Broadband TV News speaks with Janet Greco, Event Executive Producer, Broadcast Projects, about Media Meet & Greet. With additional comments by Chris Griffin, Partner and Commercial Director, Broadband TV News.
What is Media Meet & Greet and why should people attend?
Media Meet & Greet is a new and unique networking event built around connecting people. If people are missing out on catching up with colleagues, making new connections, and having spontaneous conversations, this is the place to actually do business and meet new people in a virtual setting.
How will Media Meet & Greet on June 10th be different to previous ones?
The June event, our fifth event, will be extended to a three-hour format to enable people to have the maximum number of 20-minute private 1 on 1 video meetings. As in previous events we will also have a webinar segment, and several open discussion rooms which support that spontaneous feeling of having a chat and exchanging views about important industry topics. But the main changes in June are the sleek new interface developed by our event tech platform, Deal Room, and the fact that the entire 3-hour event will be free to attend for all. So no excuses, we want people to come out and try it.
Networking is a key feature of Media Meet & Greet. How would you advise attendees to prepare for it ahead of the event?
“Media Meet & Greet’s unique ‘webinetworking’ format is not just fixed on a single date and time. I mean, you would not turn up to a trade show or conference without setting up some meetings in advance, would you? I would recommend treating our networking events, combined with our content programme, in much the same way.
Just as you would prepare for a trade show, you should also decide how you want to plan your agenda for any Media Meet & Greet event. Precisely for this reason we open our event tech platform, Deal Room, a full ten days in advance of the event, so people can begin connecting with 400+ attendees who have previously registered for our event series. The platform opens 1st June – a full 10-days in advance of the live date – for attendees to pre-book meetings, set-up their individual agenda, privately chat with attendees and use filters to search for relevant connections.
Will it be fundamentally different to a trade show or conference?
I think we will have learned a lot by the time things are truly back to normal. We have a climate crisis, we want economies to be open, we want, definitely, the trade show experience to continue and for all physical events to be possible again. But, at the same time, people are reconsidering travel as well. While our events currently are obviously not the same as face to face networking – how could they be? – at the moment they are virtual. But the reactions we have had to the platform and the format, and the vibe of the events, has been very positive.
See this link: https://www.broadcastprojects.com/media-meet-greet-testimonials
Trade shows and conferences look like starting up again in the next few months, with IBC, for instance, now scheduled for December. How, in your view, will things be different to the way they were before?
The “data-driven” approach to connecting people will lead to a fundamental shift in how we do business at trade shows and conferences, which are hit or miss in terms of meeting new people.
The transparent availability of attendee data mixed with the possibility of filtering characteristics, until now, been totally lacking in the trade show experience.
Remember too that Deal Room originally, when it set up many years ago, only supported physical events. Connections would take place on the platform, on the basis of data freely exchanged by participants, with a very clear “offer” and “seek” message, much like a dating app, if you like. Then, they would physically meet at the venue, in a hall with numbered tables precisely so they could have their meetings.
See this video: https://youtu.be/jQF4Vo-hGgo
What role do you expect Media Meet & Greet to play post-pandemic and how do you see it evolving as an event over the coming months and years?
I fully see our event platform being fully relevant to connecting people at physical events, as well as being relevant for all kinds of virtual events such as combining webinars with open discussion and one-on-one meetings. We definitely add a little more zing to the static webinar experience, for sure. As for the post-pandemic scenario, don’t be surprised to see a range of Media Meet & Greet-driven physical events in the future.
What are your commercial aims with the Media meet & Greet series?
Chris Griffin: Our primary aim is to establish a format that our regular participants and readers find interesting and will make a regular appointment to attend.
Having experimented with a number of formats we settled on a free to attend topical mass participation Webinar + Networking. We see this as the natural evolution of the standard webinar because the networking component is super intelligent, time efficient and to our knowledge best replicates the regular trade show in a virtual environment.
As with our very successful BTN in person events held all over Europe these Media Meet & Greet events are generally sponsored by an enlightened client who wants to stimulate the industry debate but who also wants to to leverage the event to conduct a number of high quality meetings to build their business.
Anyone interested in sponsoring future events or finding out more about how you can work with us should contact cgriffin@broadbandtvnews.com
