It led me to realize that the students who are about to embark into the new workplace needed training. I reached out to my neighbor Dan Cormany. He’s head of the department that stages large-scale events at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.
Soon after, we cultivated the idea to develop an agency-university incubator between my company and FIU’s hospitality school. We discussed the benefits of real-life and real-time connections that this partnership would bring, sharing with students our agency’s evolution into the virtual event world to the impact COVID has had on how we do business.
COVID has shown, more than ever, that we thrive off of human interaction and will risk everything to be able to be with each other. As Cormany noted in his first class of this semester, our innate need to gather, celebrate, and entertain dates from the dawn of civilization — the ancient Egyptians’ harvest celebrations, for instance, and the coronation ceremonies during the Middle Ages.
At a time where our careers were put to the test, our respective industries persevered. FIU + Factory 360 will teach students the latest technology and trends to prepare them for this new hybrid reality — virtual and in-person — of events. Even though we are returning to in-person encounters, there likely will always be demand for virtual options.
Additionally, the tools in the marketplace have changed. QR codes are the norm in events, microsites are a common integration into in-person events, as well as social and digital add-ons. Students will also learn all the software being used to optimize remote working, from Slack to Asana.
I think back to my days in college at the University of Michigan, struggling to find a degree that reflected my interests. My first internship, through the university’s career program ultimately led to where I am today. If I can be a part of that connection for these students from FIU, we will have succeeded.
Gabriela Neves is the founder of Factory360, a South Florida-based marketing agency.
©2022 Miami Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
