (PoS) and a customer base of around 11.3 million customers. 

Wockhardt Announces COVID-19 Vaccine Partnership with UK Government

Wockhardt, the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology major today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the UK Government to fill finish COVID-19 vaccines. The manufacturing will be undertaken at CP Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Wockhardt based in Wrexham, North Wales.

As per the terms of the agreement the company has reserved manufacturing capacity to allow for the supply of multiple vaccines to the UK Government in its fight against COVID-19, including AZD1222, the vaccine co-invented by the University of Oxford and its spin-out company, Vaccitech and licensed by AstraZeneca.

Dr Habil Khorakiwala, Founder Chairman of Wockhardt emphasised, “The pandemic of COVID-19 is a challenge for all and needs a concerted effort to overcome. We are proud to be collaborating with the UK Government to make vaccines available and the arrangement brings in a huge sense of purpose and pride, it upholds our ongoing commitment to fight against such a pandemic of global human importance. As a global organisation, we are focussed and committed to assist in mitigating the worldwide impact of COVID-19.”

Alok Sharma, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Government of U.K said, “Ensuring the UK has the capability to research, develop and manufacture a safe and effective vaccine is critical in our fight against coronavirus.

“Today we have secured additional capacity to manufacture millions of doses of multiple Covid-19 candidates, guaranteeing the supply of vaccines we need to protect people across the UK rapidly and in large numbers.”

Speaking about the contract Ravi Limaye, Managing Director Wockhardt UK said, “We are immensely proud to have been selected to partner with the UK Government on this project. In doing so we are taking a lead role in the nation’s fight against pandemic of COVID-19”.

“We have a sophisticated sterile manufacturing facility and a highly skilled workforce. We expect to start delivering the first doses of the vaccine later this year.” He added.

The government has reserved one fill and finish production line for its exclusive use for the next 18 months in order to guarantee the supply of vaccines required to fight COVID-19 in the UK.

Dr Murtaza Khorakiwala, Managing Director and Global CEO of Wockhardt adds, “The arrangement with the UK Government for manufacturing vaccines for COVID-19 showcases our global strength in world class sterile injectable facilities and capacity. With four decades of expertise and experience behind us we are able to quickly scale to manufacture and assist in mitigating the worldwide impact of COVID-19.”

Kate Bingham, Chair of U.K. Vaccines Task Force said, “Never before have we needed to find and manufacture a vaccine at this speed and scale in order to protect the UK population. We have made significant progress in securing a diverse portfolio of potential vaccines and treatments for Covid-19, adding a fourth vaccine candidate from GSK and Sanofi last week. However, discovering a successful vaccine is only part of the solution, we also need to be able to manufacture it. Fill Finish is a critical step in the process to get the vaccine in a form to be given to patients. The agreement with Wockhardt will boost our capability to ensure that from the moment a successful vaccine is identified we will be able to produce the quantities of vaccine required, as quickly as possible, for the people who need it.”

Wockhardt is a global pharmaceutical and biotech organisation that brings affordable, high quality medicines to market. In the UK, Wockhardt is one of the largest suppliers into the NHS for over 20 years, has had a presence in Wrexham for over two decades and employs over 400 people at its 612,000 square feet high-tech manufacturing facility.

About Wockhardt:

Wockhardt is a research based global pharmaceutical and Biotech Company headquartered in Mumbai, India. Wockhardt’s New Drug Discovery programme has focussed on the unmet need of making anti-bacterial drugs effective in mitigating untreatable superbugs. Wockhardt is the only company in the world that has received QIDP Status (Qualified Infectious Diseases Programme) from the US FDA for six anti-bacterial discovery programmes – three of them are Gram Negative and three Gram Positive and are effective against untreatable “Superbugs”. Wockhardt has a dedicated and experienced Drug Discovery team as part of its clinical research organisation.

Wockhardt employs over 7,000 people across 27 nationalities with a presence in the USA, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Mexico, Russia and many other countries. It has manufacturing and research facilities in India, the USA and UK and a manufacturing facility in Ireland. Wockhardt has a significant presence in the USA, Europe and India, with around 73% of its global revenue coming from international business.

Wockhardt UK specialises in the supply of generic and speciality medicines and is one of the leading suppliers to the NHS. They have a portfolio of over 250 product lines which are available in a wide range of preparations, including tablets, capsules, injections and liquid medicines.

The UK manufacturing site based in Wrexham, North Wales manufactures a number of sterile injectable products covering a wide range of therapy areas including diabetes, anticoagulation and pain management. The products are available in many forms such as vials, cartridges and ampoules including lyophilised (dry powder) products. In addition to their own Wockhardt branded products, they also provide contract manufacturing services for companies all around the world.

5paisa.com Launches India’s Only Multi-Lingual Markets App for 5 Million Users

India’s fastest growing discount broker 5paisa.com has launched the country’s only multi-lingual stock markets app for over 5 million users, as part of its efforts towards providing opportunities to regional investors across the country.

5paisa.com offers the investing app in Hindi, Marathi and Guajarati besides English as of now and will launch Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali versions soon to allow most Indians have access to stock markets, mutual funds and other investment options irrespective of their language.

Prakarsh Gagdani, CEO, 5paisa.com said, “So far stock market and most other forms of investing could be accessed only by users who know English, this has resulted in regional users staying completely away from many forms of investing and wealth creation.”

“We have significant participation from tier 2 and 3 cities and there are an increasing number of investors who are new to capital markets who find it more comfortable to interact in their own language. Almost 30% of our daily active users are already using language options other than English. We wish to add more four languages covering entire south India soon.”

5paisa.com expects with availability of smartphones and of high-speed internet across India, the multi-lingual app will allow investors choose wisely instead of relying on spurious investing solutions provided many unscrupulous elements.

5paisa.com recently turned profitable after seventeen quarters since inception making it the only listed profitable discount broker in India. The firm has over 7 lac active users and offers equity investing at zero brokerage, mutual funds, insurance, and loans among others on its platform.

 

About 5paisa Capital

5paisa Capital Limited (NSE: 5PAISA, BSE: 540776) is engaged in providing financial products through its online technology platform and mobile applications. It is registered with SEBI as a stockbroker, depository participant and research analyst, and with AMFI as a mutual fund distributor. Its services are targeted at retail investors and high-volume traders who actively invest and trade in securities markets and seek DIY (Do-it-Yourself) services at a low cost.

The Company provides an online technology platform to clients through internet terminals and mobile applications for trading in securities in NSE and BSE; advisory services through the research undertaken by a team of fundamental and technical research analysts; and depository related services as part of its integrated services offering.

5paisa Capital is a technology driven company having mainly an online presence. The Company remains focussed on innovation, based on understanding customer behaviour, and constantly strives to achieve tech superiority as is visible through the developments of its robust trading platform, advanced mobile app, an Artificial-Intelligence powered Robo-Advisory platform, and the paperless account opening process.