‘A digital approach means time gains for all’

The corona crisis forced the organisers of the Fund Insider Forum into another approach. Hans De Rore, Chief Commercial Officer at Mediafin talks about the challenges of a digital event with live keynotes and webinars.

A physical event offers a full experience. How do you turn an online version into an equal alternative?

Hans De Rore (Chief Commercial Officer at Mediafin): “By focusing on the benefits. A digital approach allows us to spread our programme across three days. This means time gains for the participants. They can follow the sessions they are interested in from home or at the office, without having to move. And this also goes for the speakers. Because they were interviewed and presented remotely, this year, we managed to get six big names from the international fund world. It is simply impossible to bring people such as Marc Faber from Switzerland, Terry Smith from Mauritius and Roelfien Kuijpers from the Netherlands together at a physical event.”

How does such an online event work in practice?

Hans De Rore: “From a control room, the camera positions and presentations of the speakers were interchanged smoothly in order to the participants/viewers engaged. In the studio, we also used a videowall to accentuate the live experience. And we launched an online event platform.”

Interaction, networking and sharing thoughts is crucial in the fund world. Which solutions did you engineer for this?

Hans De Rore: “On the one hand, there was Mix & Match, a system whereby the participants with a single mouse click could talk to other participants. This made starting a conversation easier even for more hesitant people. On the other hand, we introduced Meet the Expert. On every company boothpage of the FIF partners, we foresaw a network box, where experts of that company were present. Participants could ask them questions about specific topics, products and strategies.”

And finally, the booth space, also an important part of an event. How did you replace that?

Hans De Rore: “For this, we developed the Fair Square, a portal page with logo visibility of our partners. During the breaks, the participants could click through on these. For each partner, they would end up in a complementary virtual company booth. Here, they could read key facts and other content, watch videos and start a conversation with specialists of each company. In brief, also in 2020, we turned FIF into an event not to miss for fund professionals.’

Because speakers were interviewed and presented remotely, this year, we managed to get six big names from the international fund world