How EEMA D-DAY Created a Virtual Marketplace for Industries to Grow?

Months ago Roshan Abbas, The president of EEMA said that: EEMA is working towards creating a virtual marketplace to help industries to work together. The COVID-19 pandemic has been the catalyst behind curating the idea of creating a virtual marketplace & removing geographical constraints. Abbas planned an agenda to offer help to physical event entities and business impact during the pandemic times.

EEMA virtual marketplace was planned to enable people to offer their services via a digital medium. The aim of creating a virtual marketplace is to escalate geographical limitations and open new opportunities for large as well as small-scale industries. 4-5 months ago, the idea of organizing EEMA D-Day came into existence to educate the stakeholders in the event business. How to create online immersive experiences was the basic agenda for organizing the EEMA D-DAY event.

EEMA D-DAY

Recently, EEMA D-Day was organized by the Event & Entertainment Management Association on 24 November 2020. The event was organized on a comprehensive virtual event platform: Dreamcast. Various speakers shared their thoughtful insights and solutions to help marketers and planners. The virtual conference went throughout the day and consisted of various engaging sessions that decoded virtual live experiences. The event had an incredible portfolio of speakers and panelists along with engaging topics for sessions. The topics revolved around the convergence of live physical event experiences and virtual events reach. The event showcased the importance of immersive digital technology and innovative ideas for brands to level up their virtual investments. Apart from it, a daylong virtual conference showcased the most innovative and creative virtual event ideas for businesses in the events, entertainment, and technology arena.

The event kickstarted with a welcome note by the EEMA, President, Roshan Abbas. It was then followed by addresses from Deepak Pawar, Secretary, EEMA, and Partha Sinha, President, Response, Bennett Coleman & Company Ltd (BCCL).

Roshan Abbas humbly welcomed the attendees who paved their way to the EEMA Digital day to attend the ongoing sessions. He shared a brief overview of what the event holds for all and talked about virtual as the new trend.

“ EMA Digital Day is the first of its kind of digital day that brings the best in the marketing, best in content, best in experiential, and best in events together,” says Abbas. He further added, “ It is no secret that up to 30% incremental revenue will be possible for all of us in the event business once physical events come back”.

The long-planned EEMA Digital Day came to life. It created a virtual marketplace for industries to work together and create shared online experiences to grow and boost incredible revenues.

Rajan Anandan of Sequoia Capital & Surge delivered a keynote address

A keynote address on ‘Beyond 20/20: The Future’ has been delivered by Rajan Anandan, the Managing Director of Sequoia Capital & Surge.

During the session, Anandan talked about how quickly people adapted the new way of living and how virtual has become a new trend. He shared his insights on what was thought to happen after 5 years happened due to a change in dynamics due to the pandemic. He had thrown light on how "work from home scenarios and online learning" came to life. Challenging times of global pandemic have affected consumer behavior and business strategies.

He mentioned how virtual events, digital media, and technology have elevated brand experience and visibility and how it will result in the recasting of bigger physical events in the future.

Anandan further mentioned that virtual events are more scalable when compared to historical events. Digital events have a wider reach and can be measured, thus proving to be more impactful for brands and businesses.

In this session, the discussion went around on how people can access the event from remote locations. How virtual events help brands to have better digital engagements as attendees can access the event virtually without travelling. Anandan, clearly says that brands in the near future will try to leverage hybrid amalgamation to deliver innovative experiences. Hybrid is a mix of live physical and digital events.

He said the industries should adapt to the change and understand the power of virtual reality. He further added companies should benefit from the best technology and host events online. It helps businesses to work together virtually, grow further, and generate revenues.

Roshan Abbas emphasized: The power of live events and reach of digital ones

Roshan Abbas, President, EEMA stated “The need of the hour is to find the hybrid amalgamation of physical and digital events” during India's biggest digital conclave “EEMA Digital Day”.

He discussed how today’s modern clients are asking for innovative solutions that have the power of delivering live event experiences and reach of virtual events. Using this platform industries can showcase their offerings and create online experiences.

EEMA Digital Day is organized to inspire people to leverage digital events and explore endless possibilities.

Deepak Pawar, Secretary, EEMA further added “ Virtual events are not a substitute for on-ground events, but are here to stay for good and do good to the experiential industry while connecting brands to their TG,”

Technology and content goes hand-in-hand

“Tech V/S Content. How One Can Support The Other” was one of the most engaging sessions during EEMA Digital Day. The session had an extensive portfolio of panelists who shared their views on how digital events have become a trend. They further talked about how technology and content support each other to deliver a successful event.

Nanni Singh, one of the panelists during the session stated that “The content is an important part of an event but so is the technology to enhance it and take it to the next level. Having the right kind of marriage between the two is a must”.

Whereas, another panelist, Vishal Gondal shared his views on how the gaming industry has cracked it much earlier.

Final Word

Famous personalities like former cricketer Kapil Dev, Singer, and Music Director Shankar Mahadevan, Actor-comedian Vir Das, Actor Boman Irani, were also part of the event. The event was a hit with 14000+ digital engagements. EEMA Digital day event received an incredible response from the attendees. The daylong virtual conference was attended by more than 5000 people which includes corporate C-suite executives, industry stakeholders, brand heads, and more.