Education Events Go Virtual With Showcase Events At The Helm
The ‘Covid generation’, as young children and students are being referred to nowadays, has made tremendous adjustments, accepting the transition to a virtual medium as par for the course. From graduations to awards ceremonies, investitures to convocations - many important and memorable events in the life of a student have been altered. Fortunately, the team at ShowCase Events is helping the show go on as planned, by offering a seamless transition to a virtual medium.
Having organised a number of events specific to the education sector, and with a few more in the pipeline, Nanni Singh, CEO of ShowCase Events believes it is the meticulous planning and complete coordination of her team, that makes them popular in this segment. “We work closely with the University’s faculty and organizational team and ensure that their mission is achieved. The intricate detailing in design, content and execution is what sets us apart, as we have also been told by the faculties,” she says. Their easy-to-navigate virtual platform offers customisable designs that allow the exact replication of the university auditoriums, halls and rooms, making every attendee feel like they are actually at the premises. This enhances the personal connection and overall experience greatly.
As the events are curated for a specific purpose such as graduations, convocations or investitures, the number of attendees is fixed beforehand. This makes it important to be able to cater to large numbers, which can vary from 500 and 8000. It is important to recreate the stage and ceremonial aspects, and also offer entertainment and fun zones to keep the engagement level high throughout the event.
Back-end coordination is always a tough task for any kind of event, but in a virtual medium, the challenges are different from those experienced during on-ground events. Naina Kukreja, Head Client Servicing & Business Development at ShowCase Events states, “since every event is unique, it presents different challenges. Mostly, we have seen that it is imperative to receive the content that needs to be uploaded, on time. The designs also need to be approved in advance to avoid confusion later. Once these two have been tackled, I feel the process becomes convenient and easy. We create strict timelines to enable the entire event to go off well.”
On the day of the event too, technical issues may crop up. For hybrid events, it is important to receive the live feed on time. A smooth execution depends entirely on the wi-fi connection, so that the broadcast can take place as planned. Further, it is not possible for the Emcee to change the script last minute, because the slides are pre-designed. All these things need to be prepared for, along with performing routine checks on the system to ensure it is not muted.
However, despite the challenges, virtual events have advantages over their on-ground counterparts. Kukreja asserts, “coordination is easier virtually than in on-ground events, because in the latter, it is difficult to get hold of people to have conversations. When we are functioning virtually, everyone is accessible on their laptops and phones, which ensures that communication is swift.”
The success of their events is evident through the glowing feedback that ShowCase Events have received from their clients in this space. Dr. Gaurav Chatterjee of LNMIIT (The LNM Institute of Information and Technology) based in Jaipur, recommends their services wholeheartedly as he says, “the ShowCase events team helped us in executing this official event in a very professional and imaginative way. Their team was very approachable and offered many creative solutions.” These sentiments are echoed by Diptakirti Chaudhuri, the Head of Marketing for Manipal University Jaipur, for whom ShowCase Events organised the virtual Student Orientation Day programme. Extremely pleased with the quality of work, strict adherence to timelines and constant support provided from start to finish, he lauds them as being good event management partners, whom he looks forward to working with again.
Nanni Singh concludes that happy students add to the growth of the institute. “The attendees have loved engaging in the different activities offered on our platform and varied facilities for interactions and the organisers have been happy as this has helped them achieve the results they wanted,” she says with a smile.
The advantages of going virtual are obvious – pandemic or no pandemic. A hybrid phy-gital model benefits everyone, as it offers the maximum possible reach to those who find it difficult to attend these ceremonies. Singh believes that the personal connect will always have its importance, but usage of technology will now be more integral to every event, not just for enhancement but for larger benefits as well.
Asked if ShowCase Events plans to continue working in the educational sector, she claims, “this sector gives us a lot of satisfaction, as we feel we have been able to contribute to the upcoming crusaders of our country. We will be delighted to execute these events on-ground too. The structure is simple and quite similar to a corporate event, and we can do it complete justice.”
With two more convocations lined up for different universities in the coming month, ShowCase Events is certainly making a name for itself in this field.
