As a devotee of remote working for almost two decades I am also the first to admit that some aspects of the remote space still have some distance to go, compared with the physical experience. Having seen the technology for group collaboration and individual interaction transform unimaginably over that time, for me the main missing link remained networking and interaction with larger groups that you only get through personal attendance at a conference or summit.
A new startup called Remo could finally save me from the need to ever don lipstick and a lanyard ever again though, with a platform dedicated to effective business networking – 100% online.
In the words of Remo founder, Ho Yin Cheung,
“The typical one-to-many format of webinars and virtual summits fails to satisfy the main reason people attend face-to-face events, which is to network with their peers. Learning from the speakers is the second reason, closely followed by learning from others present.”
So in addition to a webinar mode where up to 8 speakers can address the entire event (complete with comments, upvoting, etc.), Remo provides an interactive conference room where delegates can interact with one another at different virtual tables: networking in live video conversations, exchanging contact details and even planning follow-up meetings at a click – building community and connection in ways which have not previously been possible.
Changing the way we network
With imminent plans to scale the platform up to handle 1000 delegates simultaneously, Remo tackles so many of the difficulties with traditional networking events that the experience for participants is transformed:
“Introverts can dial and up and down the level of exposure they have, by turning off video, even turning off audio and just being in listening mode. Conversely, hyper-networkers will gain more contacts and leads than they ever could face to face”
Onboarding as a delegate is swift and intuitive even for anyone new to video networking tools, but most distributed workers will already find it even more straightforward, even as today’s remote tools go.
Enabling remote networking – flexibly, and at scale
“For anyone working remotely or people that just are not in big cities, they don’t want to spend the time or spend the money to travel, and the environmental impact is also something people care about,” Cheung continues. And when you think about costs on every front of attending, never mind putting on, a conferene or expo, it makes total sense to do it online – provided you can create a parallel experience with the face-to-face UX. At a time when many of us are trying to reduce the number of both flights and non-recyclable branded stress-balls in our lives, Remo could be set to change everything.
After pivoting to the event space specifically from a general virtual office tool, Cheung’s roadmap for Remo is ambitious and commercially-aware, with conversation recording, branding and sponsorship, and deeper interaction in the webinar sessions, already being developed:
“I want to create a new category, make virtual networking a thing which comes of age in the 2020s!”
Seeing what has already been released in 2019, we’d say Remo is definitely something to keep an eye on.
