2020 Mira Awards going virtual
INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — TechPoint has announced plans to move its annual Mira Awards gala to a virtual event. The state’s technology initiative says the awards for the “Best in Tech” will be offered for free to the general public on its social media platforms instead of the traditional black-tie gala which last year was presented in front of 1,400 attendees. TechPoint Chief Executive Officer Mike Langellier says given the change, the organization wanted to make the event as accessible as possible.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Langellier said all options were considered.
“We considered postponing the event until later in the year when perhaps it would be more permissible and appropriate to have the event in person. It’s the way the event’s been happening for now over 20 years and it’s always been in person,” said Langellier. “But we felt like, amidst everything that’s happening that the community could use a celebration right now and it made sense to just lean in and embrace a virtual format; what better segment of our community to be able to embrace such a format than the tech community?”
Langellier said another benefit of going virtual is the ability to expand the event to a broader audience both within the tech community and the state at large.
TechPoint says the broadcast will include Zoom VIP rooms for sponsors and nominee representatives to watch together. When the winners are announced, the recipients’ Zoom feeds will be broadcast live so they can give acceptance speeches.
Langellier says they are still working out the production details for the broadcast, which involve multiple partners.
“Luckily we have some great production partners that can allow us to broadcast this out across multiple channels; we’re going to be broadcasting this so that it’s available to individuals in their preferred format via the different social media platforms (and) streaming. We have to figure out how to make all of those individual channels work effectively. We also have to make sure that we have effective telecommunications in place to make sure that we can pull off the event without a hitch. That’s always a high risk in something like this.”
Langellier adds he isn’t sure how the shift to a virtual event will play into the Mira Awards in the future, but they are embracing the opportunity to experiment.
“We’re looking forward to how we can test the bounds of what technologies will allow us to scale the event and reach people outside the room, how we can bring in participants from outside of the room. So we don’t know exactly how we might take what we learn and what we experience from this year’s Mira Awards into future Mira Awards but it is something that we’re deliberately planning so that we can take what we learn works this year and infuse it into future years.”
TechPoint announced the nominees for this year’s awards in February. Nearly 130 nominees from throughout the state are up for 12 awards.