The countdown is on. On Tuesday, June 22, the Engel live e-symposium 2021 opens its virtual doors. Traditionally, the Engel symposium is more than an in-house exhibition, as Ute Panzer, Vice President Marketing and Communications with Engel, explains.
Ute, can you please give us a preview of what the participants can expect?
The spotlight of the e-symposium is clearly on the future. For three days, in the virtual world of Engel, everything will focus on the future of injection moulding machines. What new opportunities are arising and how can we respond to them with our new technologies. The live e-symposium 2021 will provide answers to these and more burning questions. Participants can expect world-class presentations and lectures as well as business talks on topics like digitalisation, innovative technologies and sustainability closing every lecture and presentation with a live moderated Q&A session.
Compared to the Engel live e-xperience in autumn last year, what’s new at the Engel live e-symposium 2021?
For the first time, we’ll invite participants to join us on a virtual plant tour through our Austrian production sites. We invite all participants to take a closer look at our Schwertberg headquarters, the ENGEL production plant for large-scale machines in St. Valentin, and our robot factory in Dietach. In addition to key-note presentations and lectures, we’ll have a completely new format, called Business Talks. In Business Talks, a panel of experts will discuss and present dedicated topics in your industries. What’s also new is that all lectures, presentations, and business talks as well as the whole content of the virtual platform will be offered in seven languages. Furthermore, we adapted the program to the specific requirements of the different regions.
What differences will there be for the regions?
We will start the live event on Tuesday with the focus on the countries of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. On this day, the lectures and all presentations will be held in the German language starting at 10 am in the morning. On Wednesday, we will focus on greater Europe and the METAI region which includes Middle East, Turkey, Africa, and India. The lectures and presentations will be provided in seven different languages, also starting at 10 am. On the third day, Thursday, the focus will be on the Americas offering all content in English and Spanish. We will start this session at 4 pm CEST (Central European Summer Time). Participants should convert this time to their local time zone. For participants in Asia, there will be face-to-face events in our Asian facilities. In addition to the face-to-face events, all participants in Asia are invited to attend the virtual event as well. Of course, we developed hygiene and safety concepts considering the Covid-19 requirements in every region.
Will there be the possibility for direct discussions with the Engel experts?
Yes, we will continue our very successful format introduced at the live e experience last autumn, the one-on-one meetings. Very important also for this year’s virtual live event is the direct exchange with partners, customers, and interested parties. Engel’s worldwide sales team and also our experts in headquarters and worldwide production plants will be available. Participants can make appointments today and also during the three live days.
Will there be a virtual showroom again?
Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback concerning the virtual showroom, we decided to expand the showroom from originally seven machine exhibits to over 20. All virtual machines provide a 3D view as well as additional information on applications, new technologies, and process innovations.
What prompted you to plan the symposium as a virtual event from the very beginning?
We are all very much looking forward to meeting our customers and partners in person very soon. Nevertheless, we planned the Symposium 2021 as a virtual event from the beginning as it was clear to us that globally the Covid-19 pandemic would continue for quite some time. As the Engel Symposium traditionally is an international event, the virtual platform for us is the only way to reach out to our global customers safely. In doing so we combine the best of both worlds. We address the international audience and provide space and time for personal one-on-one meetings. We are happy to welcome everyone to the Engel live e-symposium 2021.
