In this article he is sharing his thoughts, takeaways and challenges organizations face while being forced to switch complex conferences online.

The Boston Chapter of the User Experience Professionals’ Association is a professional membership organization that supports UX students and practitioners. The chapter has more than 4,000 members and a 20+ year history of monthly meetings, events, and a signature annual conference that is one of the largest and most well-regarded in the country. This conference typically draws 1,200 attendees and features approximately 40 presentations (and a keynote) on a single day in May. The 2020 conference was the organization’s 19th annual conference. When Covid lockdowns began early in 2020, the UXPA Boston advisory board had to decide whether to cancel the annual conference or take it “virtual.” For my part, in addition to being a Director of Health and Life Sciences for Kanda Software, I’m a member of the UXPA Boston advisory board. As a result, I had a unique vantagepoint for learning how an organization takes a complex conference online, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities afforded by a successful proof of concept event.

While evaluating virtual conferencing platforms and approaches, it became clear that there were some inherent advantages to hosting a conference online. Notably, costs were significantly lower, since the organization wasn’t paying for physical space, food, and other in-person expenses. As a result, registration fees could be two-thirds lower. A virtual event invites a broader geographic range of participation, since travel expenses weren’t a factor, so we wondered: how large a crowd might the event attract? Another benefit of being online was the fairly effortless ability to record the presenters’ talks. For an in-person event, capturing presentations typically requires a host of AV equipment, camera operators, and attendant expenses. Being virtual meant that for the first time we could record every session with the touch of a button, which has a singular benefit: It’s physically impossible under in-person circumstances for attendees to attend all the sessions. With ~ 40 presentations happening five or six at a time every hour, in-person attendees get to experience only a portion of the presentations. With a virtual conference, recorded sessions could be offered to registered attendees for post-event viewing. For the first time in nearly twenty years, attendees could attend every session! In addition, automated event analytics are detailed and easily captured to support future planning.

There are, of course, potential drawbacks to a virtual conference. We wondered if experiencing nearly nine hours of content in a single day would be prohibitively tiresome. We wondered if sponsors would shy away from sponsoring “Expo booths” in a virtual environment. (This turned out to be true- sponsorship was robust, but not as robust as the in-person events. Sponsors who deferred cited uncertainty around the value of “virtual” sponsorship.) Additionally, we had concerns about whether a single platform could meet the event’s complex needs.

Furthermore, we were concerned about technical snafus, not only in our hosting platform, but with presenters’ internet connections. The platform we ultimately selected, Hopin, had a robust feature set that would in theory support the kind of event the organization wanted, but to provide a robust experience required the simultaneous use of other platforms: Eventbrite (for registration), Sched (for displaying the session times and details, Slack (for networking, event coordination, one-on-one networking, and job postings), and Zoom/Zoom equivalents (for the presentations themselves). We addressed these concerns through detailed and repetitive messaging to attendees, easily available procedural documents, and in-the moment technical support to help attendees understand how these systems were being used in concert. To combat confusion, UXPA Boston put together an extensive team of volunteers (~40), engaged a virtual conference technical team, and held multiple Hopin trainings for presenters, volunteers, team leads, and others. Behind the scenes, Board members, volunteers, mentors, and team leads used What’s App and Slack on the day of the event to allow instant individual and group communication for response coordination.

So how did it go? Very well! The 2020 UXPA Boston annual conference was held on October 23, 2020, and garnered approximately 850 attendees from across the globe, with an engagement rate of 97.7% across participants. At any given point during the day about 650 attendees were online participating in sessions, chatting with sponsors, and taking advantage of Hopin’s “networking roulette” feature for speed-dating style chats with other attendees. (Attendees rated this feature highly.) Technical snafus were minimal, and primarily associated with feature limitations that were able to be worked around. (We emplore Zoom to enable meeting co-hosts to manage breakout rooms.) Hearteningly, sponsors gave the conference high marks, and reported meeting their sales and hiring goals for the event.

A successful event is always attributable to the quality of the speakers, the engagement of attendees, and the generosity of sponsors. Equally important is the organizers’ ability to envision a successful event, tailor it to the organization’s culture, and plan, plan, plan for engagement and contingencies. After 18+ years of in-person event planning, the organization knew what success would look like, and had a strong logistics-based history of achieving it. The virtual format offered significant potential challenges on a relatively fast timeframe, and required the adoption of a variety of technology solutions that weren’t inherently interoperable. Coordinated planning and execution, and a willingness to embrace new challenges led to a highly successful event, and one I am proud to have been able to support.

The bottom line from my perspective is: it is absolutely possible to have an engaging, impactful virtual conference that meets the business, financial, and intellectual needs of attendees, sponsors, and the host organization.

As virtual event technology evolves, it offers tantalizing possibilities as logistical challenges – being able to include attendees from a wide geographic distribution, being able to keep registration fees low, and supporting a plethora of presentations not only on one day, but over time for comparatively modest costs – has appeal. How might the organization apply the lessons of a virtual event to a future in-person event? Should it continue to offer virtual events in post-Covid circumstances? We look forward to finding out!

“It is an honor for Kanda Software to be included in the Inc. 5000 List for five consecutive years,” said Alex Karpovsky, CEO. “This recognition is a direct result of our commitment to providing best-in-class Software Development, Cloud Engineering, DevOps and Quality Assurance Services and dedication to the business objectives of our clients. We attribute our success to Kanda team’s creativity, dedication and exceptional technical skills.”

Administering a symptom screening questionnaire for each employee before they enter a workplace can be slow and cumbersome. It also creates a potential needless exposure of healthy co-workers if an individual with the symptoms reports to work.

WorkPass is a Covid-19 symptoms screening solution for employers that helps decrease the likelihood of people suffering from an active case of COVID-19 coming to work.

It encourages workers to conduct self-assessment of their own health prior to coming to work by answering a simple questionnaire.  In case symptoms are present, a worker is asked to stay home or contact their healthcare provider.

MassBio, a non-profit organization that represents and provides services and support to the #1 Life Sciences cluster in the world, was one of the first users to adopt WorkPass as a part of company’s return-to-work policy.

MassBio advances Massachusetts leadership in Life Sciences to grow the industry, add value to the healthcare system, and improve patient lives. The company represents the premier global Life Sciences and Healthcare Hub, with 1300+ members dedicated to preventing, treating, and curing diseases through transformative science and technology that brings value and hope to patients.

WorkPass is Free for organization to use and customize. It is available as a SaaS as well as native iOS and Android applications. If you are interested in using Workpass for your organization, please reach out to contact@kandasoft.com

Native Mobile apps for iOS and Android were developed to help WorkPass client organizations make the process of returning back to work even easier by providing a more convenient option for employees to use COVID-19 Symptom Screening Tool before going to work every day. Mobile applications include all features available in the SaaS version and can be customized to organization’s return-to-work plan and procedures.

Administering and reviewing a set of screening questions for each employee before they enter a workplace can be slow and cumbersome. It also creates a potential needless exposure of healthy co-workers if an individual with the symptoms reports to work. WorkPass encourages employees to conduct self-assessment of their own health prior to coming to work. In case COVID-19 symptoms are present, an employee is asked to stay at home or contact their healthcare provider.

Before the start of the day or shift, each employee is asked a set of questions about potential COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough and others. If there are no symptoms, the application generates a unique 5-digit passcode. When entering a workplace an employee is asked for that passcode and admitted if there is a match on administrative side. In case if symptoms are present, no passcode is issued, and an employee is asked to stay at home and/or contact their healthcare provider.
WorkPass consists of two portals: Admin and Employee. When an employee has passed a self-assessment questionnaire, she is cleared to attend a workplace. When entering a workplace an employee shows the passcode to the guard or a dedicated administrator. When a passcode match is found on an Admin side, an employee can start her shift.

PLEASE NOTE:

Your Employer has to be registered with WorkPass before you can use the app.
To register your Organization and start using WorkPass please email us at contact@kandasoft.com.

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Companies and leaders are struggling to determine the best ways to move forward with business and protect their employees and customers as they return to work. Rather than revert to a regular routine, businesses should ease their employees into a new routine and create workplaces that accommodate new policies. Although some guidelines exist for specific sectors, leaders may feel like they’re on their own to figure out how to get back to work.

In recent conversations with our clients, we’ve seen three major concerns arise — physical safety, workplace safety and psychological safety. Company leaders have shared valuable insights into the ways they’re adapting and how they plan to move forward this year. Make sure you consider these three areas as you create your reopening plan:

1. Physical safety

Typically, the physical aspect of returning to work is the first concern that company executives and directors must tackle. Although every company is unique, several key factors can be implemented in almost every setting.

For most businesses, reopening with a reduced on-site capacity is a good first step. If possible, you can adopt a “remote by default” policy that only requires workers who need to travel to the office to be there. Following that, an “employee cohort” system can designate different types of workers who can return to work at certain dates. These cohorts can also be organized as shifts or locations within a building to limit the number of employees who come into contact with each other at one time.

With visitors, it’s also a good idea to restrict the number and types of non-employees who can enter the workplace, which can be scaled up over time. Think about implementing visitor policies as well, such as requiring face masks or screening for symptoms.

Finally, you should implement a COVID-19 screening tool that’s easy and comfortable for your employees to do at home before they come to work. With a free tool we created for our clients called Workpass.Today, each employee is asked a set of questions about potential COVID-19 symptoms before the start of the day or shift. If there are no symptoms, the application generates a unique passcode. At the workplace, a designated administrator then checks their passcode and temperature at the door. If your employees don’t have symptoms or a fever and know their colleagues don’t either, they often feel more confident about returning to work.

2. Workplace safety

Business leaders should also consider the physical safety of the workplace itself, which could include a redesigned office space that ensures employees can work and operate six feet apart. Across the building, administrators may think about ways to move desks, rearrange conference rooms or space out communal places such as office kitchens or gathering spots. Common access points, such as building entry and exit doors, should also be spaced out to separate the flow of people.

In addition to creating physical separation, companies should provide visual cues that remind people to wash their hands, separate from others, cover their faces when appropriate and sanitize their desks after each workday. It’s easy to forget that we’re returning to work with new procedures, and these visual cues remind people to take precautions, even though they’re in the same familiar place as before.

To make this work seamlessly, don’t forget to stock up. Order enough sanitizer, soap, tissues, hand wipes and other supplies to make sure employees have enough to do their daily work and that they don’t worry about running out. Create a schedule for reordering and appoint someone who can tackle this task regularly.

3. Psychological safety

Undoubtedly, this time of upheaval has created a turmoil of emotions and uncertainty for everyone on staff. People don’t want to lose their jobs, but they may also be afraid to go back to work. Public health officials have reported an increase in stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness as well. Luckily, business leaders can provide a safe environment for their employees as everyone returns to work.

First, employees should know that there’s nothing wrong with remote work and that they’re not inferior to others who decide to return to the office. This fear may prompt people to return sooner than they feel comfortable, which may create further stress. For now, it’s easy to continue to provide communication and engagement through video calls so everyone feels connected to the team. Refrain from creating panic or “shaming” those who are taking longer to adjust.

While at work, leaders and staff can ensure that new distancing and cleaning rules are in practice and not simply on paper. When employees feel confident about sanitization and clear-cut protocols for interacting with others, they can focus on the important work before them. Employers should also communicate often — and with transparency — so employees feel secure and have the information they need to stay updated.

Part of this ongoing communication should include privacy. If an employee becomes sick, conduct anonymous contact tracing across the office to identify anyone else who may be susceptible to infection. Don’t create panic. Privacy includes data security as well, so if you use a screening tool or other digital information, ensure employees that their information is safe and address any concerns they may have.

Overall, don’t forget to take a deep breath and approach this with relationships and community in mind. Everyone is learning how to adjust to a new way of working, and you can build rapport with your team at the same time. At our company, we worked with a Harvard psychology professor to create a series of seminars about mindfulness and techniques to reduce anxiety and stress. We recommend an employee support group, too, for people to navigate assistance programs and childcare questions. In the end, if you can create a supportive, safe and clean environment, your employees will be proud to work for a company that carefully considered how to reopen during this time.

WorkPass.Today is a Covid-19 symptoms screening solution for employers that helps decrease the likelihood of people suffering from an active case of COVID-19 coming to work.
It encourages workers to conduct self-assessment of their own health prior to coming to work. In case symptoms are present, a worker is asked to stay home or contact their healthcare provider.

It’s quite simple. Before the start of the day or shift, each employee is asked a set of questions about potential COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough and others. If there are no symptoms, the application generates a unique 5-digit passcode.

When entering a workplace an employee is asked for that passcode and admitted if there is a match on administrative side. In case if symptoms are present, no passcode is issued, and an employee is asked to stay at home and/or contact their own doctor.

WorkPass.Today consists of two portals: Admin and Employee. When an employee has passed a self-assessment questionnaire, she is cleared to attend a workplace. When entering a workplace an employee shows the passcode to the guard or a dedicated administrator. When a passcode match is found on an Admin side, an employee can start her shift.

The solution is customizable to organization’s needs: you can change the screening questions, a number of times an employee can take an assessment per day. Admins also get daily reports about cleared/non-cleared employees.

Needless to say, that this is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of disease or other conditions, including COVID-19. Always consult a medical professional for serious symptoms or emergencies.

You can explore the Demo by visiting WorkPass.Today.

If you have any questions or would like to use Workpass.Today at your company, please reach out at contact@kandasoft.com

Ensuring health data security and privacy throughout the information exchange process is often a key pain point for Healthcare providers. Companies should adhere to all federal and state regulations with data security, while still allowing data to flow freely as needed for patient care.

Healthcare organizations have invested plenty of funds into healthcare exchange, but they are still receiving much less in terms of privacy, efficiency, and efficacy of information exchange. A whole lot of capital is yet leading to lesser transparency and more breaches.

“The primary pain point for Healthcare Companies is to reverse the trend to be able to do more with less. We work actively with the customer in advisory, consultative, and collaborative manner to ensure that we deliver the best possible product in the shortest possible time ” says Alex Karpovsky, CEO of Kanda Software.

Read an article about Kanda on Healthcare Tech Outlook here.

We recognize you have entrusted us to power your mission-critical applications and take this responsibility very seriously.

The disruption is palpable and near-universal. Empty streets, offices, campuses and stadiums as none of us have ever seen before. It goes without saying that right now all of us at Kanda are focused on the health and safety of our families, employees, friends, customers and partners.

Even today, as the crest of the crisis is still ahead of us, we should not lose sight of the fact that we Will Be Back!

Over the past twenty seven years in business, we have had many reasons to developed and refine our business continuity plans. We have also been fortunate to have survived and subsequently prosper after many a calamity large and small.

I am personally confident that we will all persevere and prosper in this one – and we will do it together.

• Kanda’s personnel is distributed between US, Europe, and South America. The art of collaboration and remote work is in our DNA. Our connectivity and workforce productivity tools have been thoroughly tested to ensure employees have secure and continuous access to our systems, data, and teams. We are here to serve you and confident our service delivery and productivity will not be impacted during this period.
• Now, more than ever, we believe it’s imperative to prioritize community – lean on us as a resource as you and your teams navigate the next few months. Please reach out to your delivery/account manager if you need advice or help understanding or implementing remote work practices for your organization.
• We are kicking off a series of articles and webinars to help you maneuver a new normal still achieving your team goals and meeting project deadlines. Please keep an eye on emails from Kanda team with more information.

I would like to thank you for your trust – we will continue to do what it takes to deserve it.

I wish you and your family safety and good health.

Best regards,
Alex Karpovsky
CEO of Kanda Software

The HIMSS Global Health Conference and Exhibition brings together nearly 45,000 health information and technology professionals, clinicians, executives and market suppliers from around the world. Exceptional education, world-class speakers, cutting-edge products and powerful networking are hallmarks of this industry-leading conference.

There is only a handful of partners who have demonstrated the level of expertise, innovation, practical experience, and dedication to engineering and business talent education and training that Google Cloud team looks for in a Premier Partner. We are proud to be a part of that group.

What does this status bring to our Clients?