Over 100 speakers and 400 delegates in three days using a brand new platform... surely this event had ‘DANGER do not enter’ written all over it? But, to borrow a frequently used word in the post (and during) event social media comments, BIO2020 was a TRIUMPH……no danger! Managed and curated by B4, one of Oxfordshire’s leading B2B networking communities with speakers covering a huge range of topics, a running theme of purpose in business (and in our lives generally) and a strong feeling of family and community spreading like wildfire from the opening session to the last, which enabled some of the speakers to share their own very personal and incredibly emotional journeys…wow!, BIO2020 had everything summed up with one message on social media after the event ‘where’s my daily BIO2020 fix?’ That was the secret of BIO2020’s success as summed up by one delegate, ‘It got steadily more addictive!’….that ability for delegates to turn up the volume on their computer when they wanted to hear a particular speaker enabled them to continue working at home or in the office whilst still feeling part of a welcoming and vibrant event. So many benefits of a physical event were lost but the
online version somehow fostered a greater sense of camaraderie and openness as delegates shared jokes in the chat function or came on screen to ask speakers questions direct, in many ways a more personal and intimate experience than a physically live event would allow. But whilst this was an event for Oxfordshire businesses there were delegates and speakers from around the world including the USA, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Spain, Italy, Tunisia, France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Poland, Australia, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines…hopefully this will be an evolving theme with BIO and B4 moving forward. From start to finish there was a packed schedule of content, from opening warm up sessions to closing panel sessions including a hugely beneficial panel run by Oxfordshire LEP on the second afternoon. Delegates could choose from two talks at any one time, each of which ran for 20 minutes with a 10 minute break in between.. a format which provided the right level of content leaving delegates wanting more.
Huge credit to everyone that supported BIO2020 – sponsors (including lead sponsors, Unipart), exhibitors, speakers, hosts, official support partners and delegates. It really did surpass everyone’s expectations. SpecialEffect were the official charity of BIO2020 and an online raffle and auction (including a Lionel Messi signed Barcelona shirt) raised £2,667.50. What a fantastic effort for an amazing charity. Hats off to the team behind the scenes, to Lorna Waterfield, Keith Simpson, Rob Scotcher, Ed, Sue and Colin Rosser and event host, Richard Rosser.
THE STORY BEHIND BIO2020 FROM TEAM B4 So what on earth possessed us to schedule a three day on line event? Well, as many readers will know, the 7th annual BIO was always due to take place over three days at Jurys Inn, Oxford. But, as it became clear the pandemic would deny us of physical events, we had to act fast.
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