Digital events bridge social distancing

With the world on pause during a global health pandemic, conference planners are pivoting to digital venues for the health and safety of attendees, exhibitors and sponsors. The upcoming CNP Summit and Broker Fair 2020 reflect next-gen digital events, powered by advanced technology platforms, designed to keep businesses and career professionals informed and connected.

CNP Summit Series, which begins on April 8, 2020, will focus on how coronavirus is affecting the industry and the impact of “the new normal” on digital commerce. The conference agenda will include merchant-only breakout sessions, educational workshops and a virtual solutions hall. Additional information about the conference is available at info.cardnotpresent.com/en-us/cnp-virtual-summit-2020

Broker Fair will combine networking and educational opportunities in a May 2020 digital-only event. Attendees who have registered for the conference will also be eligible to attend the 2021 Broker Fair. Additional details will soon be available, according to conference organizers, who are working on tailoring the content and format to reflect “the drastic changes that have occurred,” with relevant and timely resources for nonbank finance professionals. Further details and updates will be shared by email, social media and on brokerfair.org/

Optimizing digital assets

Konstantinos Papakonstantinou (KP), CEO at Board Studios Inc., a video content marketing and production specialist, has been helping enterprises shift to digital conference formats. Of the numerous available summit-hosting platforms, he cited HeySummit as a personal favorite, due to its “super intuitive, simple-to-use platform and fast, responsive support.”

KP also noted some digital summits are more successful than others. “The easiest and most effective way to run a virtual conference is to pre-record interviews with SMEs and edit them to make them more dynamic by adding lower-thirds that highlight key points and stock footage that enhances their message."

Following are Board Studios’ tips for optimizing digital media:

• Put your audience first: Along with your SMEs, invite outside experts – perhaps even competitors. The more influence they have the better b/c you'll benefit from tapping into their expertise and audience.

• Extract their insights: Interview the experts on Zoom (for better quality, they should record locally). Don't be afraid to push for their best insights: what works, what doesn't, what examples can you share to make the lessons more tangible?

• Make the videos engaging: If you want to take your summit to the next level ... Since you're pre-recording the videos (it's much easier and higher quality than running a live summit), you can edit with stock footage and lower-thirds to make your content higher quality and more engaging.

• Promote and share far and wide: Ask your fellow experts (interviewees) to share with their audience, share on LinkedIn, highlight in your newsletter, create a Meetup event for your Summit, and ask people with online groups/masterminds to share with their audiences.

• Don’t forget to follow up: Create a "best of" reel, put all the interviews on a Vimeo portfolio page, or share the replays through your hosting platform.  Dig through the content and share the best stuff in snackable format with those who signed up and your broader audience.

Additional information about video platform optimization is available at www.boardstudios.com.

Hire gig workers

While virtual platforms have been effective, gig workers are helping businesses and communities meet demand for essential products and services. JobStack, a mobile app powered by PeopleReady, recorded 50,000 temporary job assignments during the last week of March 2020.

Taryn Owen, president at PeopleReady, observed gig workers were a fast growing workforce segment before the COVID 19 pandemic and are now a crucial part of the nation’s response. “Gig workers are serving as second responders in communities across the nation, from keeping hospitals sterile to manufacturing essential products and restocking grocery stores,” Owen said. “They are on the ground and making a real difference. We want people to know there are opportunities for them and we’re ready to help connect them to work.”

Owen noted the following temporary jobs are available now:

• Retail workers (ex: stockers and truck unloaders for grocery stores and pharmacies)
• Manufacturing workers (ex: assemblers and fabricators, material handlers)
• Construction laborers (ex: foremen, helpers, flaggers)
• Warehouse workers (ex: forklift operators, pick/pack workers, shipping/receiving workers)
• Sanitation workers (ex: janitors, industrial cleaners)
• Waste management workers (ex: refuse collectors, recycling and reclamation workers) 
• Skilled trades workers (ex: carpenters, electricians, HVAC, solar installers, welders)
• General laborers (ex: wide range of roles across industries)

Whether you want to upgrade your POS offerings, find a payment gateway partner, bone up on fintech regs or PCI requirements, find an upcoming trade show, read about faster payments, or discover the latest innovations in merchant acquiring, The Green Sheet is the resource for you. Since 1983, we've helped empower and connect payments professionals, starting with the merchant level salespeople who bring tailored payment acceptance and digital commerce tools, along with a host of other business services to merchants across the globe. The Green Sheet Inc. is also a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals.

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