Nicolas Bornozis says they’ve even come up with a way to digitise the drinks reception.
With travel moratoriums, work-from-home policies and social distancing the norm thanks to Covid-19, Capital Link’s annual late-March conference in New York was one of the many shipping events in jeopardy.
So chief executive Bornozis decided to make it remote, running the annual event online over 30 and 31 March, complete with digital one-on-ones and booths — and even a graphic at the end of Tuesday's session letting participants know it's time for the afternoon reception.
"Everything that we hear is cancellations, postponements. I think it’s a breath of fresh air that we find a way to keep the industry connectivity and the information flow," Bornozis told TradeWinds.
"I think in moments of crisis, that’s when you need information, that’s when you need networking, that’s when you need to be present."
In trading the swanky 5th Avenue Metropolitan Club for participants' home offices, Bornozis hopes to keep information flowing in an industry with a packed worldwide events calendar. And with the coronavirus outbreak injecting plenty of uncertainty into both markets and daily life, it is something that could become commonplace.
A much larger proposition
Capital Link's New York forum traditionally precedes the annual three-day Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) conference in Stamford, which postponed alongside Posidonia, Seatrade Cruise Global and others.
In response, Capital Link spread its event over 30 and 31 March, with 12 sessions each day. The days are capped off with "ask me anything" panels featuring Tsakos Energy Navigation's Nikos Tsakos and International Seaways chief executive Lois Zabrocky Monday and Scorpio Bulkers president Robert Bugbee and Star Bulk chief executive Hamish Norton Tuesday.
The event follows on Value Investors Edge's Oil Price War & COVID-19 Response virtual forum held last week.
The research outfit's head J Mitzmyer said they were ahead of the curve, having held an online forum on IMO 2020 implementation in early January.
"Having a virtual forum like this allows you to be so nimble," he said. "You can adjust things right up until the launch point."
Without the need to produce signs or programs or other physical media around a live event, Mintzmyer was able to make the oil price war, which had started the week prior, a focus.
"You have to invite quality people, quality analysts," said Mintzmyer, whose event featured a half-dozen high-profile analysts and executives from Euronav, Dorian LPG and Flex LNG, among others.
"If you have quality ingredients, you can make the topic anything you want."
Moving forward
Mintzmyer — who will sit on the Capital Link analyst roundtable Monday afternoon — said Value Investors Edge would continue running online forums.
He said some of the live sessions had as many as 100 listeners, and the replays had double or triple that.
"We were lucky we left it so open-ended," he said. "We had one or two of the top companies from every sector. These are the leaders in the industry."
Bornozis said Capital Link's event has received an "overwhelmingly positive" response so far.
He said the platform Capital Link is using allows participants to network, have one-on-one discussions and access marketing materials from sponsors, replicating the in-person, physical conference the best they can.
"Right now, as you know very well, going digital is what is happening right now," said Bornozis, who believes digital meet-ups can be a useful tool moving forward.
"Our initiative lets us keep our sense of community, keep the connectivity in the industry and keep the information flow."
