On a week that started with plenty of doom and gloom, Waterford Chamber managed to spread a little cheer with its three-day Toys4Engineers digital event.

Over the 72 hour period, four key elements were brought to life, a digital expo showcasing products and services from all over the country; three topic specific conferences, nearly 100 in-camera between indigenous and multi-national companies and a social media campaign to showcase the live roles currently available in Waterford.

Speaking after the event, Gerald Hurley, CEO Waterford Chamber said: “In light of Covid-19, the easiest thing would have been to cancel the event, but that was never an option for us. We always love a challenge and bringing Toys4Engineers online gave is the opportunity to think outside the box and be innovative in our approach. We knew our stakeholders were keen for the event to go ahead and we had the full backing of Waterford City & County Council, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Waterford Local Enterprise Office, WIT, Cobotics Skillnet and Crystal Valley Tech. Working in collaboration with them certainly made the whole experience easier and very worth while.

“Moving to a digital platform also allowed us to bring in speakers from all over the country to share their stories and the panel discussions were very well received. With thanks to Frontline Audiovisual, we live streamed our digital expo and conferences on www.toys4engineers.ie and on our Facebook page, while Crystal Valley Tech led the recruitment element across social media. The live steaming gave us the opportunity not just to showcase companies but also to show off Waterford as a fantastic location to live ad do business.

“In the background, Helloworld.ie worked with us to ensure nearly 100 business meetings went ahead on schedule as part of Meet the Buyer and of course none of this would have been possible without our event sponsor Waterford City & County Council and daily sponsors IDA Ireland, Waterford Local Enterprise Office, Enterprise Ireland and Cobotics Skillnet.

“It was certainly a learning curve for all of us, but one we thoroughly enjoyed and as much as we want to be back in WIT Arena next year for Toys4Engineers 2021, we are confident that our event offering will continue in Waterford Chamber through our digital platforms at the highest standard in the months ahead.”