Dan Grogan is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Energy Advance, a digitalized integrated networking and events platform. Dan has been working in the events industry for 20 years, delivering some of the largest oil and gas events globally. Dan has built up government and state company contacts from all over the world and takes pride in building value for all stakeholders who participate in exhibitions and conferences.
In addition to oil and gas, Dan has spent several years delivering some of Europe’s leading IT events and this combined expertise has given him a unique understanding of the importance of IT solutions and Digital Transformation for the oil and gas sector and the creation of
the Energy Digitalisation series.
In this interview with Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme of The Energy Republic, Dan explains how energy advance is developed as a subscription-based platform that provides its members to participate in over 30 global energy events, in both physical and virtual formats, webinars, and digital round tables, alongside access to all of the speaker presentations and supporting resources. Excerpts:
TER: What is energy advance all about and how will it continuously engage with industry stakeholders amidst the COVID- 19 Pandemic?
Dan: energy advance is a fully interactive, subscription-based networking, events, and information platform. This platform serves to ensure our network continues to benefit from one another, with access to all our global industry conferences and exhibitions, exclusive industry reports, news, and interviews from our global correspondents, whilst also featuring interactive discussion boards, individual chat functions, and video conferencing for all subscribers.
This will in turn be supported by a wide range of training programs, CPD accreditations, special feature industry showcase initiatives, and our entire back catalogue of invaluable event collateral for research and development.
As to how we do business changes, energy advance stands to ensure our business community continues to remain connected and engaged with one another, across all facets of business development, research, and growth.
They say necessity is the mother of all inventions. As we have seen the closure of major industry networking events, international travel restrictions, all key office staff working from home and major limitations on face-to-face meetings, a vacuum in lead generation and business development have become a core challenge for the majority of businesses. This of course has driven the incredible spike in online networking and video conferencing that we
have seen at late, with highly varied returns in terms of quality and usefulness.
As we started to re-evaluate not only what our clients need in this new environment, we
focused on the practicalities and genuine bugbear of navigating the online business experience, drawing three main conclusions.
Networking online at home while a conference session is ongoing can be daunting! Expectations from the events industry in terms of pricing when it came to watching presentations on your laptop, were in some cases unachievable for clients in the current climate at best.
That some common sense needed to be applied to the real value and delivery of the ‘online
business networking’ experience when it came to events.
Our inspiration was simply driven by these three key points, which drove us to build a solution that offered a year-round networking experience, with a genuine community feel. To drive discussion and interaction through our events, industry news, live chat debate, and ability to reach out and connect freely with other members of the community.
We feel that navigating endless restrictions and pricing tiers to gain individual benefits simply frustrates the user. With a simple monthly subscription, we want our members to have access to all that our platform and network can offer. A simple low-cost decision in hard economic times, that delivers exactly what you need it to.
TER: Going forward, what are the objectives and benefits it will offer to the energy industry?
Dan: The key objectives and achievements have always been centered around valuable partnerships. During our eight years, we have always ensured we commit to an invested partner on the ground in-country to guarantee our position is centered and balanced to the needs and developments of the host countries that our events take place.
As we start to operate in the virtual event space, we want to ensure we maintain that core principle and philosophy in our business model. As energy advance continues to grow and we discover new and innovative ways to expand, we hope to draw fresh ideas, input, and development through new partners and providers, to guarantee we keep the site fresh, informative and driven from the heart of the key regions in which we operate.
TER: What makes this energy advance unique, and what sets it apart from the other
digital platforms that we have been seeing?
Dan: With many event companies still striving to achieve the same investment levels they gained from previous live events through their new virtual offerings, all be it as a need to maintain larger overheads, the consumer has from our research, found it a continual challenge to gain returns on their investment by attending individual events.
Not only is the expense quite high, but the time is also limited, which makes a major impact on networking and interaction for lead generation and business development. With a low rate monthly subscription to all our events and the many different functionalities the platform offers, energy advance ensures you gain the maximum benefit with seamless interaction and
freedom throughout.
This all serves to ensure you have year-round access to the community, where you can call back on those that attended an event with you, comment and connect on a discussion point from a key prospect and engage through informal chat or direct video conferences at the
ease and convenience of yourself and your connection.
With varied platforms offering individual benefits, the energy advance platform ensures you are connected through a commonality of interest and shared experience.
TER: What are the available services in your company for clients who have business inquiries or seeking opportunities?
Dan: The core proposition of energy advance stands to ensure all members can connect, collaborate and create business development and industry knowledge to serve the growth
and position of their business.
The defining decision to attend an event, be it physical or virtual, is more often than not, made to draw business. Be that through brand recognition, fresh lead generation, or maintenance of existing clientele, events are the perfect vehicle to engage with your industry community.
Featuring over 30 global energy events per year, alongside a wealth of networking and
community discussion programs, the energy advance platform serves to ensure you gain all
the benefits of attending an event, 365 days of the year.
We also have a range of options to build bespoke showcases, webinars, marketing promotions, and lead generation exercises, be it for a new product launch, brand awareness campaign, or to position, yourself as a knowledge provider and industry go-to.
Whatever your strategy for business development, the energy advance team will work with you hand in hand to achieve your goals.