<h2>Is it tech? Or is it technique?
Did you know there are more than 10,000 surgical robots in hospitals around the world? In the US, 15 percent of surgeries used robots in 2018, usually for a common laparoscopic procedure like a gallbladder removal. Today, robots don’t save money, but hospitals have started to adopt the technology so that they can learn – investing in their futures. Plus, for all of us patients, we all know that robots are cool.
The thing is, though, while outcomes from robot-assisted surgeries are the same as manual surgeries, 15 percent require manual intervention to complete the procedure. In other words, robotic surgeries fail 15 percent of the time and require human beings to get it right. Could IR teams be successful with that same failure rate? Of course not. It needs to be zero.
More and more technology is being applied to IR communications and events, and it’s by no means perfect. Yet any imperfection in execution reflects poorly on the company and all stakeholders – issuers, investors, analysts, corporate access – not just the organizers and event/meeting managers like in the old days when everyone gathered in person.
But even tech with perfect reliability, easy-to-use interfaces and drag-and-drop set-up won’t provide perfect outcomes – that requires the right mix of great technology, experienced planners who know your business and behind-the-scenes teams that solve issues before they become problems.
OpenExchange started in 2009 by focusing on execution with industry-experienced video specialists, using third-party technical platforms as needed. With the surge in demand for virtual, the requirements exceeded what the industry offered, so the company has invested heavily in purpose-built technology platforms through a combination of corporate acquisitions and internal software development.
Much of this investment goes into tools most people never see, including applications that keep tabs on who’s where, that distribute digital content and that make extremely complex situations manageable.
Some of the investment goes into things you can see: engaging event ‘sites’ that make everyone want to be there, smart customizable livestream players that do more than just display video, TV-style video production and eliminating complicated meeting links and passwords.
Event evolution While the technology moves forward every day, the focus of OpenExchange is not on providing software. Rather, it’s on event collaboration, consulting, co-ordination and execution. It’s on making the complexity of tying together diverse conferencing technology into a single virtual meeting. And it’s on pretesting connections before an event, not when it’s trying to start.
That’s how OpenExchange has earned the trust of the biggest investment banks to run their investor conferences and capital markets meetings. Unlike many other virtual meetings, poor execution can spell disaster for the entire event; there are no second chances. The event must be reliable, coherent, look great and stand up to the desires of all those involved, including you and your executive team.
As IR teams and banks have learned to trust an OpenExchange virtual event, they’ve evolved to change their perspective. While they used to try to figure out how to make their virtual events measure up to an in-person experience, they’re beginning to ask: how can we use the advantages of virtual formats to increase the engagement, reach and impact of our events?
The choice of a platform and production partner can literally make or break an investor event, so it’s absolutely vital to assemble a comprehensive list of requirements. You’ll want to ensure that both your platform and your partner can exceed your needs and deliver an extremely robust and engaging event. Here are some criteria to consider when choosing a virtual meeting platform and production partner:
Is it capable of high-quality live-streaming to global audiences?
Can it manage fully interactive private meetings?
Does it deliver an all-in-one experience with video, slides and handouts, without forcing audience members to go to many different places to obtain materials for the meeting?
Does it offer DVR-like review and rewind features for late arrivals or audience members who might have been interrupted in mid-presentation?
Does it support presenters from multiple locations, if that’s what you expect?
Does it support pre-recorded presentations and inserts – again, assuming that’s part of the plan?
Does it support instant availability of the live stream for on-demand viewing at the conclusion of the event?
Can it generate transcription files for review and compliance, and can these transcriptions be used to search archived versions of the event?
Can the live and on-demand program be easily embedded in your corporate website?
Does the platform have a moderation panel that manages, prioritizes and sequences submitted questions, polls and chats for the moderators and hosts to address?
Can it be configured in a way that is compatible with the company’s brand identity standards (colors, fonts, logo, and so on)?
Is it compatible with popular videoconferencing solutions that might be whitelisted in specific instances, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx and Cisco Telepresence rooms?
Does it offer analytics that show not only who signed up and attended, but also what their level of engagement was?
How much experience do its project managers and day-of-event team members have when it comes to producing and executing investor communications events?
Is it capable of creating a broadcast-quality video feed that elevates the experience beyond the level of a typical video call and employs embedded graphics, titles and multi-boxes for panels and dialogs?
Is it experienced in blending live, recorded and interactive content into a single experience, if that’s what might be called for?
Does it have a track record of executing flawless virtual events for the most demanding clients?
Do the production partner’s day-of-event staff know the platform intimately, continuously monitor each meeting and have the ability to directly access the platform’s network operations center?
Can the production partner supply an on-site camera crew to capture the event’s main location, if desired?
In the future we’ll have access to highly intelligent solutions throughout our lives that are entirely automated while still providing excellent outcomes – and that surgical robot will get smarter, too.
Until then, if we need surgery, chances are we would go to the best doctor with the best surgical team we can find. And if that team just happens to use a robot to help out, we’ll be cool with that.
OpenExchange, with operations around the world, video-enables the vital daily communications of the financial services and professional investment industry. We combine a best-in-class technology platform, high-touch managed services and dynamic video content production and management to facilitate uniquely engaging virtual and hybrid meetings and conferences for our clients’ most critical events. Trusted by the most prestigious and demanding organizations, OpenExchange produces gatherings from high-profile mega-conferences down to private one-on-one virtual meetings that are executed with precision. We make our clients look great to their clients.
For more information, please contact Tom Kirby, vice president of IR solutions, at tom.kirby@openexc.com.
