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SynaVoice SOL engages high school students with unique topics!

SynaVoice SOL

SynaVoice SOL is a virtual camp for high school students. Founded at the juncture of the COVID 19 quarantine crisis and the social movement to expose long-held systemic racism in our society, SynaVoice SOL aims to create an environment where campers of all backgrounds can meet to engage in interesting and thought-provoking conversations. Julie Rothhouse , SynaVoice SOL Founder, commented, “Exposure to new ideas, concepts, and skills is critical during high school as students are poised to make decisions that will affect their college, career, and the rest of their lives. SynaVoice SOL creates a positive environment where students gain exposure to new and interesting topics and engage in conversations with other students from diverse backgrounds. Our session leaders present their content in dynamic ways that capture the imagination and interest of our campers.” SynaVoice SOL leaders are nationally-known experts in their fields, and they engaged the campers with their stories, knowledge, information, tips, and humor. Sherhara Downing led Powerful Presence and she helped campers to develop a confident and memorable speaking style with their elevator speeches. Joe Stearns and Suzi Regan led Lights, Camera, Acting and shared business and auditioning tips with campers who got to practice a mock audition with the talent agents live on the last day. Matt Troyer and Ken Smith led Calling All Cars and explained, in easy-to-understand language, everything under the hood of the car. The campers designed a fleet of cars that were presented to the automotive experts on the last day of class. Amy Kurzweil led The Art of the Graphic Narratives. She shared her process of writing and making comics and coached the campers to make their own comics. They shared their artwork and comics with her on the last day. James D. Diamond provided insight into the criminal justice system and debunked some myths using real case examples in True Crime. Tomorrow campers will meet with him and engage in a robust discussion about the legal issues in the cases. Next week in the last session, Curt Doty will lead campers in The Influence of Design . In this session, campers will learn the history of communications and design and develop their own logos with coaching from Curt. On the last day, they will present their logos for critique from Curt. Matt Troyer, session leader for Calling All Cars , said, “it was great to see a diverse group of high school students joining together from across the country to participate in the time-honored tradition of summer camp. And it was remarkable to see technology allowing this camp to be held uniquely in a virtual environment with virtual cabins, but with the same involvement and spirit of learning, and engaging of others, that all summer camps have inspired.” SynaVoice SOL plans to continue with innovative programming during the school year. Ms. Rothhouse stated, "Since quarantine will be a fact of life for us next year, we will continue to provide exposure and enrichment opportunities for high school students via the Zoom platform. We will be announcing our Fall programming shortly." There is still time to register for The Influence of Design at the SynaVoice SOL website. SynaVoice SOL welcomes donations that enable us to sponsor a diverse group of students nation-wide. Crowd-sourced donations accepted at givebutter.com/SOLsponsor. SynaVoice LLC is a woman-owned consultancy providing strategic communications, training, customer outreach, market research and insights to both federal and corporate clients. SynaVoice SOL is a pop-up, virtual camp for high school students providing exposure to new ideas, concepts, and skills for high school students that inform their college, career, and life choices. Contact Details Julie Rothhouse +1 703-401-2340 Julie@SynaVoiceSOL.com Company Website http://www.synavoicesol.com

July 30, 2020 04:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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James Crean Discusses The Future of U.S. Manufacturing

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On the podcast In House Warrior , James Crean, President & Co-Founder of Crean Inc., discusses how the coronavirus pandemic has shed light on a need for local manufacturing. If Amazon and the pandemic have taught American manufacturers anything, it is that “just-in-time” has major gaps. Cheaper labor in other markets turns out not to be cheaper when you consider the costs of shipping, the need for speed, and the impact that AI can have on efficiency. Are we at a new dawn for American manufacturing? Listen to the full episode here: "U.S. Manufacturing Set to Rise Again with James Crean" OR read the episode transcript below. In House Warrior Podcast with James Crean and Ian Lipner Welcome to the Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior, with host Richard Levick, Chairman of LEVICK, a global crisis and litigation communications firm. Richard Levick: Good day and welcome to In House Warrior , the daily podcast of the Corporate Counsel Business Journal. I'm Richard Levick. With me today is James Crean, who is the president of Crean Incorporated, which consults to companies with hands-on engineering and smart factory technology to provide and help companies make the digital transformation. James, welcome to the show. James Crean: Thanks for having me Richard. I'm looking forward to it. Levick: It's great to see you. Also, with me is Ian Lipner, a senior executive with LEVICK. Ian, always great to see you. Ian Lipner: Thanks for having me, I love talking with you. Levick: Great. We'll be doing the reviews tomorrow morning, so thank you so much for those kind words. James, if you would, give us a little background about Crean and the work that you do in the manufacturing sector. Crean: Crean came out of the aerospace industry. We have over 500 engineers on our team that provide hands on engineering and smart factory transformation services to forward-looking companies who understand that smart factory technology and those methods are essential to the future survival within this competitive market. Levick: What are some examples of the kind of before and after photos, if you will, of the work that you do and the success that you have? Crean: We work with a lot of companies that do discrete manufacturing. In other words, it's not a bottling company that's doing the same things continuously, but rather might be producing a variety of different parts and different items that they deliver to their customer. We've worked with companies where they're delivering advanced electronics and we go through and we first start by understanding their business in detail, which is an essential element and then work with them to identify where there are opportunities for improvement and create efficiencies. The way we do that is, we use a variety of different tools and methods that are somewhat standard in the industry and others are smart factory technologies that bring data to the decision makers in new ways that allow them to be able to see what's going on in their operation. Then are advancing artificial intelligence capabilities with that data to be able to now analyze and provide insights that are often very difficult to derive from the data, otherwise. Levick: James, we had a conversation about a year ago and you said something then that really struck me. You said, "There's a mythology, if you will, that American manufacturing can no longer be profitable in the global environment, but that if you continue to evolve, in fact, the Delta is actually much different. That using artificial intelligence innovating constantly that American manufacturing, in fact, can be far more competitive on a global basis." Crean: Absolutely Richard you're absolutely right. I mean, too many companies assume that in order to produce products cost effectively, they have to go overseas. The reality is that, yes, China labor rates are normally five to six times cheaper in most cases to U.S. labor rates, but U.S. workers are also eight times more efficient than overseas workers and you use that to your advantage. The other obvious thing is that, you've got a much smaller and shorter supply chain. So, when you use those to your advantage, you're able to produce product faster, you're able to produce product at a lower cost. When you couple that with the advancing smart factory technology that is continuing to advance every single day, we're continuously bringing on new capabilities into the offerings that we bring to our clients, that is game changing. It's really hard to underemphasize how important that is for the future of American manufacturing, Richard. I mean, the benefits that, that can bring are so significant and so quick, when you're looking at the right information as your products are being processed through the factory, Levick: James, and I know Ian has got a question for you, but one last one before I turn it over to him, and that is, do you think the general councils and other senior executives even get to the conversation to do the math, to see a manufacturer in the United States as an option? Or for many companies has that horse already left the barn? Crean: Well, I think it depends, to be honest with you. I mean, we definitely have had conversations with people that help companies sell on Amazon for instance. So they enable companies to sell on Amazon. Their experiences is that, those companies typically just assume that they have to do their manufacturing in China in order for that to be cost effective and for them to be able to compete. What we've found is that, that companies that spend the time to really work through that and develop a very... do have to develop an efficient production operation in order to compete effectively. But there's no question about it, the benefits of that are enormous. The future is continuing to evolve every day. What we see is that the future of products, product delivery to customers is customized products. So, if you want to deliver a customized product on Amazon time, you can't produce it and then spend a week, even by air, getting it to be delivered from China, through customs and through all of the different steps that it has to go through. So if you want to deliver a customized product on Amazon time, it has to be produced locally. So you might as well start today in thinking about, how do I produce maybe a product that's not customized currently, but be prepared for the future. Be able to customize that product, produce it today, do it efficiently and effectively, implement smart factory technologies that allow you to do that and compete globally like nobody else can, you just made a current product and then you're positioned to be really agile for the future, as your customer starts demanding more and more customization. Levick: Ian, I know you have a whole lot of questions about horses and barns, so I'll turn it over to you. Lipner: Well, we won't let any leave out early. In that regard, a lot of times what we see when we... I work a lot in technology, we see a trade off between cost and capability, but it seems to me that we have an interesting thing here, where perhaps as you said, in the market, like in China, where they're not as sensitive to the cost of one extra labor, they're not necessarily incentivized to innovate along the lines of the efficiencies that American businesses are. So does America kind of have a lead right now, or at least the opportunity for one, when it comes to using AI for manufacturing? Crean : Absolutely. We have the opportunity. Do we have the lead? I think that's probably up to debate. I would say that Germany is one of the world leaders in smart factory technology, and China is not ignoring that. They definitely are focused on implementation of AI and those kinds of technologies, not necessarily as much in manufacturing. In the U.S., where you are implementing AI in a variety of different ways. Again, not as much in manufacturing as in other areas, we've been just focusing on manufacturing and engineering. So that digital thread that runs from the people doing product development and engineering all the way into production, and then through to the customer and the supplier. A simple way of thinking about this is, if you think about a Domino's, you go online, you order Domino's, you use the Domino's pizza tracker and it shows you, you've placed your order and it shows you each of the process steps as you go through the process of making the pizza, putting it in the oven, cooking the pizza, boxing it, getting it to the delivery person, and then getting it to your home. You as a customer, have visibility into that full process. Well, think about the possibilities when you're tracking your production, tracking the data, the assets that are going through the working process, as it's going through your production, to be able to provide that kind of visibility to your customer, Domino's is out in front in that. Now think about that when you have a much more complex product and being able to provide that kind of visibility to your customer, that's the future. That asset tracking, that we often talk about in our company and the technology that we we bring to our clients, is a critical element. Because as you track it, Domino's is collecting data, they can see how long does it take to make every one of their pizzas, how long does it take to cook it, how long does it take to deliver it. They're collecting data and they're continuously improving their operation, while at the same time, delivering visibility to their customer. It's phenomenal. Lipner: You know you're making me a little hungry. You mentioned pizza delivery, I'm thinking of, "Wow, that's an industry that had to pivot very quickly." It seems to me that efficiency isn't the only benefit here from the smart technology, it's not just price, it's also the ability to kind of change things up pretty quick. Crean: Well, no, that's true. That smart factory capability is, to us, it's really highlighted in this COVID environment, because those companies that have been able to pivot quickly and produce new products and some from scratch. Some saying, "Oh, I have to go find sources of supply and then I have to design the product and then I have to produce the product and then I have to deliver it." We've worked with so many different companies and small companies that said, "Oh, hey, we do 3D printing. We can start printing visors for the frontline workers in healthcare and in other industries." They started 3D printing, because they had that 3D printing, which is one of those smart factory technologies, but because they had that 3D printing technology and they had the engineering capability and whatever else that was necessary. They were able to quickly pivot and start delivering product that they never perused before. That kind of flexibility to pivot, is phenomenal. We've done it in our own company. I mean, one of the key technologies that we implement is, tracking assets, tracking work in process through the operation, just like a pizza going through the build process and delivery process. We track manufactured items, whether it's for airplanes or cars, or what have you, and collect that data. From that data, we help to optimize that operation using digital analytics. Well, similarly, we've taken that technology and said, we can use that advanced tracking technology in COVID tracking within companies and we can be able to tell a company if somebody has come down with COVID, who has been within six feet of that person and how long they've been within six feet of that person, for instance, in order to be able to help them to keep their folks safe. So pivoting is essential and that digitally enabled enterprise helps to deliver on that pivot quickly. Lipner: It occurs to me that, we're going to keep having to pivot with the way everything is going and we don't know what will happen in the next election and so on and so forth. What kinds of opportunities do you see ahead for manufacturers? How does our ability to achieve higher levels of automation, position those who are embracing the American smart factory to compete? Crean: Well, I think that the political environment on both sides of the aisle is very ripe for a renaissance in United States manufacturing, there's no doubt. I was listening to all of the candidates, that the COVID crisis has made it very clear to anybody that's paying any kind attention, even the politicians, if you will, that the COVID crisis has created an opportunity to see the dependence on foreign manufacturing can be a really critical national security issue. That's, when it comes to pharmaceuticals, when it comes to even the... What we would have otherwise considered a relatively low cost by a high production rate item, like the different items for personal protection equipment, and gowns and masks and booties and everything else that the medical folks need. If we have to have local manufacturing, we have to have U.S. manufacturing, and that's become very clear, obviously, from this COVID crisis. Levick: James, I think if anything what COVID has taught us, is that all of your early applause rounds for just-in-time manufacturing is getting a big rethink these days. Crean: Yeah. It's interesting. Like I had said, we utilize industry standard methodologies, as well as smart factory methodologies. One of those standard methods is lean, which part of that is just-in-time manufacturing. But we've never actually been big believers in just-in-time. What you actually want to focus on, is how fast can you deliver something? How fast can you manufacture it? Because delivering faster allows you to be able to meet that demand. Designing a system that's able to scale up and down as necessary with customer demand, that allows you to be responsive and agile. Designing a system that allows you to produce many different products rather than a single product, allows you to be more agile and be able to do it quickly. Our focus is on speed, because if you can deliver fast with those same resources, you're delivering cheaper. In order to deliver fast, you have to have quality built in all the way through that process, because you cannot deliver fast and rework stuff as it gets made. So our focus is speed. Speed is more important than a lot of these sort of commitments to just-in-time and some of those things that have been critical too, in the '80s and '90s. But, just-in-time, has its time and place, but not in everything that you do. Levick: James, in a minute or so, we have left, what's the key take away you want to leave for general councils and other executives listening to the show? Crean: Well, I think it's essential that that companies recognize that COVID has clearly shown some new and different types of risks that need to be managed within the enterprise, within the supply chain, in the way that companies need to be agile, to be able to respond quickly to the types of reactions that can happen within the marketplace. It's taught us a lot of lessons. I think the valuable thing that we can take away from this, despite all of the pain and suffering that we all had to witness is that, our organizations need to focus on being agile and using smart factory technologies. Those types of things can really help us to be the agile companies and the agile economy that we need to be, in order to be strong going forward. It's shown there's a great opportunity for manufacturing in the United States and we're very, very excited to help companies to do that. We're doing that every day and it's really heartwarming to have that opportunity to work with entrepreneurs and larger companies to bring manufacturing jobs home, to the United States. Levick: James, what a great point to end on. Thank you so much James Crean, of Crean Incorporated. Ian Lipner, thank you so much for joining me today. This is Richard Levick with In House Warrior, the daily podcast, the Corporate Counsel Business Journal. Thank you for joining and we'll see you tomorrow. You've been listening to the Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior, with host Richard Levick. Crean Inc. provides services to industries looking to be at the cutting edge of innovation. By combining engineering talent from the aerospace industry with leading Smart Factory specialists, they help their clients develop systems from ideas to full-scale production. Crean understands the challenges of modern-day manufacturing supply chains and the pressure to deliver products quickly. Standards and production processes are constantly changing, and Crean helps manufacturing operations to implement Smart Factory methods and technologies that will outperform all competition and help companies adapt to these changes and remain competitive in the U.S. market. Contact Details Maria Stagliano +1 404-245-0899 mstagliano@levick.com Company Website https://www.creaninc.com/

July 30, 2020 03:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Comodo and Unison Healthcare Group Announce Healthcare Cybersecurity Strategic Partnership

Comodo

Comodo and Unison Healthcare Group (UHG) today announced their strategic partnership. UHG, a top-ranking medical group in Asia with customers in more than 45 countries, chose Comodo to join its global alliance network. “Our vision encompasses a world where everyone has access to an affordable healthcare system with cutting-edge devices and powered by the world’s best technology” Said Willy Chien, CEO Office Strategy Executive, UHG. He continued, “To achieve that, we partner with top tier medical device vendors and the most cutting-edge and innovative technology partners like Comodo. They provide solutions that are powerful, yet economical, and provide actionable intelligence which saves time and effort.” UHG chose Comodo’s Dragon platform with Advanced Endpoint Protection (AEP), which is a complete cloud-native framework that delivers a zero-trust architecture to protect & defend endpoints. Its patent-pending auto containment technology has active breach protection that renders ransomware, malware and cyber-attacks useless. UHG will offer Comodo’s AEP to all hospitals throughout Taiwan. “The biggest reason we chose Comodo is because the auto-containment technology offers the most effective protection over cyber breaches. The 24/7 continuous monitoring and protection service allows our customers to focus on their core business because they have gained freedom from fear of unforeseen, malicious attacks. That type of assurance and support is critical in the healthcare market.” Chien continued. “The future of cybersecurity in the healthcare industry depends on establishing trust and assurance,“ said Alan Knepfer, President and Chief Revenue Officer at Comodo. He continued, “Comodo is a company that has been built upon the very foundation of trust, offering 100% verification on unknown executables because we believe that every single digital interaction must have a built-in layer of security. Our partnership with UHG will help combat constant threats and cyberattacks that are creating havoc on a global scale.” About Unison Healthcare Group Mr. Y. F. Shih, the founder of Unison Healthcare Group (UHG), was aware of the poor medical environment in Taiwan in the 1950’s and conscious about the importance of enhancing Taiwan’s medical level. Therefore, in the 1960’s, he strove against difficulties and obtained the distribution rights from several European pharmaceutical companies – Philips Duphar, Dolder and Dagra. In 1970, Unison became the exclusive distributor in Taiwan for Philips Medical Systems and Siemens Medical. UHG has dedicated more than 65 years in developing the Taiwan medical market. Keeping the faith to fulfill the market and people’s needs, Unison is International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 and 13485 certified for medical devices. Unison is now serving more than 45 countries and has become the top-ranking medical group in Asia. UHG plans to expand into other domains in the healthcare industry and to contribute our professional capabilities to enhance the quality of medical services. We intend to represent more international medical companies and work with more outstanding domestic medical equipment manufacturers. About Comodo Security Solutions, Inc. Comodo delivers next generation cybersecurity solutions to protect businesses, schools, and government organizations in today’s risk filled business environment. Headquartered in Clifton NJ, Comodo’s global development team and threat intelligence laboratories deliver innovative, category leading, solutions for a company’s endpoints, network boundary, and internal network security. Thousands of companies and organizations rely on Comodo’s technology to authenticate, validate, and secure their most precious asset—information—and to combat constant cyberattacks and threats like ransomware from wreaking havoc on a global scale. For more information about Comodo’s partner program, visit https://www.comodo.com/partners/ Contact Details Carolyn Muzyka +1 973-859-4000 carolyn.muzyka@comodo.com Company Website http://www.comodo.com

July 30, 2020 10:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Back-to-School Essentials Include 3 New Must-Haves from Osmo

Osmo

As fall approaches and many schools still debate about reopening their doors, Osmo celebrates children’s love of coding with the release of 3 new must-have, STEAM kits . Osmo is an award-winning, educational STEAM brand used in over 30,000 schools and 2.5 million homes. “According to Osmo's research, two-thirds of parents want their children to learn about coding, but don’t know where to start ,” says Osmo CEO Pramod Sharma . “Our hands-on games make coding accessible, fun, and engaging for kids, and teach them basic concepts of coding ‘block by block’ at an age-appropriate pace.” Coding Starter Kit First, Osmo introduces Coding Starter Kit (retail $99; VIDEO ), which combines bestsellers Coding Awbie, Coding Jam and Coding Duo (no longer sold separately), and makes coding accessible and fun through hands-on learning games specifically designed for kids 5 to 10 . Children learn basic coding concepts including problem solving, computational thinking, and coding fundamentals, in addition to more complex concepts, such as sequencing, looping, logic thinking, and pair programming. Coding Starter Kit features: novel packaging; hardware updates, such as durable, new coding blocks/game pieces which can be used across all 3 games; and the introduction of sequenced learning via 3 game levels--Coding Awbie/beginning, Coding Jam/intermediate, Coding Duo/advanced. Genius Starter Kit + Family Game Night Next, Osmo introduces a revamp to the award-winning Genius Starter Kit, now with Family Game Night, allowing kids 6 to 10 to play on their own, or with family (retail $139.99; VIDEO ). A deeper dive into STEAM learning, the kit includes 5 bestsellers (Words, Numbers, Masterpiece, Tangram, Newton) which together foster a love of engineering, art, math and reading, and 2 brand new games (Lettertopia and Math Buzz). Lettertopia allows families to team up on a Words adventure, where they meet interesting characters and figure out their characteristics to defeat them. They pick a character and use a selection of words to move around on the map. Enemies on the map have a series of characteristics that they must match to get past them. Educational benefits include: collaborative learning; social-emotional skills; number sense and math confidence; spatial sense and visual acuity; reading and vocabulary; creativity and problem solving; hand-eye coordination and self expression. Lettertopia features 40+ levels, 6 playable characters, and 36+ enemies; Osmo recommends 2 players. Math Buzz can be played solo or with a team, where players buzz around a garden to pick up honey, and must outsmart bugs protecting the honey, using problem solving, creativity, and teamwork. Educational benefits include: math concepts (addition, subtraction, multiplication); counting; collaborative learning; creative problem-solving. The game features 20 levels, with many strategies for each level, and Osmo recommends 1 to 4 players. Little Genius Starter Kit + Early Math Adventure Osmo also introduces Little Genius Starter Kit + Early Math Adventure. Designed for kids 3 to 5 to build core learning skills in math and reading, plus foster creativity, this kit features 4 beloved games (ABCs, Stories, Costume Party, Squiggle Magic) and 2 brand new early math games (Counting Town and Shape Builder), which help kids develop their whole brain, stimulate their appetite for learning, and connect learning with fun through hands-on play. This kit (retail $119.99; VIDEO ) comes with 38 Silicon Sticks & Rings and 19 Costume pieces. In Counting Town, players build a town. They must use “sticks and rings” to count the materials used to draw things. The player will encounter several mini-games, some focused on counting, others on drawing and creativity. Osmo recommends 1-2 players. Shape Builder is a building game where the player helps characters to fill a magic house with furniture, items and incredible things. To create these items, the player must reproduce geometric shapes using Osmo’s Sticks & Rings. By building more and more, the player can unlock new game areas and discover new shapes and challenges. Osmo recommends 1-2 players. “It’s an ideal all-in-one prep kit that gets kids kinder-ready, via hands-on learning games that kids will love to play,” says Sharma . Educational benefits include: fine motor skills; pre-reading; storytelling; early math topics like shapes, counting, number recognition; visual thinking, problem-solving, fine motor skills. All 3 kits are available for iPad and Fire at playosmo.com and Amazon.com ; and all 3 come with durable game pieces, and transform kids’ tablets into a hands-on learning tool, where they arrange the game pieces in the physical world to engage with characters on the screen. About Osmo Osmo is building a universe of hands-on play experiences that nourish the minds of children by unleashing the power of imagination. Learn more at playosmo.com . # Contact Details Karen O'Dell +1 310-251-0550 karen@playosmo.com Company Website http://www.playosmo.com

July 30, 2020 07:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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Virtual Wine Tastings Elevate the Cloud Conventions Virtual Event Experience

Convey Services

Tradeshows, conferences and events around the world are coming up with new ideas, like virtual wine tastings, to enhance the experience as the growing list of live shows convert to virtual in 2020 in response to COVID-19. Virtual wine tastings are the perfect ending to a day of educational sessions and sales promotions. It gives event sponsors a strategic way to get in front of an exclusive audience, promote social interaction and highlight the sponsor’s connection to attendees. “Virtual events are most successful when attendees feel like they are a part of a community and enjoy themselves in a social session after they have spent the day learning about new products and services,” said Carolyn Bradfield , founder of Convey . “What could be better than an audience coming together for conversation, expert wine education and a selection of fine wines delivered to the attendee’s home plus a wine tasting can be included as part of the event program.” Virtual wine tastings are underwritten by major sponsors of an event and are often directed at high-value attendees. Wine packages are shipped in advance to those registered for the tasting and can include custom wine glasses featuring the sponsor’s logo. An executive of the sponsor company can act as the master of ceremony to welcome participants and special guests. The party is turned over to a wine expert or sommelier to introduce one or more of the wines. The audience then has the opportunity to discuss the wines with the group, interact with the sommelier or socialize with other attendees. “Wine tastings are just one of the fun and unique virtual social gatherings that can make an event truly interactive and special,” added Bradfield. “In addition to wine tastings, event managers are scheduling virtual cocktail parties that bring large groups together and are hosted by a sponsor who invites special guests from either the industry or well-known personalities. With a little imagination and planning any show manager can transform what might seem like a string of webinars into a memorable live event.” Cloud Conventions is one of the hottest new virtual event SaaS platforms from Convey Services . For more ideas on how to make a virtual event both informative and engaging, visit the Online Resource Center at CloudConventions.com. About Cloud Conventions Cloud Conventions is a Virtual Trade Show and Conference Platform from Convey Services that brings new capabilities to a marketplace looking for solutions to replace the thousands of live trade shows, annual conferences and association meetings cancelled in the wake of COVID-19. Originally launched as ConveyLive, Cloud Conventions automates exhibitors and virtual booths, attendee registration, speaker sessions and reminders, invitations and email communication, while at the same time producing detailed analytics on attendee, session and exhibitor activity. Trade Associations and event managers can explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions by visiting https://cloudconventions.com or contacting info@cloudconventions.com or call 888-975-1382. Cloud Conventions™, Conduct™ and ListLock™ are trademarks of Convey Services LLC Contact Details Bruce Ahern +1 770-580-0810 bahern@conveyservices.com Company Website https://cloudconventions.com

July 30, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Top Industry Talent Joins News Direct Team

News Direct

News Direct, the only news and content distribution platform purpose-built for the demands of modern media outreach, today announced several senior hires as part of the leadership team. These hires include Neil Hershberg as Chief Media Partnership Officer; Brenda Bell, Mark Essa, Jennifer Dunn and Josh Rehrer each as Vice Presidents of Regional Sales; and Jeff Abelson as Director of Multimedia Services. Hershberg and Abelson will report directly to News Direct founder and CEO, Gregg Castano, while Bell, Essa, Dunn and Rehrer will report to Chief Revenue Officer, Charles Lucchesi. “I’m thrilled to welcome Neil, Jeff, Brenda, Mark, Jennifer and Josh to the News Direct team. News Direct is disrupting the newswire industry and transforming the way PR and IR professionals distribute their news. Their combined knowledge and expertise are a tremendous asset to our brand and our customers. I can’t think of a more qualified and forward-thinking group to lead the charge,” said Founder and CEO, Gregg Castano. Each of these key team members are leaders in their discipline and bring an average of 20 years of industry experience. Following is more information on the makeup of the executive team and their responsibilities: Gregg Castano , Founder and CEO : Gregg brings to News Direct more than 32 years of industry experience, including a seven-year stint of serving as president of Business Wire. At News Direct, his primary responsibilities include overseeing planning and strategy, company operations, business development efforts, and account management and growth. Neil Hershberg , Chief Media Partnership Officer : Neil also joins News Direct with over three decades of experience in the newswire industry, as well as a distinguished career as a journalist with UPI and Newsweek prior to that. After serving as Vice President of Media Relations at PR Newswire for nine years, followed by 22 years as Senior Vice President of Global Media at Business Wire, Neil became New Direct’s Chief Media Partnership Officer this past May. Neil oversees News Direct’s global distribution network and develops and maintains senior-level media partnerships. Brenda Bell , VP, Regional Sales: Brenda has more than three decades of industry experience, including 18 years at PR Newswire and 13 years at Business Wire. Based in Colorado, she joins News Direct as VP, Regional Sales where she will bring the News Direct message to professional communicators throughout the Rocky Mountain region, as well as portions of the Midwest. Mark Essa , VP, Regional Sales: Mark joins News Direct with more than 28 years of newswire industry experience. Previously, Mark held various senior roles at Business Wire, including Vice President of Competitive Business Analysis and Vice President of Sales, Tracking & Analysis. As VP, Regional Sales, Mark drives dynamic sales directives and relationship building throughout Southern California. Jennifer Dunn , VP, Regional Sales: After spending time earlier in her career in marketing and PR, Jennifer entered the newswire industry when she joined Business Wire in 2008. After a highly successful 12 years covering the D.C. region as well as the Carolinas, she became News Direct's VP, Regional Sales, where she will continue to serve the D.C. metro area, while also managing the company's future expansion into the southeast. Josh Rehrer , VP, Regional Sales: Josh brings to News Direct 18 years of industry sales experience with Business Wire. While with Business Wire, he served in various roles including Regional Vice President, Director and District Manager, focusing on the Mid-Atlantic region. Josh’s role is to drive adoption of News Direct’s game-changing platform throughout the Delaware Valley region. Jeff Abelson , Director of Multimedia Services : Jeff brings to News Direct nearly 24 years of experience as Multimedia Specialist at Business Wire. As News Direct’s Director of Multimedia Services, Jeff brings substantial newswire expertise in a client-facing advisor role, while specializing in multimedia support. News Direct is the only platform of its kind with the capability to release standalone multimedia content, making this an ideal role for Jeff’s talents and knowledge. “Gregg is a bold and progressive business leader. His vision for the future of the newswire industry is reflected in News Direct’s purpose-built platform and predicated on more than three decades of industry leadership experience. I’m thrilled to join the News Direct team and deliver impact, value and results for our clients,” said Neil Hershberg. For more information, visit newsdirect.com . About News Direct News Direct is redefining the content and news distribution industry – and we’re doing it from the ground up. That’s because the News Direct platform was designed and built from the ground up, to reinvent content delivery, re-engineer workflow, revitalize metrics and ROI, and bring security and pricing into the 21st century. News Direct is purpose-built. Client-focused. Dedicated to modern media outreach, and to the PR and IR professionals who need a platform to make them the best they can be. To learn more visit newsdirect.com or follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook . Contact Details Ally O'Hara +1 212-404-6609 aohara@hotpaperlantern.com Company Website https://www.newsdirect.com/

July 30, 2020 01:00 PM Coordinated Universal Time

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Minuteman Press Franchise Helps Local UK Businesses Bounce Back from COVID-19 in Bath and NE Somerset, England

Minuteman Press International

It has been a long road to reopening for businesses across the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team at Minuteman Press in Bath, England , has been working hard to support their community and clients in the Bath / NE Somerset area and help other local businesses get back on track. At first, the printing and marketing franchise launched a free community website Bounce Back Bath and NE Somerset for local businesses to promote special offers, updated hours, and supportive messages to the community. “Today, the Bounce Back programme has become a growing community movement with over 200 participating businesses and partnerships with local organisations. We all have one common goal, which is to help the entire community come together and bounce back,” says David Ghent, Managing Director, Minuteman Press Bath. Since printing is an essential business , the team at Minuteman Press in Bath, England, was able to remain in operation while following all COVID-19 guidelines. Bounce Back Bath / NE Somerset is part of Bounce Back UK , which was started by Minuteman Press International to help all UK businesses at this critical time. David says, “We launched Bounce Back Bath and the first thing we did was call our clients and let them know we are offering a free service to support them. I also approached contacts through LinkedIn and social media, especially when we saw that they were opening. We received great feedback and what we do is every time a new business signs up, we create a graphic and post it on social media and we also send them official welcome packs.” Those welcome packs include an introductory letter, the Minuteman Press product catalog, a Bounce Back Bath window cling, and a COVID-19 awareness and prevention poster. Dave says, “The response has been great. Our clients and prospects have really appreciated that we are here to help them back into business. They also really liked the fact that we were doing this for free and no obligation to buy anything from us.” As the Bounce Back movement has grown, Minuteman Press has received attention from local organisations looking to partner with them and pitch in. “The Bath and North East Somerset Council has co-branded some of our materials with us and the Bath Business Improvement District (Bath BID), were really keen to get on board. We are now partnering with Bath BID on a special Bounce Back Art Competition to help people rediscover Bath and the amazing community we have here.” According to the Bounce Back Art Competition website, Minuteman Press will reproduce the selected artwork and designs and create “a parade of two-metre-high giant ‘bunting’ flags.” The website states that “up to 48 designs created by the community will be reproduced as a rainbow of art hanging from lamppost pennants in the streets of the city.” “It is incredible to see so many people, businesses, and groups working together in Bath and NE Somerset to help people rediscover their community and support each other,” says Mark Jones, Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President for the UK South Region. “That is exactly what Bounce Back Bath / NE Somerset and Bounce Back UK as a whole is designed to do, and I commend Dave and the team at Minuteman Press Bath for taking the free programme and bringing it to such great heights.” David concludes, “We are all in this together and it has been very gratifying to see so many people wanting to work with us to spread the word and lift each other up during this unprecedented time.” For more information on Minuteman Press Bath, visit http://www.minutemanbath.co.uk . To submit a free local listing at Bounce Back Bath / NE Somerset, visit https://bouncebackuk.minuteman.com/locations/england/bath/ Introducing Bounce Back UK, free local business listings & COVID-19 awareness posters to support local business. Get started for free at https://BounceBack-UK.com . Learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and read Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.co.uk . About Minuteman Press International Minuteman Press International is the number one rated business marketing and printing franchise that offers world class training and unparalleled ongoing local support. At Minuteman Press, We Are The Modern Printing Industry™ providing high quality products and services that meet the needs of today's business professionals and go way beyond ink on paper. Today, our centres offer innovative branding and printing solutions and produce custom graphic designs, promotional products, branded apparel, direct mail campaigns, large format printing including posters, signs and banners, and much more. Prior experience is not necessary to own and operate a successful Minuteman Press franchise. Learn more about Minuteman Press franchise opportunities and read Minuteman Press franchise reviews at https://minutemanpressfranchise.co.uk Contact Details Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

July 30, 2020 05:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Building Momentum for Healthcare Price Transparency Among American Consumers

YourUpdateTV

As Congress begins formulating the next COVID-19 stimulus relief, among measures to improve Americans' health and economic well-being, it is critically important to include systemwide health care price transparency. Transparency is needed now more than ever with the global coronavirus pandemic inflicting abrupt hardships on many Americans. Recently, Cynthia A Fisher, Founder of PatrientRightsAdvocate.org partnered with YourUpdateTV to discuss the importance of healthcare price transparency. A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/WoNbXrSUEDs System-wide healthcare price transparency can become law by passing the Healthcare Price Transparency Act, requiring hospitals and insurers to reveal their hidden prices, as part of the next COVID-19 stimulus package. This non-partisan issue will do more to stimulate the economy than the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, and it can be done at no cost to the taxpayer. Transparency means more than better healthcare. It will provide economic prosperity for individuals, families, businesses and the economy. American individuals and businesses need a functional, competitive marketplace in healthcare like in grocery, travel and retail. For more information, please visit PatientRightsAdvocate.org About Cynthia A. Fisher: Cynthia A. Fisher is a life sciences entrepreneur, independent investor, and corporate board director. She founded WaterRev, LLC to invest in novel technologies that enable sustainable practices in water use. She serves on the public company boards of The Boston Beer Company (SAM) and Easterly Government Properties, Inc. (DEA). Cynthia is best known for her pioneering work as Founder and CEO of ViaCord, Inc., a leading umbilical cord blood stem cell banking service which she started in 1993. In 2000, she co-founded and was President of the cellular medicines company, ViaCell, Inc. (Previously to founding ViaCord, Cynthia ran the Blood Bank Division of Haemonetics Corporation, a medical equipment manufacturer. She began her career in sales at IBM focusing on healthcare IT, insurance, and defense industries. Cynthia holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Science and BS in Biophysics from Ursinus College. About YourUpdateTV: YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content, produced by award-winning video communications firm. Contact Details YourUpdateTV +1 212-736-2727 yourupdatetv@gmail.com

July 29, 2020 04:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Cloud Conventions Integrates Email Campaign Technology Into Virtual Event Platform

Convey Services

Cloud Conventions today announced the integration of Convey’s proprietary Conduct™ Campaign email marketing solution that delivers drip email campaigns created within the virtual event portal to attract exhibitors or attendees to sponsor or register. Conduct can schedule four outbound emails, create a branded sign-up page or connect to a registration application. Targeted lists are uploaded into the event portal and managed in a prospect database secured by the system’s proprietary ListLock™ technology. Cloud Conventions is one of the hottest new virtual event SaaS platforms from Convey Services . “Conduct is designed for organizations that don’t have the time, expertise or desire to create email campaigns to promote their event as well as attract exhibitors and sponsors,” said Carolyn Bradfield , founder of Convey. “Conduct sends multiple emails to engage an audience, creating calls to action to get potential attendees excited about the virtual event and motivate them to register. Event managers can also use Conduct to broaden their reach to the sponsors who fund the event.” Cloud Conventions’ sophisticated email engine notifies, reminds and engages attendees and exhibitors with messages scheduled automatically. Newsletters and custom message templates are added to portals to alert exhibitors on booth set-up, provide tips to maximize their ROI or to direct attendee activity. Email reports detail delivery, unique opens and click throughs along with opt outs. Conduct and Cloud Conventions are CCPA and GDPR complaint. “Conduct can also be used within the Cloud Conventions platform as a premium service to exhibitors or sponsors to run their own campaigns to attract traffic to their virtual booth,” added Bradfield. “Campaigns are created by the event host and delivered to the dashboards of exhibitors and sponsors so they can send high-quality email campaigns with a marketing message that is consistent and effective. Email marketing is still, by far, the best prospecting tool, delivering better results than all of social media combined.” To learn more about the options available for a virtual conference, tradeshow or event, visit the Online Resource Center at www.CloudConventions.com . About Cloud Conventions Cloud Conventions is a Virtual Trade Show and Conference Platform from Convey Services that brings new capabilities to a marketplace looking for solutions to replace the thousands of live trade shows, annual conferences and association meetings cancelled in the wake of COVID-19. Originally launched as ConveyLive, Cloud Conventions automates exhibitors and virtual booths, attendee registration, speaker sessions and reminders, invitations and email communication, while at the same time producing detailed analytics on attendee, session and exhibitor activity. Trade Associations and event managers can explore all of the Cloud Conventions solutions by visiting https://cloudconventions.com or contacting info@cloudconventions.com or call 888-975-1382. Cloud Conventions™, Conduct™ and ListLock™ are trademarks of Convey Services LLC Contact Details Bruce Ahern +1 770-580-0810 bahern@conveyservices.com Company Website https://cloudconventions.com

July 29, 2020 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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