As business travel and in-person meetings became increasingly restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of digital engagement tools such as video calls and webinars became the new norm.
In fact, according to a survey by ON24, a leading digital experience provider, the number of webinars broadcast over its platform grew to more than 250,000 in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 162%. Webinar attendance jumped by 251% to more than 60 million, and the hours of content consumed grew by 290% to 61 million hours.
"Before the pandemic, we participated in very few webinars,"notes Abby So, FM Approvals' business development manager for the Asia-Pacific region. "We would talk on the phone or travel somewhere to meet in-person. We were able to get in front of people we wished to speak to anywhere we wanted—there were no restrictions. In addition, video conferencing via Teams or Zoom was not widely used at the company. Of course, that all changed throughout the course of the pandemic."
Since the spring of 2020, when lockdowns and travel restrictions went in to full effect, FM Approvals regional teams have conducted or participated in nearly 100 webinars. Participants have taken part from countries and regions such as Brazil, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Europe, the UK and the United States.
Webinars attendees have included FM Approvals' customers and prospective customers, end users of FM Approved products, consultants, engineers, authorities having jurisdiction, construction firms, and standards organizations. Some of the topics covered have included:
- Clean agent systems
- Cooling towers
- Fire protective coating products
- Flood products case study
- Insulated wall panels
- Passive fire protection
- Pipe and duct insulation
- Seismic sway bracing
- US-Brazil conformity assessment
- and many more
In addition, FM Approvals experts have taken part in numerous virtual events and as webinar guest presenters for organizations such as New York City's Waterfront Alliance, the American Society for Testing and Materials, the Association of State Floodplain Managers, Construction Specification Institute, Green Building Society, International Codes Council, and the Virtual Passive Fire Protection Forum.
"Webinars are a great way to get all the key people together from different areas without requiring them to spend a lot of resources and time," notes So. "Before, even a local meeting might require people to travel a significant distance to get there. It might have required them to take a flight, stay in a hotel, rent a car, and so on. With a webinar, you can reduce all of that."
According to FM Approvals senior engineer Charlie Mahall, "We are able to tailor our webinars to meet the needs of individual companies or organizations. We can cover applicable standards, Approved products, and relevant loss issues. Our experts can address the issues and solutions that matter most to a given audience. From half a dozen to hundreds of attendees, we can accommodate any size group and provide high impact webinars across multiple time zones around the world."
To learn more about upcoming FM Approvals webinars or to schedule a webinar for your organization, please contact information@fmapprovals.com or contact one of our regional offices by visiting www.fmapprovals.com/office-locator. To learn about scheduled industry events, please visit Industry Events.
