MAP Digital’s Virtual Event Portraits: from the Ballroom to the Kitchen Table
Christina Kolb
How long have you worked for MAP Digital?
I have worked at MAP Digital for four years. Initially, I was hired as a Content and Speaker Support Manager for our MetaMeetings platform. BobbiAnn Zaccerelli, a former colleague from an E-commerce firm, was working at MAP Digital as a digital event producer. She encouraged me to apply for the Content Manager position. Working as a Content Manager for the MetaMeetings gave me detailed knowledge of the interworking of the platform.
What is your role with MAP Digital?
Currently, I am the Product Manager of the MetaMeetings platform. My job is to assess change or new feature requests in the MetaMeetings platform. I work with the internal client, my MAP Digital team members who use MetaMeetings to produce our clients’ events or directly with our clients and their technical team to ensure clear deliverables and timetables. I then work very closely with our programming team to make sure that the tickets for changes are clear, and that we can deploy successfully in the set timeline.
What did you do prior to MAP Digital?
I worked in the fashion industry in wholesale and product development, later transitioning to project management for e-commerce sites and digital creative campaigns before joining MAP Digital.
What are you enjoying most about working from home?
Not having to deal with the crowded morning subway traffic and delays. Also, I love having more face time with my dog!
Have you picked up any new hobbies or revisited old ones during quarantine?
This is something that I have put off for over 10 years. I’m finally making time during quarantine to learn Korean, so I can finally communicate with my extended family in Korea!
What is the most challenging part of this ‘new normal’?
Pre-pandemic, I worked remotely quite frequently, so there really hasn’t been much of a difference for me to work from home. However, now I have to share workspace with my husband, who is also working from home. Eventually, we figured out each other’s routines and where to escape to when one of us has to take a call or join a Zoom meeting.
Because of the COVID lockdown, I am spending a lot more time in my apartment than I used to. When your living room is also your work office, it can be difficult to ‘switch’ off after the day’s ends. It is hard to stop the urge to send “just one more email” at the end of the day. This usually turns out to be ten more emails. Pretty soon you look up and realize it’s 9:00 PM, and you haven’t started dinner yet!
Where in your home are you the most productive?
I am most productive when I am sitting in my living room by the window. We have a great view of the East River looking over to Manhattan. The river has such a lovely calming effect on me, which helps to keep me focused.
How do you see the events space changing in the age of COVID?
I think more companies who would have never considered doing virtual events pre-COVID are realizing that in their pivot to virtual events, there are new and effective communications tools to engage their audiences. Some of the benefits are the potential reduction in costs and reaching a wider attendee network. Once things return to ‘normal’ they may even find it beneficial to continue with some of the aspects of virtual events like webcasting and attendee interactivity, as we move to hybrid events. Their marketing departments will have become accustomed to having robust data of their attendees’ content usage and engagement. I would think that most companies would want to integrate the good things that we learned from virtual into the design of their soon to be hybrid events.
What are you looking forward to in the future?
I am pregnant with my first child and will be having a little girl this fall, so really looking forward to becoming a mother!
©Ellie Kurttz Photography, captured via Zoom.
