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disrupted. Attendees expect an optimal conference
The very point of salery point of sale experience with high-speed technology that delivers
The ve
buffer-free video and challenging, impactful content, she
stated.

Beyond Convention incorporated gaming, interactive
whiteboards and rotating breakout sessions to keep
people engaged and circulating, Reuben noted, adding
that digital whiteboards were fun but barely scratched the
surface of what is possible in virtual collaborations. "We
Lighting up the wanted people to walk away with an understanding that
you really can develop deep trusting relationships with
virtual stage other people in a virtual world," she said.
Evolve and adapt
By Dale S. Laszig Anna Degtereva, CEO and founder of LinkUpConference-
DSL Direct LLC Show agreed that virtual conferences have changed the
game by expanding access to professionals who had for-
n these times when theaters, sports arenas and con- merly not been able to attend due to budgetary and travel
vention centers remain dark, stories of everyday restrictions. Working and meeting remotely can also im-
heroes have been lighting up our screens. Many prove efficiencies, especially for her team, which works
I of these stories highlight payments professionals across regions and time zones, she stated. "The most im-
who helped communities survive the pandemic and event portant advantage of [working in] this virtual reality is
planners who moved conferences from on-site to online. that it forces us to place a greater value on time ," Degte-
Event planners and their day-to-day struggles remind reva said. "It encourages greater focus and better organi-
me in many ways of our payments journey. In both cases, zation . Our overlap is minimal and we need to make every
early days were all about building infrastructure. As plat- moment that we are together count."
forms evolved, the focus changed to adding value; models
became more complex. The primary difference between LinkUpConferenceShow is a lean, digital-first company
the two evolutionary journeys is timing. The road to that is building from scratch, making changes on the
mobile, digital and omnichannel commerce has taken fly and leapfrogging over large incumbent conferences,
decades. Digital conferences are iterating at warp speed. Degtereva stated. The show's Dec. 8, 2020 debut mixed
70 percent networking with 30 percent comedy from
In the early days of electronic transactions, our goals were industry leaders, celebrities and comedians. "People know
simple: authorization and settlement. Over time, payments that conferences must evolve and adapt just like other
technology became more agile, secure and richly layered industries have, such as Lemonade, AirBnB and other
as card brands and service providers found ways to services," Degtereva said. "COVID-19 has just accelerated
leverage the payment rails. In recent years, we've ported this process and forced it into 2020 rather than 2030."
analog capabilities into the digital world. In a similar way, On-demand content
when businesses closed during the pandemic, industries
of all types had to transform physical meetings into digital Marla Ellerman, executive director of MPC: The Digital
events. At first, the simple act of bringing stakeholders Commerce Event, also found a silver lining after hosting
together online was something to celebrate. But euphoria her 10th annual conference entirely online. The boutique
was short-lived as people rapidly tired of Zoom meetings, show, held at the Chicago Swissotel in 2019 and virtually
webinars and overall digital overload. in 2020, featured presentations by Google, Intel, U.S. Bank,
Beyond conventional Pinterest and other leading commerce brands.

Deborah Reuben, founder and CEO at TomorrowZone, set Responding to the show's high post-event engagement,
out to relieve Zoom fatigue by designing a different kind Ellerman is expanding MPC into an always-connected
of digital conference experience. "Beyond Convention: platform. A monthly show guide, launching in the first
EF Innovators Unconference," was held in two sessions quarter of 2021, will feature content, video explainers,
on Dec. 3 and 8, 2020. The interactive event, designed for blogs and webinars. "We're grateful to our partners for
equipment finance innovators, was billed as "part think- powering our digital transformation and helping us tap
tank, part working group, part meet-up and part hang-out this always-on platform's limitless potential," she said.
– an online place to escape from the status quo." Dale S. Laszig, senior staff writer at The Green Sheet and managing
director at DSL Direct LLC, is a payments industry journalist and content
Reuben pointed out that digital conferences, considered strategist. She can be reached at dale@dsldirectllc.com and on Twitter
radically disruptive a few months ago, are already being
at @DSLdirect.
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