The third annual Women|Future Conference has announced that the conference, originally planned November 12-13 in Las Vegas, will now be presented virtually for the safety of attendees during COVID-19. Though the world is different today than it was this time last year, there is no time to waste when it comes to the advancement of women professionally and personally.

This two-day conference presented by the Stevie Awards encourages engaging connections, professional and personal development, and health and financial wellness through motivational keynotes, educational sessions, and networking. With panel discussions, plenty of networking opportunities, case studies from Stevie® Award winners, and a showcase of young women-owned businesses, this is an event you won’t want to miss!

The 2020 Women|Future Conference agenda has just been announced. Join us this November 12-13 to Cultivate Your Tomorrow and be inspired by over 100 talented, transformative women speakers from across the globe who will be leading 32 sessions, panels, and workshops. This exciting conference addresses the latest innovations and impending changes in areas such as technology, sustainability, career planning, diversity in the workplace, leadership, crisis management, and so much more.Stevie Awards President Maggie Gallagher added,

“We started this conference three years ago to compliment the Stevie Awards for Women in Business program, and now it has evolved to serve women on a larger scale. The conference will address topics beyond the future of work for women; it focuses on today's trending topics and current issues from the female perspective, hosted by speakers from various industries and backgrounds, from corporate to small business owners, to entrepreneurs.”

Stay tuned for updates about the conference as it comes together, including the announcement of our keynote speaker later this summer.

• Business Chemistry! Using Science to Improve the Art of Relationships Workshop by Deloitte
• Overcoming Personal Adversity
• Conquer Crisis. Train Like a Triathlete. Body + Mind + Business
• Balancing Motherhood + Business: for "Mompreneurs" and Working Moms
• Financial Wellness: Your Relationship with Money
• Diversity & Inclusion: The Importance in Your Workplace
• Pushing Your Envelope: How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome Once and For All
• Women Driving the Future of Tech: How AI, VR, and Robotics Will Be the Norm
• Create Joy in Your Career on Your Own Terms
    ...and many more.

Now that we’ve gone virtual, there’s a new lower cost with incredible value - just $199! The virtual platform replicates the beloved in-person networking, workshops, and panels. Register for the conference now to reserve your spot.

What’s New for the 2020 Conference?

• Showcase of young women-owned businesses
• Business pitch competition
• One on one networking: the virtual conference platform has AI matchmaking capabilities to match you with different attendees, sponsors, sessions, and workshops based on your commonalities
• Women|Future Conference Exclusive Webinar Series leading up to the conference

Connect With Us!👍

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WomenFutureConf

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womenfutureconference/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WomenFutureConference/

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the Middle East Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevie’s recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

• After 15 years in the staffing industry, Anserteam Workforce Alliance relaunched and rebranded this past year
• Anserteam sets itself apart with a refreshed new look, logo, tagline, website, social media, and color palette 
• Tips on how to rebrand during COVID-19
• With access to over 2,500 locations across the United States and Canada, Anserteam is one of the fastest-growing staffing firms

About Anserteam Workforce Alliance

Anserteam Workforce Alliance represents North America’s best staffing agencies aligned together to deliver world-class workforce management solutions. They provide exceptional levels of expertise at locations throughout North America by offering end-to-end talent services that can be customized for any size business.

Anserteam was established in 2004 by a group of staffing entrepreneurs who discovered a gap in staffing service offerings. Their boutique staffing agencies provided a superior level of service and expertise at a local level, but they had a hard time competing with larger firms when it came to clients with multiple locations. 

They joined together in an alliance, each taking ownership of their respective markets. They also developed cloud-based technology so they could service clients seamlessly and efficiently on an international scale and recruited more members to join in along the way. Today, the Anserteam Workforce Alliance provides clients with access to over 2,500 staffing firm locations in the United States and Canada and backs them with technology, strategic analytics, and operational support. 

After 15 years and explosive growth in the contingent workforce management industry, Anserteam wanted to launch into 2020 with an updated look and feel.

Rebranding Strategy

Before, Anserteam was consistently branded as Anserteam Workforce Solutions. In the 2020 rebrand, they replaced “Solutions” with “Alliance” to better differentiate their brand by nodding to their roots. Anserteam started as an alliance, and they continue to carry that spirit of partnership to this day. Their slogan, “The Team Behind Great Teams”, shows the everlasting support and commitment to their partners. 

All the new branding elements came to life in an updated website with simplified navigation, targeted calls to action, SEO optimizations, and some new interactive features. One new feature is the Virtual Consultation, which allows potential clients to fill in key details of their contingent labor programs, and uses a formula to determine which of Anserteam’s solutions would best fit their needs. It provides a great conversation starter for sales calls and has proven to be a valuable tool early in the marketing conversion funnel. 

Overall, the new logo, tagline, and color palette all work together to reflect the teamwork, collaboration, and diversity that makes Anserteam great partners for staffing suppliers and clients. The website, blog program, and social media initiatives have provided a vastly improved user experience to bring in new client leads, and Anserteam is ready to expand its marketing initiatives in 2020 and beyond. 

Rebranding During COVID-19

Anserteam's rebranding initiative launched in March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting North America. Anserteam mobilized to keep their clients in the essential manufacturing sector staffed and their employees safe. With increasing uncertainty upending the staffing sector, the flexibility of Anserteam's alliance allowed them to adapt quickly to their clients’ changing needs. Remote teams have remained intact and fully operational throughout the initial wave, and Anserteam is now focused on helping businesses reopen safely where it is possible. Service offerings have expanded to include on-site medical professionals for employee temperature checks, employee symptom tracking, social distancing enforcement, and increased disinfecting and janitorial services. Anserteam Workforce Alliance is committed to getting great teams back to work as safely and efficiently as possible.

Anserteam Workforce Alliance won the Bronze Stevie for Re-Branding / Brand Renovation of the Year in The 2020 American Business Awards®. 

Interested in entering The 2021 American Business Awards?

• At PayJunction, ethical payment processing means disrupting the industry with honest billing practices and green technologies that help customers save money
• All-in-one payment processing helps improve customer satisfaction
• New feature: ZeroTouch terminal helps reduce the spread of the viral COVID outbreak

About PayJunction

Stevie-winner PayJunction is a payment processing solution that prides itself in unparalleled customer service. Their transparent, ethical billing practices and green technologies help customers save money and merchants sell more efficiently. 

In 2019, the PayJunction Customer Support team was able to maintain its high-quality level of service while continuing to scale operations to better serve their growing number of customers. PayJunction’s customer satisfaction score has been solidly in the 98% range for the previous two years and always above 95% in the previous four years. Because of PayJunction’s incredible customer service efforts, the department has been honored with numerous awards in recent years for going above and beyond customers’ expectations.

Recent Accolades

• More than 45,000 solved tickets in 2019
• 98.1% satisfaction score
• 1.3 hours average response time
• Over 1,000 positive responses from customers
• A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau
• 5 years in a row with zero complaints
• A rating on Card Payment Options
• 5-star reviews on Merchant Maverick, Capterra, and Trustpilot

PayJunction’s COVID-19 Response

PayJunction Support has been working diligently since the COVID-19 outbreak hit. They have faced unprecedented challenges and risen to the occasion each time. Most notably, they've continued to offer top-tier support in launching a new ZeroTouch terminal amidst the outbreak and have expertly guided their clients on how to operate the new terminal remotely. With all the uncertainty, PayJunction has continued to serve customers with patience, kindness, and knowledge.

PayJunction won the Silver Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year in The 2020 American Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The 2021 American Business Awards? 

• Scoop, a carpooling service, has prevented the release of more than 62 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by providing over 9 million trips to people across the United States
• Scoop is available in over 2,000 major cities including the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Los Angeles, Reno, Portland, and Detroit
• This carpooling service is the most sustainable in the industry—Scoop targets large employers, office parks, and government agencies to carpool efficiently, and the algorithm matches riders and drivers going in the same direction

About Scoop

Scoop is the largest carpooling solution in the country by creating more than 9 million trips on the road in major cities across the United States. Scoop partners with the world’s most forward-thinking businesses and organizations to offer an impactful carpool solution to their workforce.

Since launching in 2015, Scoop has become the definitive enterprise carpooling solution for employers. They have partnered with more than 55 innovative companies including LinkedIn, Workday, and T-Mobile to mitigate the impact of the daily commute on their workforces. Scoop operates in more than 2,000 cities across the country, with plans to expand to other major metro areas impacted by congestion caused by single occupant vehicle trips (SOVs). 

With over 9 million carpool trips to date, Scoop takes a unique approach with each city to build an extensive enterprise carpooling network that is cohesive with the city’s laws and workforce dynamics. 

Scoop does not focus  on individual riders and drivers, which has proven ineffective for making carpooling a viable commuting option. Instead, the company targets large employers, office parks, and government agencies to carpool efficiently and to offer carpooling as a workplace benefit. To match coworkers or neighbors going in the same direction, Scoop uses an algorithm based on prior trip feedback from drivers and riders, prescheduled pick-up times, and city-wide traffic patterns. Riders and drivers split the cost of the commute, and to incentivize carpooling, some employers are partially subsidizing the costs of the ride.

Using Data to Bring Awareness to the Impacts of Commuting

To expand education and awareness on the true environmental, social, and professional impact of commuting, Scoop surveyed over 7,000 workers in 16 metropolitan areas via the 2019 State of the American Commute. The study’s goal was to learn how the commute is decreasing productivity, adding costs, and extending the workday of Americans. The report found that 74% of Americans drive alone to work each day, resulting in more than 50 billion solo trips each year. To combat the negative impact of single-occupancy vehicle trips, Scoop has put more than 9 million carpool trips on the road to date, preventing the release of more than 62 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. 

Scoop’s COVID-19 Response

As a safe, reliable, and equitable carpooling solution, Scoop is working with employers across the nation to help organizations prepare their return-to-workplace plans. A return-to-workplace plan is only as safe as your people's commute to the workplace. In this new landscape where 90% of Americans are avoiding public transit and only 1/3 of Americans have reliable access to a personal vehicle, Scoop is helping employers create a safe commute solution for their people.

Recent Accolades 

• Scoop was named to the list of Best Workplaces by Inc. magazine and the San Francisco Business Times 
• Scoop won 2020 Comparably Award categories for Best Company Culture, Best CEO, Best Company for Women, and Best Company for Diversity
• The World Economic Forum’s Mobility Challenge Awards recognized Scoop for its carpool partnership with LinkedIn. Chosen as one of the 18 case studies worldwide used as exemplary sustainable corporate mobility programs, a critical element to the success of LinkedIn’s deployment of the Scoop carpooling service was Scoop’s dedicated efforts to  educate LinkedIn employees on the social and environmental values of carpooling.

Scoop won the Silver Stevie Award for Company of the Year - Transportation in The 2020 American Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The 2021 American Business Awards? 

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.

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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