MFG Day falls on October 2nd this year (the first Friday in October). Around 325,000 students, teachers, and builders participated in MFG Day 2019, which consisted of beyond 3,000 events held across multiple states. MFG Day is an ambition of The Manufacturing Institute, the workforce development and knowledge partner of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Given the restrictions with social distancing practices and public gathering prompted by this pandemic, it’s uncertain whether manufacturers are hosting traditional on-site tours of their facilities on Manufacturing Day this October. But as we’ve learnt with other aspects of our lives, a virtual option awaits for us.
Here are some suggestions and ideas from Dainsta for hosting a virtual MFG Day event:
Define What You Want to Accomplish
Start your planning process with a goal – what you’d wish to achieve so work backwards to style the event. Manufacturing Day is supposed to extend visibility into manufacturing and encourage the following generation of creators but over that, moving to a more specific objective can facilitate your build a gradual pipeline of future workers.
Identify potential new relationships, like with different industry guidance counsellors, economic development agency staffers or hiring firms which may suggest your company to job prospects. Play to your strengths to draw in the foremost potential prospects, or perhaps address a spot in your workforce by highlighting a specific description as a part of the event programming.
Again, depending upon your required outcomes, this might be an opportunity to develop your invitation list to incorporate key stakeholders from city staff, workforce boards, chambers of commerce and other civic organizations.
Design Event with Clear Objectives
Take under consideration that a virtual event may have more constraints than a standard on-site event. As an example, even a brief tour of a tiny low portion of a facility won’t be feasible given video technology or costs. It’d be better to instead build your programming around a pair of process demonstrations or a series of testimonials and a Q&A session with key employees involved in engineering, mechanisation, 3D printing or other areas of interest to technology-driven landscapes.
It would be good to grasp if engineers will each have access to a PC or if they’re going to be watching on a shared display. You would possibly be able to add some reasonably interactive session, like with CAD design tools or software for 3D printing. It’d be possible for participants to answer questions in a very survey format about what they’re most inquisitive about associated with manufacturing, which may lead to qualified job leads.
A year ago, Discovery Education and also the Arconic Foundation produced a top-class 20-minute virtual tour of Arconic’s advanced manufacturing hub in Alcoa, Tennessee, which continues to function as a recruitment tool. While costly produced piece could also be too expensive for much smaller manufacturers, you can always mix previously recorded videos with live streams on the day of the event to carry your audience’s attention.
Explore Technology Platforms
A big determinant in planning a virtual event is selecting the technology platform. Some months ago, many folks didn’t know what a Zoom video conference was, but today they’re quite comfortable with the format. Many other video formats are also being widely used.
There are many technology options which you’ll use for hosting a virtual event, with varying complexities and price tags. The research and selection process need not be comprehensive, but it’ll take time.
Many manufacturers have conducted webinars, which, if you’re thinking about, can be a reasonable option for a virtual event. An easy virtual event is often streamed at no cost on Facebook Live. Numerous other solutions include features for networking, polling, Q&A and even gaming.
You can hire companies to supply the event likewise or you can partner with an organisation or community with a video-based curriculum or structure.
While there’s no replacing the sensory experience of watching a producing process up close, there are also opportunities with a virtual event to extend community engagement and collect data on visitors who have an interest during a career in manufacturing. If you are interested to read more on similar manufacturing topics, you can check out our other fascinating blogs here.