The organisers, using technology, can invite as many guests as possible to participate in an event and there is no need to cough up money on booking a hotel or conference hall
Bhubaneswar: The nationwide lockdown in five phases has changed the meaning of meetings, conferences, live events and outdoor entertainment in the country.
It has been nearly three months since the premium hotels, conference halls and auditoriums across the country were asked to down their shutters. With over 1.5 lakh active COVID-19 positive cases at the moment in India and no sign of things improving anytime soon, webinars and digitals events have caught the imagination of event organisers.
Needless to say, the seminars and in-person gathering have been replaced by webinars and digital events. Using technology, the organisers can invite as many guests as possible to participate in an event and there is no need to spend money on booking a hotel or conference hall. Therefore, webinars and virtual gatherings are gradually becoming new normal.
Back home, some theatre troupes and literary organisations started reimagining their line-ups and came up with a creative solution webinars. Soon, various government departments have also started holding meetings and conferences virtually.
In a webinar conducted last month by tourism department, the secretary briefed the participants about Odishas ancient civilisation, famous temples, vast coastline endowed with beautiful beaches to woo the tourists. In another event, the Minister of Higher Education department conducted multiple meetings with the Vice-Chancellors through video conferencing.
However, this digital connectivity has its shares of challenges.
Minakshi Mishra, Regional Director of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Bhubaneswar, Odisha said, Given the current pandemic situation the virtual connectivity is the only way out to reach out to global audience. Yes, there are some segments that are deprived of attending such events in a virtual platform due to lack of infrastructure such as smart phone and laptop. Due to some barriers, poor connectivity in particular, it’s not always easy to hold big events on a virtual platform.”
ICCR is organising multiple cultural event virtually and also organising several online art competition for talented artists.
Some city humorists are also using the virtual platforms to reach out to their fans.
Satyabrat Mohapatra, a stand-up comedian in his early 20s, said, Entertainers like us will lose our relevance if we fail to reach out to our fans. A few celebrated names in the field such as Zakir Khan, Tanmay Bhatt have also started online shows. For now, every performer in the circuit are resorting to virtual platforms, I am no different.
In the field of literature, Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has launched KLF Bhava Sambad, an online dialogue platform to bring poets, writers, thinkers, philosophers, motivational speakers, researchers and performers together.
Arindam Ganguly, OP