How a Hydrographic and Ocean Technology Provider Organizes Interactive Presentations

What kinds of webinars appeal to the ocean technology community in these extraordinary times? Hydrographic and ocean technology provider Nortek has learnt that interactive digital events with an emphasis on learning and practical examples have a massive appeal. The Norway-based company has recently launched a live webinar series with over 20 classes and interactive presentations. These are tailor-made for people working with ocean technology, such as oceanography, subsea navigation, marine navigation and ocean surveying.

The educational webinar series covers everything from real-time data collection near the coast to using acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) to estimate suspended sediment properly and how to get accurate data from your DVL for subsea navigation. The webinars that already have taken place in recent weeks have had several hundreds of attendees from all over the world, and many more are signing up for the upcoming digital events.

Interactive Digital Events

People in the ocean technology industry seem to be hungry for this kind of educational and interactive digital events, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. After attending an introductory webinar on ADCPs, one participant said: “Very beneficial…Plain terminology, easy to understand”.

Freda Zifteh has been a part of the Nortek team that turned around and produced this webinar series in record time. “Nortek provides technology that is sophisticated, and our users are continually learning how to get the most benefit out of this technology”, says Zifteh, who is director at Nortek’s division in the USA.

Onsite Training

“This means that our support and sales team normally spends a lot of time out of the office giving demonstrations, holding Nortek days, speaking at conferences and conducting onsite training with the ocean community”, she says. In normal circumstances, the Nortek team would be travelling to meet researchers, scientists and engineers in all corners of the world – from Norway to Japan or India, South Africa, Colombia and the USA.

“In these uncertain times, we wanted to connect with our customers and provide succinct and valuable information on a variety of topics, from introduction to DVLs to practical guides on real-time data collection. We launched our Spring 2020 Webinar series hoping to interact with our audience, discuss their concerns, and answer their questions”, says Nortek’s digital marketing manager Enrika Ramonaite. 

The present situation with dramatic changes due to the coronavirus was a big shift for Nortek’s team, but they did not want to sacrifice their usual face-to-face company culture. “The webinars had to be live, interactive and instructive to properly meet the changing needs. We are so grateful for how receptive the community has been to this format,” adds Freda Zifteh.

Hydro International’s readers can register for these educational webinars here.