After Tissue World Miami 2020 was first postponed from its original April dates to November, and then, as the Coronavirus pandemic continued to curtail international travel and in-person meetings, the event organizers Informa Markets faced a dilemma – postpone the biennial event or bravely enter the new world of virtual event planning and production. Rather than delay until 2022 an event that typically draws attendees, participants, and exhibitors from around the world to Miami, Informa Markets embraced the virtual meeting trend, creating Tissue World Digital Days.
Opening 11 November, the three-day event consisted of five live online sessions featuring 44 speakers, moderators, and panelists. Complementing the live webinars were a number of pre-recorded sessions. Despite — or perhaps because of — its virtual nature, Tissue World Digital Days drew 44 speakers and presenters from several countries and registrants from 97 countries across the globe.
“The feedback we have received from attendees, exhibitors, and speakers has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Agnes Gehot, deputy event director, Informa Markets. “We also have learned anecdotally that attendees and exhibitors were able to accomplish some business objectives in one-to-one virtual meetings and networking sessions.
“While virtual events will never be a completely satisfactory replacement for in-person gatherings, we are extremely pleased that we were able to attract more participants than would have been able to travel to Miami for Tissue World,” Gehot added.
Tissue World Miami is one of five global events in the Tissue World Portfolio, and also postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic were Tissue & Paper Bangkok 2020 and Tissue World Istanbul 2020. To compensate for this, Tissue World Digital Days included live webinars focused on southeast Asia, Turkey, and Latin America.
The next Tissue World Miami is slated for 16-18 March 2022. Tissue & Paper Bangkok is planned for 16-18 June 2021; and Tissue World Düsseldorf is scheduled for 21-23 September 2021. New dates for Tissue World shows in Istanbul, Turkey; and São Paolo, Brazil; will be announced soon.
