Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 21, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 13 FOCUS: MEETINGS & VENUES You can count on us! Our flexible lending solutions and experienced team may be just what your business needs. Visit chelseagroton.com/growthatbusiness or call 860-448-4203 Quality Construction + Butler Manufacturing = Repeat Customers www.borghesibuilding.com © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. 2155 East Main Street • Torrington, Connecticut 06790 Windsor Marketing Group (WMG), Suffield, CT | 2006 | 50,000 sq. ft. • 2008 | Addition — 40,000 sq. ft. • 2015 | Addition — 80,000 sq. ft. Contact us at 860-482-7613 or visit us on the web. some of the revenue and staff the company has lost during the health crisis, allow virtual events to be shot in a more formal and traditional venue setting. In June, Demers debuted his first studio at the Connecticut Convention Center for an event held by college scholarship fund Hartford Promise. Mayor Luke Bronin and Hartford Promise President Richard Sugar- man spoke live at the convention cen- ter and the event was viewed online by 70-plus scholarship recipients and roughly 1,000 remote attendees. In an effort to replace canceled commencement ceremonies, Sugar- man said his group was looking to offer a major celebration for its first class of scholarship recipients — most of whom are first-generation college graduates from Hartford. Demers and his staff, Sugarman said, made that possible by de- signing a script for the 50-minute online program that included a live chat room that drew hundreds of congratulatory comments from viewers. They also handled all of the filming and pre-recorded con- gratulatory messages from UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma and Duke men's basket- ball coach Mike Krzyzewski, among other celebrity appearances. "We wanted our scholars to feel honored and celebrated because they missed their graduation ceremonies," Sugarman said. "The students felt excited and felt they got something they had lost out on." Demers is also operating a stu- dio out of his warehouse in Cleve- land, Ohio, and is currently build- ing another one in Dallas, Texas. The virtual event setup, Demers says, has been a major success with many of the domestic and interna- tional clients he has gained since establishing his convention services business in 1986. This fall, Demers has dozens of virtual events sched- uled at various studio locations. "People didn't want to just do a Zoom meeting, they wanted some- thing that was much more profes- sional," said Demers, who puts on the events with just eight or so work- ers, down from up to 30 before the pandemic. "The technology is getting better and easier. We had to learn this very quickly and make a lot of adjustments to stay in this business." Demers said revenue from vir- tual events pales in comparison to the large gatherings to which he is accustomed. The income, however, has allowed the company to keep employed half of its 30 full-time employees, while the other half have been reduced to part-time work. Prior to the pandemic, De- mers, with a mostly part-time staff, employed upwards of 200 people. "My goal for 2020 was to keep as much of my staff with me," he said. "It took me a long time to build up a great crew of staff, and they are really committed." The virtual events have also enabled the company to use some of the expensive equipment, including projectors, micro- phones, speakers, chairs, car- pets and tables, that it acquired over the years, and stores in a 150,000-square-foot warehouse on Park Avenue in East Hartford. Demers and others in Connecti- cut's events industry are eager to hear from Gov. Ned Lamont's office on when large gatherings can resume. Advanced notice, he says, will be key in planning potential events next spring. "We've got our clients already starting to plan for March and April of next year for live events," Demers said. "If we don't start planning six to eight months ahead of time, we don't have a successful event."

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