Uncertain Times Call for Innovative Solutions

The pandemic has had unprecedented consequences on a scale never conceived before, impacting people and businesses alike. Economic growth globally has stuttered as a result of the prolonged lockdowns and shutdowns across the world that have impacted both demand and supply, squeezing businesses and resulting in increased joblessness around the world.

All countries are impacted by the pandemic, albeit to differing degrees, depending on how well or not they have managed to control the spread of the virus. But in the past eight months or so, the pandemic has made abundantly clear that we all need to do things differently.

In recognition of the manifold challenges we are faced with as a global society, Horasis is convening the Horasis Extraordinary Meeting, on 1 October, that will bring together some of the world’s most influential and leading minds to deliberate on the challenges we are faced with, and possible remedies to overcome them.

Going Digital

Unsurprisingly, this will be a completely digital event, in cooperation with Run The World, which provides cutting edge virtual conferencing facilities. The first digital Horasis India Meeting was held completely online on the Run The World platform, and was greatly appreciated by speakers and participants alike. The event allowed for digital community engagement and in many ways, likely resulted in even more engagement than in physical events because it helped bring down barriers of distance and allowed a greater number of people to participate, notwithstanding their busy schedules that may not otherwise have permitted travel (even if it were allowed).

There are pressing issues that must be deliberated upon, with participation from diverse spheres required to foster multilateral decision making. Political and corporate leaders must embrace a collaborative spirit to yield lasting solutions for the predicament at hand. More importantly, standardized guidelines can be established for future reference should such episodes recur.

The Horasis Extraordinary Meeting aspires to do just that. It will be the largest ever online gathering convened by any organization globally. Over 900 speakers will grace the event, including the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, four heads-of-state, 20 ministers from different countries, renowned captains of industry, and leading thinkers and academicians.

This will allow a diversity of perspectives not likely seen before at any event, and a range of topics being discussed, many of which are often overlooked.

Platform of Choice

Just as myriad businesses are growing their online presence, so have stakeholders in the world of conferencing. Run The World is one of the pioneers among online event platforms that specifically cater to organizers, event attendees, speakers and sponsors worldwide. These platforms offer community engagement and by virtue of this attribute, they foster digital empowerment, and they help bring together a diverse range of stakeholders.

The pandemic, for all its damage to life and health, has inadvertently hastened the race to digitalisation, and we are seeing this in the conferencing and events space. Horasis is proud to be taking the lead with Run The World in ensuring technology is leveraged to allow wider participation and more importantly for the continued exchange of ideas. The lockdowns and movement control restrictions were mostly associated with negative connotations but in a positive turn of events, a large part of tasks that earlier needed one’s presence have now been found as easily achievable with only a virtual check in.

Our partnership is an ideal synergy between two change makers, allowing digital events to take place in a manner that is just as effective as in-person meetings. Indeed, some of our participants at the digital India meeting have said it is perhaps even more effective. This makes us wonder, whether this could be the future of conferencing. If so, then we can all bid farewell to expensive, environment-harming transcontinental flights for this purpose!

The New Normal Entails Higher Digital Uptake

Horasis would not have considered a mega virtual event in the past because it was considered ‘normal’ to host events at a physical location. However, digital meetings could well be incorporated into everyone’s version of new normal since the pandemic has certainly encouraged us to evaluate what changes can be made for the better. Likewise, it has also brought to the fore the many workarounds that can be adopted to ensure economic activity continues unaffected. Platforms such as Run the World provide the optimal choice for working in this new normal.

This is primarily why both private enterprise and governments in most countries are sounding the clarion call for businesses to consider coming online.

Innovate and Adapt

Horasis maintains that innovation is key in the economic climate we are faced with, particularly as the road to economic recovery seems to be a very long one. Whether we reach a new normal or not, and what that normal will be, is anyone’s guess. What is very clear, however, is that things are no longer the same, and to survive and indeed to thrive in this new “whatever” we would like to call it, we will need to capitalise on all the tools available to us.

Technology is one of them, and we are glad to be partnering an organisation that shares our vision for innovation and engagement.