How are your plans for the Holidays shaping up?
No, I haven’t bothered making any, either.
Given the circumstances in the world at large, it doesn’t seem likely I’ll be re-introducing the kids to their Grandma (“My goodness, haven’t they grown.”) or opening presents with the extended family on Christmas morning, except via the medium of Zoom.
There’s a degree of irony at work about making plans for Christmas given that, at DesignScene, we’re often working through the Holidays to deliver experiences for our clients. CES is in the first week of January, the grand curtain-raiser for the annual run of tentpole events that fill our diaries, and typically we’re burning the midnight oil to deliver projects on time (and hoping, just maybe, to catch a glimpse of Santa).
Laudably, the organisers of CES are taking the event digital in 2021 and hosting keynotes and thought-leadership pieces, as well as showcasing all the latest innovative products that are the event’s reason to exist, online.
The absence of an In Real Life CES does, however, leave a hole that’s difficult to fill. Not only does the annual Vegas-based shindig usher in a New Year of exciting live experiences. It also showcases all that’s new, fabulous and eye-popping in tech. Whatever your reason for attending – exhibitor, manufacturer, developer or consumer – it’s a real treat to just walk the floor, drink it all in, and imagine how cool that 292-inch Samsung TV would look crammed into your studio apartment.
There’s product and demos aplenty to get hands-on with, as well as networking and social events to meet, mix and mingle at. And, while all that’s happening on the show floor, in hotel suites and restaurants all over Vegas, brands are hosting meetings between their own key decision-makers and the C-Suite of their partner organisations. All framed within the innovative, influential and inspiring atmosphere of CES.
It’s not just CES that’s going to be radically different in 2021, of course. That’s just January’s big ticket item. There’s also SXSW, MWC, Cannes Lions and a host of other events in the first half of the year to consider. What form these will take, and how easy it will be to travel to them, still hangs in the balance.
Which is where (and you knew this was coming, right?) DesignScene comes in.
Using DesignScene’s bespoke digital event platform, EventDotSpace, we’re able to offer our clients a virtual C-Suite meetings experience like no other. EventDotSpace is an entirely customisable environment that can be designed to the exact specifications of our clients. It houses all the key applications you need to deliver successful virtual meetings. And will work seamlessly with your existing online meeting booking system.
EventDotSpace can be tailored to look like your brand, talk like your brand and act like your brand. While DesignScene’s events experts bring decades of collective expertise to ensure the experience is memorable for your C-Suite guests. Whether that’s through content capture and post-production, creating original and memorable activations, or personalised experiences for your guests. Such as food & beverage choices delivered to their front door on meeting day. Or personalised swag sent as a follow-up thank you for attending.
It’s quite the compelling package. And it makes perfect sense given the current circumstances we’re all living through. Even if some of the In Real Life events we’re all missing do come back ‘Live Live’ in the first half of 2021, there will be many key players who still aren’t comfortable travelling great distances to attend. (What with the threat of emergency lockdowns and potentially the need to self-isolate on return still a real factor.) So, even if your company is attending and hosting in-person meetings, it will be vital to have a digital option as well to support your on-site meetings strategy.
At DesignScene, of course, we can deliver both. The booth, meetings suite or conference facilities that you need to meet and greet big players in person. And, through EventDotSpace, a virtual meetings experience that is premium and C-Suite focused. Which seems like the best of both worlds to us.
And you’d also be doing us a favour by keeping us busy over the Holidays. After all (as I may have already mentioned) it’s not as if we have any big plans.
