Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most people might have thought Zoom was just a PBS children”™s series from the 1970s, Teams were something you found in sports and BigMarker was an oversized felt tip pen. What a difference a year makes.
Since the pandemic took root, in-person happenings all but disappeared as virtual events have been the new normal. The White Plains-based video and virtual event production company VeeKast has been particularly busy over the last 12 months, especially in helping nonprofits pivot quickly from in-person fundraising galas and gatherings into virtual facsimiles. During the period, VeeKast created more than 70 virtual events for nonprofits, helping them raise more than $7 million.
In this week”™s edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall speaks with Donvil Collins, VeeKast”™s president and CEO, on how the pandemic reshaped his business.
How long as VeeKast been in business?
“We”™ve been in business since 2006. I pretty much started it during my second year of college.”
And how long have you been doing virtual events?
“The term ”˜virtual events”™ is really more of a buzzword that has become more popular because of Covid. But it is not new to us. Since our beginning in 2006, we were doing high-quality, live video streaming productions for organizations, especially religious organizations, and that was one of the initial ways I built the business.”
So, how did your company react to the changes that the pandemic brought?
“We doubled the business from where it was before, so that was definitely a welcome addition. Although it was a little bit scary at the beginning, because in March we ended up losing all of our clients and all of our contracts. We were wondering what in the world was going to happen.
“We were producing a video for one of our clients and they had seen some of the live video streams that we did. They reached out to us when we were wrapping up the post-production editing on their video and said, ”˜We need to hold our event that we usually do every year ”” can you guys do a virtual event instead of a live stream video?”™ A lot of AV companies weren”™t used to doing these kinds of video streaming, so we realized that we were in a unique place. And a lot of the organizations that needed the funds that they usually raise in live events needed to have some sort of event, otherwise they would have to shut down.”
But what happens in 2021, when people are getting vaccinated and many people assume the end of the pandemic is within sight? Are virtual events going to be going away as people go back to conference halls and convention centers?
“No, virtual events are not going away. Virtual events can be more beneficial in many ways, not only from a cost perspective, but in terms of the viewership and the accessibility of the event. We”™ve had some clients that are like, ”˜I”™m not sure we actually need to go back to in person at all.”™
“I don”™t believe we”™re going to get back to full normal until maybe the end of 2022. Some people are going to feel like they don”™t need virtual at all. But I think in the long term, what people have found is that there”™s a lot of value to having a virtual aspect in the event, especially when they are trying to cater to an audience that may not want to come to meet in-person or may have accessibility reasons for why they can”™t be there in person.”
How did the shift away from in-person gatherings impact you on a personal level?
“I”™m not really the kind of individual that likes to stay virtual all the time. I like meeting people.”
During the past year, have you hired more people to keep up with the demands of your work?
“Yeah, we”™ve more than doubled our workforce. When the pandemic started in March, our core team of people at the time was about five. And since then, our core team of people is now about 12. We”™ve grown quite a bit and will continue to grow. Right now, we”™re looking at hiring three more people because the demand for virtual events is still growing.”
