Tobacco Dock - Keep on creating the extraordinary!
We were utterly delighted to welcome you all to Tobacco Dock on 26th for the FF15 Graduation and Inauguration. It was a rousing and uplifting day made all the sweeter by the simple fact that we were able to be together at all! Something we would have taken for granted a mere 15 months ago, has become something to be celebrated.
These are strange times. The past year and a half has tested event profs’ resilience and resourcefulness to the limits. Listening to the graduates’ experiences of their past year, facing challenges both personal and professional, it was inspirational to see how this has translated not into a downbeat, despairing atmosphere but into one of boundless creativity, graft and adaptability.
Much was made of acknowledging the positive outcomes and by-products of the pandemic – ‘never waste a good crisis’. While individuals have flexed and made pivots in their careers, opening up to diagonal opportunities and directions, so the industry as a whole has had to embrace significant changes and adapt the way business is done.
While we look forward to a return to ‘normality’ this isn’t a time to play it safe, however tempting that might be in the face of uncertainty.
For example, the pandemic has accelerated the development and adoption of hybrids and, although I’m sure we would all happily live the rest of our lives without ever having to do another Zoom meeting, the new hybrid formats and advances in technology mean organisers can expand their scope, with exponentially greater reach and meaningful interactions between live and online attendees.
We’ve embraced new technology here at Tobacco Dock and, over the fallow period of lockdown, took the opportunity to invest in our offering. We have increased our broadband capacity to a best-in-class 10Gb to allow for seamless, secure connections and created 2 brand new hybrid studios complete with luxury seating, LED screens and dedicated broadcast crew. We’re also the only UK venue to have their own fully realised, photo-realistic virtual venue, which we think has unique benefits for international conferences, product launches and gaming events especially while travel restrictions are in place.
Keep on creating the extraordinary!
