The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2020 (17^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards® and International Business Awards®.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 100 categories, including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Achievement in Equal Pay, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees, and the organizations they run, worldwide, are eligible to be nominated.

The submission requirements for all categories have been revised and simplified for 2020. Instead of a 650-word essay as in previous years, submissions now require answers to a set of questions, or a video submission up to five minutes in length.

The final entry deadline is August 19, and late entries will be accepted through September 16 with payment of a late fee. Winners will be announced on September 29, and the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners will be celebrated at a virtual awards ceremony on December 9.

New this year are COVID-19 response awards categories for individuals, organizations, and marketing and PR. These categories do not have entry fees, but the $55/entry late fee will apply for entries submitted after August 19.

COVID-19 response categories include:
-Frontline Medical Hero of the Year-Education Hero of the Year
-Delivery Hero of the Year
-Public Service Hero of the Year
-Most Exemplary Employer
-Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - COVID-19-related Information
…and more

The Marketing and PR Campaign of the Year categories have been greatly expanded for 2020. Startup of the Year categories do not have entry fees as well as the categories for Government and Non-Profits.

The 2019 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. Winners included, among others: 

• Gail Becker, CEO, CAULIPOWER, Encino, CA USA
• Alia Koudsi, Key Account Certified International Specialist, DHL Express, United Arab Emirates
• Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, Senior VP and Head of Global Branding, Peloton, New York, NY USA
• Carolyn Aronson, CEO and Founder, It’s a 10, Coral Springs, FL USA
• Stephanie Wernick-Barker, President, Mondo, New York, NY USA
• Siti Choiriana, Consumer Service Director, PT. Telekom Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Oanh Phuong, Regional Head of Customer Support, HP Inc., Asia-Pacific and Japan
• Margarita Simkin, Co-Founder and Executive Chairwoman, INKAS® Armored Vehicle Manufacturing, Toronto, Canada
• Seda Kalyoncu, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, Turkish Airlines, Istanbul, Turkey
• Mejuri, Toronto, Canada
• Law on Earth, Brisbane, Australia
• Susan G. Komen, Chicago, IL USA
• Asian Venture Philanthropy Network, Singapore

The 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to all the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations.

4Life Transfer Factor Collagen received the most votes in the 2020 People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards®, the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, which are now in their 18th year.

The worldwide public vote was conducted last month, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of product categories. More than 87,000 votes were cast.  To win, a category’s leading vote-getter had to have received at least 100 votes. 4Life Transfer Factor Collagen collected more than 19,000 votes.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be mailed to Stevie Winners before they are honored at the virtual awards ceremony on August 5. There, the winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will also be honored for their awards.

All new products and services nominated in the new product awards categories of this year’s American Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards.

The winners of the 2020 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products are:

-Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Solution: Retention Intelligence
-API Management Solutions: Ambassador Edge Stack
-Business-to-Business Service: Credit Logix
-Big Data Solution: Tavant Manufacturing Analytics Platform
-Biz/Competitive Intelligence Solutions: Datamatics TruCap⁺
-Business Technology – Other: Ericom Shield
-Cloud Infrastructure: Wind River Cloud Platform
-Cloud Platforms: iboss cloud
-Cloud Storage / Backup: Quest Software's QoreStor 6.0
-Collaboration/Social Networking Solution: Passageways' OnSemble Employee Intranet
-Consumer Electronics: The SpotOn Virtual Smart Fence
-Consumer Products – Durables: Delta® Glass Rinser
-Consumer Products – Other: 4Life Skincare & Age-Defiance
-Content Management Solution: Laserfiche Vault
-Content Solution: Humana's CMS EOB statement merge
-Corporate Learning/Workforce Development Solution: Articulate 360
-Digital Process Automation Solution: Creatio
-Education Solution: Emotional ABCs Classroom
-Endpoint Security Management Solution: Ericom Shield
-Financial Management Solutions: CCH Tagetik Analytic Information Hub
-Financial Service: Bitvore Cellenus
-Financial Solutions: Bank of America Mobile Banking App
-Governance/Risk/Compliance Solutions: Passageways' OnBoard Governance Platform
-Hardware – Computer: OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dock
-Hardware – Storage: OWC ThunderBay 4 mini, Thunderbolt 3
-Healthcare Technology Solution: MedTrainer's Improved Compliance Platform
-Healthcare/Pharma: Butterfly Network's Portable Ultrasound Device
-Identity & Access Security Solutions: Sontiq Small Business Suite
-Industrial Products & Services: Newberry's New Slim Line 280 and 500 gallon Steel Tanks
-Insurance Solution: John Hancock EDGE
-Migration as a Service: DCAC Migration Solution
-Network Security Solutions: iboss cloud Network Security
-Payments Solutions: Century Business Solutions'  EBizCharge
-Relationship Management Solutions: RE/MAX, LLC’s booj Platform
-Telecommunications: Nextivity's Cel-Fi QUATRA 4000

Winners to Be Celebrated During Virtual Event on 22 September

Winners in the seventh annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards, the only awards program to recognize innovation in business throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region, were announced today. The list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners is available at http://Asia.StevieAwards.com.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world's premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace over the past 18 years in programs such as The International Business Awards® and The American Business Awards®. The name Stevie is derived from the Greek word for “crowned.”

The 2020 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 20 nations including Australia, China including Hong Kong and Macao, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam. More than 1,000 nominations about innovative achievements in the 29-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year in categories such as Award for Excellence in Innovation in Products & Services, Award for Innovative Management, and Award for Innovation in Corporate Websites, among many others. 

Among the top overall winners are Songpa-gu Office (South Korea) with four Gold and one Silver Stevie Awards and VNPT VinaPhone (Vietnam) with three Gold, three Silver and nine Bronze Stevie wins.

Winners of two or more Gold Stevie Awards include Accenture, Inc. (Philippines), Airport Railroad (South Korea), Cathay United Bank (Taiwan), Dell Technologies Ltd. (India), D.TRIBE (South Korea), FPT Software (Vietnam), IPG Box (South Korea), Jeju Province Development Co. (South Korea), Jungnang-gu Office (South Korea), Korea Environment Corporation (South Korea), KT KBN (South Korea), Macarthur Makeovers (Australia), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea (South Korea), OCBC NISP (Indonesia), Ooredoo Maldives (Maldives), PT. PETROKIMIA GRESIK (Indonesia), Seocho-gu Office (South Korea), and ZEEP Medical (Australia). 

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 100 executives around the world acting as judges in May and June.

“We are delighted that the seventh edition of the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards attracted so many impressive nominations,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher. “This year’s winning nominations are testament to the resiliency and innovation of organizations in the region, many of which continue to succeed despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we are disappointed that we cannot stage the in-person awards banquet we had planned for Hanoi, Vietnam this year, we look forward to celebrating many of this year’s winners during our virtual awards ceremony on 22 September.”

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the 22 September awards ceremony, and the list of Stevie Award winners, are available at http://Asia.Stevieawards.com.

Sponsors and partners of the 2020 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards include adobo magazine and PR Newswire Asia.

Details about the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards and the 22 September awards ceremony, and the list of Stevie Award winners, are available at:

http://Asia.Stevieawards.com

The Stevie® Awards for Great Employers final entry deadline for the fifth annual competition is Wednesday, July 22.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers honors the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

Stevie Awards President Maggie Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted through July 22, and late entries will not be penalized in the judging process.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The 2020 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2019. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

There are many new categories in 2020 for HR achievements including Achievement in Accessibility, Achievement in Leadership Development, Best Employee Value Proposition (EVP), Best Team Development Program, Best Use of Mobile Learning, and Most Innovative Learning and Development Program. Of the 16 HR Individual categories, 14 do not require an entry fee.

Several COVID-19 Response categories were recently added to the competition to recognize the positive ways that employers and HR professionals have responded to the pandemic. These categories have no entry fee.

Winners in the 31 industry-specific Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blend of public votes and professional ratings. Public voting will take place from July 23–August 10.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers will recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

• Employer of the Year
• HR Achievements
• HR Individual Awards
• HR Team Categories
• Solution Provider Awards
• More than 50 New Product & Service Categories

An international judging panel of more than 70 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Finalists will be announced on August 13. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed and presented their awards at a virtual gala event this Fall.

The final entry deadline for the 2020 (17^th annual) edition of The International Business Awards® is Tuesday, July 28.

The International Business Awards are widely considered to be the world's premier business awards competition.  In 2019 the competition attracted more than 4,000 nominations from organizations in more than 70 nations.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The final entry deadline this year is Tuesday, July 28. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Juries featuring more than 150 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced on September 9. Stevie Award winners will be honored at a virtual awards ceremony this year.

New this year are a variety of COVID-19 response awards categories that do not have entry fees. These aim to honor heroes of every industry including medical, education, food delivery, media, public service, business response, and more.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

• Management Awards 
• Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards 
• Human Resources Awards 
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards 
• New Product Awards 
• Public Relations Awards 
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

The IBAs feature more than 40 categories that do not require the payment of entry fees, including all 35 of the Company/Organization of the Year categories, and that there are many new and revised features of the IBAs for 2020, including:

• Nine new categories to recognize singular business achievements in areas such as business turnaround, finance, revenue generation, and science and technology, among others.
• The simplification of submission requirements in the Company/Organization, Corporate Communications & Public Relations, Marketing, and New Product & Product Management category groups.

Interested in entering the IBAs this month?

With the ongoing economic impacts of the Great Recession, astronomical student debt, COVID-19, rising housing costs, and myriad other financial factors, retirement looks a lot different today than it used to. Gone are the days of finding a job, staying with the company for 40 years, and retiring with a handshake and a gold watch. Pensions and 401(k)s are increasingly hard to come by. Plus, with often insurmountably expensive real estate costs, fewer people are entering the realty market. As a result, many people don’t have valuable homes to supplement their retirement nest eggs.

Given these kinds of factors, it’s little surprise that the concept of “retirement” has shifted. In this landscape, one thing is clear: If financial services groups want to continue to stay relevant, they will need to change their approaches, advice, and outlook to match what financial wellness means to millennials and members of Generation Z.

Rethinking Retirement Age

In a 2018 study by Bankrate.com, millennials responded that they think 61 is the ideal age to retire. Despite this aspiration of early retirement, however, approximately two-thirds of millennials have nothing saved for retirement.

Because of increased debt and decreased financial opportunities, more people than ever are being forced to reevaluate what’s realistic when it comes to retirement. For many, this means bumping out that expected age of retirement. Some don’t even expect to retire at all, instead considering part-time jobs, second careers, or other money-making opportunities as they get into the later years of their lives.

Increased longevity further complicates the issue. Across the globe, people are living longer than ever, which seriously skews issues related to realistic retirement age, health insurance, and life insurance.

Rethinking Financial Wellness

Companies that provide financial planning and other money-management services are often viewed as symbolic of a bygone era. After all, someone who has nothing saved for retirement, doesn’t own a home, and is working on paying down $50,000 in student debt can feel as if these companies aren’t relevant to their financial realities.

That doesn’t need to be the case, though. These companies can still help younger clientele reach their financial goals; they just have to shift how they think about accomplishing this endeavor. John Hancock, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, is one such company successfully refining its approach. 

“At John Hancock, we know it’s time to look beyond outdated concepts like ‘net assets’ and to build financial solutions that fit into customers’ whole lives—with easily accessible products that reflect their values, their approach to wellness, and their holistic well-being,” says Meghan Fackler, a thought leadership manager at John Hancock. “That’s why we’re redefining retirement, insurance, and investing for the modern generation of consumers to address both their health and wealth.”

To connect with this modern generation of consumers, one key is reframing the idea of financial wellness as the most important kind of wellness. Financial service providers are finding that the younger generation prizes a more holistic approach to well-being, and providing advice that resonates means tailoring to that mind-set.

Twine is an app that provides financial advice and automated money management to empower users to manage multiple savings goals with a partner – it’s a smarter way to collaborate and save for what matters. Twine is for people who might not have their own financial advisor but want to make better financial decisions to reach their goals, regardless of their income or age. The app simplifies saving for major milestones like down payments, weddings, and vacations by allowing users to collaborate and link accounts with others to stay on track. Twine is built, developed and powered entirely by innovative technology while leveraging the financial expertise of John Hancock.

“We believe good health and financial wellness are essential ingredients to overall well-being, and we want to help motivate people to make healthier
choices—for themselves and their future,” says Fackler.

With this goal in mind, John Hancock has had success especially with one initiative: a partnership with the Vitality Group, which can serve as a template for similar companies looking to connect with younger investors.

“In 2015, we started a new chapter in our 155-year history when we partnered with the Vitality Group to help our clients live longer, healthier lives,” says Feckler. “As the first life insurance company in the United States to offer a wellness-based rewards program, John Hancock life insurance with Vitality gives our customers the financial protection they need while also helping them earn savings on their premiums, shopping gift cards, and travel discounts for their everyday healthy habits, such as going for a walk, eating well, and getting a regular health check.”

John Hancock was recently honored with multiple Stevie® Awards in the 2020 American Business Awards®, earning the company a Grand Stevie® Award. This designation is reserved for the top 10 most-recognized organizations. 

The 2021 American Business Awards are not open for entries yet. The 2020 International Business Awards® are accepting nominations through July 28, 2020.

Employing the right people is one of the most important yet challenging aspects of any organization. Enabling employers to improve their recruiting effectiveness through branding, talent engagement, and recruitment benchmarks is an area that’s getting more attention in today’s competitive professional landscape.

More than ever, employers, even those with minimal resources, need to be agile in order to quickly find and hire top talent. With candidates today expecting the same treatment as consumers, the power has shifted from employers to job seekers. Preboarding and onboarding programs, in addition to strong professional development offerings, are top of mind for employers, who know these programs are essential to both employee retention and engagement. 

Organizations need to provide a stellar candidate experience in order to recruit the right people. To keep their businesses moving forward, they must continue this positive experience throughout the entire employee life cycle.

More than any other HR function, talent acquisition has rapidly expanded in recent years, and the function itself evolved along with its technology requirements. You now need to offer broader capabilities and deeper functionality, such as candidate relationship management, mobile-friendly capabilities, new-hire onboarding, and more, in order to help organizations grow and scale.

This is why nimble, cloud-based talent acquisition systems help engage and hire candidates while simultaneously managing complex and ever-changing global data privacy rules. 

Talent acquisition has truly become its own discipline, requiring dedicated technology solutions to help businesses find, engage, and inspire people to deliver business results. 

While some organizations struggle between the idea of centralizing software systems with one vendor and multiple best-in-class solutions, one thing is clear: Employers need their applicant-tracking systems to do more than just process candidates.

Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) continue to change the recruiting game. While some organizations are hesitant to invest in AI and ML, fearing the technology might cannibalize the industry and displace recruiters from their jobs, AI and ML are growing and evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.

One company using these dynamic and ever-changing functions in HR is iCIMS, a recruiting company based out of Holmdel, New Jersey, United States. The company employs four million hires annually through configurable recruitment solutions and an ecosystem of more than 245 talent acquisition partners. They’ve enjoyed this success due to their constant aim to find talent by delivering best-in-class software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions within a unified platform and by offering a customer-level experience.

By taking one client at a time, the company became one of the world’s leading talent acquisition platforms, enabling more than four thousand clients to hire four million people annually in almost every language worldwide.

“We have built upon our early success to create products that solve hiring challenges for some of the world’s most complex companies,” says Erica Bonavitacola, a communications associate for iCIMS.

To ensure the team is well-positioned to deliver excellent customer service, Bonavitacola says the company actively recruits employees who embody seven core competencies: adaptability, drive, transparency, customer commitment, kaizen, passion, and empathy.

Within this industry, the pendulum has swung from dedicated talent acquisition providers to human capital management (HCM) providers and back again. Acadian Advisory, an independent workplace technology research and consulting firm, recently reported that traditional providers that once dominated the recruiting technology market, such as Oracle Taleo and IBM Kenexa, have been in steady decline for years.

Solving problems for companies that engage talent has become a race in every sense of the word, and gaining access to new relationships through applicant-tracking software is revolutionizing how talent is discovered. Whether you place second, third, or last, companies are quickly realizing they must run or be outdone. 

iCIMS Inc. recently won a Bronze Stevie® Award in the category of Customer Service Team of the Year - Computer Software at The 2019 American Business Awards®. CFO Valerie Rainey also won a Silver Stevie for Female Executive of the Year in the 2019 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.  

Interested in entering the 2020 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

• Boehringer Ingelheim and Dubai Health Authority take top prizes
• To be presented for the first time at a virtual award ceremony on 25 August

The Stevie® Awards today announced the Grand Stevie Award winners in the first annual Middle East Stevie Awards.  The winners will be honored during a virtual award ceremony on 25 August. Registration for the virtual award ceremony is now ongoing.

The Middle East Stevie Awards, sponsored by the Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is an international business awards competition open to all organizations in 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa. The focus of the awards is recognizing innovation in all its forms.  

This year more than 500 nominations were considered in the judging process by more than 70 professionals, whose average ratings determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners announced earlier this year. For a complete list of the 2020 Stevie Award winners, visit https://stevieawards.com/mena/2020-stevie%C2%AE-award-winners

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie awards, the top winner overall (total number of points conferred by total Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie wins) and the highest-scoring nomination win Grand Stevie Award trophies.

A German-based, family-owned company, Boehringer Ingelheim is considered one of the pharmaceutical industry’s top 20 companies. In the inaugural Middle East Stevie Awards, Boehringer Ingelheim will receive the Grand Stevie for Organization of the Year with 23.5 award points, earned for six Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze Stevie Award wins.

"We believe that digital technologies offer exciting new ways to help patients around the world.  Health is what we care about; digital technologies help us to provide it. New tools nourish our passion for innovation and help ideas grow.  We are focused on delivering international best practices, innovative medical trends, while also ramping up our research and development capabilities, to address the diverse needs of patients in the country and region "said Evren Özlü, General Manager & Head of HP, Turkey

Dubai Health Authority’s nomination of diagnostic and prognostic liquid biopsy biomarkers for asthma was awarded the Gold Stevie Award for Innovation in Medical or Dental, and because it received the highest overall average score from the judges, of all nominations submitted in the 2020 competition, will also receive the Grand Stevie Award for Highest-Rated Nomination of the Year.

In the inaugural Middle East Stevie Awards, Dubai Health Authority won four Gold and one Silver Stevies for their Smart Home Care and Smart Health Professional licensing initiatives, as well as their innovative new approaches to early detection, diagnoses and treatments for asthma, sepsis, and childhood developmental disabilities. 

Dr. Younis Kazim, CEO of Dubai Healthcare Corporation from Dubai Health Authority commented, commented on the win by saying: “Dubai Health Authority are pleased to add a distinguished set of new prizes to its collection of prestigious international awards. Recognition with a Grand Stevie Award is the result of the great efforts made by the authority’s team to promote innovation and introduce smart services to facilitate the customer’s journey, and their continuous offering of improvement projects for services provided to individual or institutional clients.

Usually the two Grand Stevie Award winners are announced live at the award ceremony. However, due to the current development of the COVID19 pandemic, the Stevie Awards had to cancel the in-person award ceremony that was to take place on 21 March at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. A virtual Stevie Awards ceremony will instead be offered on 25 August, 2020 in which the winners of the first Middle East Stevie Awards will be honored.

"We were very sad that the award ceremony could not take place in Ras Al Khaimah. It's always a very special moment to present the award winners with their awards," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards. "That's why we are all the more pleased that we can now offer the winners of the Middle East Stevie Awards 2020 a virtual award ceremony in which our Stevie Award winners may be recognized and celebrated from the safety of their homes and offices.”

The Trophies for all winners will be shipped before the 25 August Ceremony so the winners can have their red-carpet pictures and record their acceptance speech holding their trophies. Orders should be made before 1 July 2020.

Complete information about the virtual awards ceremony is available at https://stevieawards.com/mena/2020-virtual-awards-ceremony-registration.

The virtual awards ceremony will feature digital versions of all of the things that people love about Stevie Awards events, including the networking, acceptance speeches, red carpet photographs, and red carpet interviews.   A series of informative webinars this summer will also be offered to virtual ceremony participants.

If you, as a representative of the press, is interested in participating in the virtual award ceremony of the Middle East Stevie Awards on 25 August at 2 p.m GMT., please contact us at help+MENA@stevieawards.com.

The submission phase of the second edition of the awards will begin in September 2020.

Interested in entering the 2021 Middle East Stevie Awards?

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is certainly nothing new; it’s been around for decades. Essentially, small computer chips and antennae contained within tags are used to store and transmit data, making it the ideal solution for location tracking and information gathering.

So, it’s not surprising the tech got its start by tracking cattle and monitoring product shipments as they moved across the globe. What used to be limited to livestock and global logistics, however, has evolved over time. RFID tech is now one of the most exciting implements in modern event planning.

Modern RFID Solutions

One of the most significant ways RFID technology has evolved is in size. The computer chips and antennae are now small enough to seamlessly fit in personal badges or event bracelets.

This means an event attendee can slip on a bracelet or affix a badge to a shirt and have access to all the powerful benefits of this tech. Event attendees aren’t the only beneficiaries, though. Event planners are also seeing revolutionary possibilities thanks to this seemingly simple tech.

RFID Benefits for Event Attendees

As an attendee, RFID bracelets facilitate a handful of experience-enhancing benefits. First and foremost, it significantly cuts down on how long attendees must wait in line. More than half of live event attendees cite long lines as one of the most frustrating and negative aspects of attending an event. With RFID bracelets, though, a scan gets a person through check-in and security quickly and efficiently. By cutting down on the amount of time people stand around waiting to enter the event, you greatly enhance perception and enjoyment from the onset.

RFID bracelets can also be linked to various payment accounts, meaning attendees can swipe their bracelets to buy food, drink, souvenirs, or any other event-specific items. Attendees no longer have to stress about keeping an eye on their wallets or purses while navigating a crowded event or finding an ATM to get cash.

The other major benefit relates to social integration. Photographers can easily scan a bracelet and then link relevant pictures to that attendee, making posting to various social platforms easier than ever. This is good for attendees, but it’s also great for event coordinators, who thrive on positive word of mouth via social media.

RFID Benefits for Event Planners

RFID technology doesn’t just benefit attendees; it also makes the professional lives of event planners significantly better.

Security, for example, is always a concern at large-scale events. RFID-based passes can control attendee access to certain areas, such as VIP sections, and it allows security members to perform real-time checks of visitor accreditation. Plus, this technology significantly reduces the likelihood of  illegally reproduced, fraudulent passes.

The massive amount of tracking data also allows event coordinators to perform traffic pattern analysis, which reveals the most popular event features, identifies bottlenecks, and provides insight into venue layout deficiencies or successes.

As a particularly large incentive to incorporate this technology, several reports reveal that the speed and convenience of tapping to pay rather than dealing with cash or credit cards results in anywhere from 15 to 30 percent increased spend per person.

Events and Tech: Beyond RFID

RFID tech is just one modern innovation making its way into the world of event planning. Artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition software are also increasingly becoming a part of this landscape. Many companies today are tapping into the power of these technologies in order to enhance attendee or user experience at planned events. This includes EventsAIR, an event technology platform based out of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

“The way different technologies are starting to integrate and morph into one within the event planning space is something we’ve believed in from the start,” says Joe Ciliberto, global director of sales and marketing for EventsAIR. “Technology allows event planning companies today to be one-stop shops for all event-related needs.”

EventsAIR recently earned a Gold Stevie® Award in the Event Management Solution category at The 2019 International Business Awards®.

Robin Toft, the Founder and CEO of Toft Group, a leading executive search firm  based in San Francisco, accomplished something rare: in the American Business Awards for 2020, Toft won Gold in the three major individual categories of Lifetime Achievement, Maverick of the Year and Woman of the Year.

Toft is a legend in her field and in many cases, outside of it as well. That field is executive search fully devoted to the life sciences, healthcare and biotech. As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, Toft is at the forefront of placing key talent researching a cure; as she has said, “my phone is ringing off the hook.”

Toft founded her company ten years ago, in 2010, before which she worked full-time biotech, where she became a “superstar.” At Roche Diagnostics, Toft launched the first global initiative for access to HIV viral load testing; at ViroLogic, Inc., she launched and commercialized first HIV/AIDS genotype and phenotype tests to guide doctors in selecting correct drug combinations; as a result, HIV became a chronic disease and no longer a fatal one.

To know this disruptive leader is to know something else crucial: Toft is positive always. Call; email; meet one-on-one: the optimism is ironclad. And you may want to know this, too: Robin Toft is a colon cancer survivor; and a survivor of the California wildfires, where she lost everything, her home included.

Through it all, Toft’s focus has been steadfast on diversity since she knows it translates into return on investment. Companies with diverse leadership teams have been proven to be more innovative and profitable; and are more attractive to senior-level talent. Toft has focused on placing women in positions of power that have been held by men because, up until now, men frequently do not have female executives in the networks they rely on to fill top jobs.

In 2019, Toft Group had a remarkable 98% women on boards placement rate, five times the national average; and when it came to placing women in senior positions, the C-suite included, the company had a 48% rate at a time where the highest average offered is 29% (the lowest is 13%).

Over the years, as Toft interviewed and placed hundreds of women into executive roles, she knew something important that had been left unspoken: most women are miserable in their jobs and lack a clear direction for the future. “As a successful woman myself, it’s hard to see such high levels of career dissatisfaction.” As a result, Toft has personally coached thousands of women free-of-charge - to help them set goals; have the perseverance and tenacity to meet them; and to understand the importance of balancing and enjoying their lives.

In 2019, Robin Toft put it all down in a groundbreaking book titled WE CAN, The Executive Woman’s Guide to Career Advancement, an intentional and powerful platform for change. Like Toft herself, the book goes where others fear to tread: female indecisiveness and doubt; the great need for discipline, for a plan, for a map of one’s progression and for confidence; the power to create opportunities; to practice self-care and self-talk. And that men play a role, too. And, yes, women are not - nor should they be - “mini-men.” 

WE CAN was honored with Silver for Best Business Book in the American Business Awards for 2020 and was also named to the Top 100 CEO books of all time by Book Authority. Toft also won silver for Entrepreneur of the Year – Business and Professional Services.

Interested in entering The American Business Awards® in 2021? 

Since the publication of WE CAN, Toft has become a “name” on the keynote speaking circuit including corporations Qualcomm and Illumina; conferences including the top three for women in science; next generation female leaders and board members; the most prestigious in medicine including the Precision Medicine World Conference; MIT Alumni Network, among universities; and Athena International, the global non-profit leading the way in building a pipeline of women leaders in underrepresented areas, notably technology and medicine.

It’s no wonder then that thousands of executives outside of Toft’s search candidates now seek one-on-one mentoring with Toft (there is a waiting list) and that WE CAN, as of 2020, is a start-up company aimed at helping women – and men – grow from the “outside IN.”

As Toft says, “Placing top talent during the COVID-19 crisis has been extremely rewarding. My big dream in building Toft Group was to change the future of medicine, one relationship at a time and we have delivered upon that mission.  After 20 years as an executive in biotech and ten years building my own search company, I’ve learned to set goals, to reach them and to be happy. Teaching women - and men - to dream big and achieve their dreams is my mission for the next 20.”

For more on Robin Toft visit thetoftgroup.com; for information on Toft’s keynote speaking including topics, visit robintoft.com or wecan.works; to purchase the book WE CAN, go to https://www.amazon.com/WE-CAN-Executive-Womans-Advancement/dp/1949635031