Set your Microsoft Outlook calendars for Friday 17th July because the BMJ Industry Awards 2020 is going ahead as a virtual event.
After careful consideration, Builders Merchants Journal publisher Datateam Business Media has made the difficult decision to not host a live event in 2020 but are excited to reveal the plans for the first ever virtual BMJ Industry Awards – which will be hosted by none other than Alan Dedicoat, the Voice of the Balls on the National Lottery and announcer of Strictly Come Dancing, who previously provided voiceovers for the event in both 2018 and 2019.
“It’s very disappointing that we will not be able to run the event this year in the way that we planned,” says BMJ Editor-in-Chief Fiona Russell Horne. “However, give that this is an industry that runs on networking and people getting together in large groups, it has just not proved possible. So, we believe we have come up with a viable alternative.
“The votes had already been counted and checked and the winners’ names engraved on the trophies. We couldn’t let the opportunity slip to celebrate those winners who, this year probably more than ever, have worked so hard to make their businesses a success. The benefits of cyber-space, of course, are that you are not limited by social distancing, nor by the capacity of the venue. So, I’d like to invite everyone who had hoped to attend the awards lunch, and those who wanted to come but for whom there was no room at the inn, to attend the virtual event, maybe with a glass of something to hand to toast the winners, and share in their success.”
The virtual event will be hosted on the BMJ Industry Awards website on Friday 17th July. There is no registration required to join the live stream: professionals are invited to simply log on to the website from 3.00pm, sit back and enjoy the proceedings and join the conversation on the event’s social wall using the hashtag #BMJIndustryAwards on Twitter.
Fiona Russell Horne notes: “We would like to encourage everyone to share the link to the live stream with their colleagues and get as many people involved as possible. Share the link, share the love and hopefully next year it will be business as usual!”
