With no physical events possible this year things were a little different thanks to the ongoing pandemic, but that did not deter more than 100 delegates representing members in 104 countries taking part in over 620 bilateral meetings across five-days in our first ever virtual event, CONNECT2020.
There were some insightful and engaging presentations from industry experts such as Lars Jensen, who spoke about the pandemic’s impact on liner shipping and how we should move for 2021; Edward O’Connor from our charity partner, Transaid, who showed how WACO members are making positive differences to people through sustainable transport; and Martin Dixon from Drewry Shipping Consultants who discussed how benchmarking can support businesses with the impact from the pandemic.
The incredible turnout of members provided excellent engagement and we received a 71% response rate to our delegate survey, which 79% of you rated the event either Excellent or Good, and 82% of you said online meetings were Easy or Very Easy to arrange.
Of course, these virtual meetings could not fully replace the experience of meeting members in person during our General Meetings, but we are pleased that we could still provide a forum for members to meet and network across all time zones in an organised manner.
As the need may arise for virtual meetings again in the future, we have collated your comments and feedback to our digital provider which will allow us to provide better connectivity, better scheduling, and improved member search functions.
Thank you for your time and input at CONNECT 2020 and you can view the presentations here: www.waco-system.com/waco-connect-2020/
If you have any questions or further comments, please do get in touch by calling: +44 (0) 208 622 3107