Generation N: Decoding Communications by DeeM

Deem Communications, a leading strategic communications agency based in Yerevan, Armenia, hosted a signature conference called Generation N: Decoding Communications last week at Ararat Brandy Company Museum, to bring the Armenian tech community a vision of communications in a post-pandemic, post-crisis environment. 

Twelve experts and eighty C-level decision-makers from tech, banking, not-for-profit, and international organizations participated in the conference where topics of talent, culture, “Great resignation”, communicating during the time of crisis and new tools of communications such as NFTs, gaming, Blockchain and Web3 were discussed.  

The objective of Generation N: Decoding Communications was to serve as a bridge for the companies to refine their communication strategies and create a space to exchange views using the global post-pandemic communications narrative of Generation Novel, a “digitally savvy” cross-generational cohort of employees and consumers characterized by digital behaviours. 

Followed by the keynote speaker’s presentation, the panellists addressed questions and shared experiences as how they addressed issues caused by the “remonetization of work” and isolation of human feelings. 

Talking about the new realities of work, Madlene Minassian, The Head of Learning and Development at Picsart says: “We have thought about this question from the first day of COVID-19 pandemic. We have realized that Picsart is a remote-friendly, but not remote-first organization, therefore we have developed hubs around the world that our people can be in and an actual centre, a physical home, when they want it. Secondly, we made sure that our learning offerings are live. We shifted from completely online modules to live sessions making sure that the modules are interactive, engaging, that people contribute and it’s a co-learning space.” 

Suresh Raj, Global Chief Growth Officer, Virtue says: “It is difficult for the creative industry since the creative happens when people are jamming in the rooms, often called war-rooms, with a storyboards etc. This was taken away. The hybridity of work was embraced.  We also came to the understanding that people have diverse personal lives and different commitments. We don’t always use Zoom calls for work. We also use the computer to socialize or hang around a game. We have almost democratized the virtual engagement as a moment to connect with people, giving it a different purpose.” 

Meaghan Smulders, VP People & Operations, Conduit, mentions: “The pandemic made companies adjust and now they are trying to adapt. We decided that Conduit is a remote-first, globally distributed company. How do we make sure that people we hire from all over the world feel connected and informed in the work they do? We shifted the way that leadership operates, we talk with team members before each call as humans; what’s going on in their life and work. Making them feel more a human, not a bubble-head in a Zoom call. So, 50% of managers’ time should be going into nurturing their relationships.”  

Referring to communications during a crisis, Arin Keshishian, the moderator of the second panel and a communications consultant, highlighted: “We are, arguably, living a time of a constant, ongoing crisis, defining the ‘new normal’. The context of Armenia for the last two years, alone demonstrates we had to deal with crisis after crisis, some related directly to Armenia some global in the context of regional armed conflicts.”

How do the companies communicate when we are more globally connected and dealing with users and consumers, with domestic and global markets, which are more diverse than ever, in particular shows startups or businesses with the global public?

Anastasia Elaeva, Global Development Director, musicAeterna Orchestra and Choir, claimed that art is a facilitator of something that is more important than merely a product or service. The surveys reveal that the new generation is expecting to know the values and standpoints of the brands they work for or consume. During the pandemic, institutions and brands who had cultural engagement actually had things to communicate to their communities, like organizing virtual tours to the studios or halls, creating digital residences. “So being culturally engaged helped them to engage allies and friends, partnerships at a time of trouble,” she added. 

According to Dr. Armen R Kherlopian, Chief Science and Innovative Officer of Covenant Venture Capital, storytelling for the sake of resilience is a means to communicate in the times of crisis. “For example, do you know that there are two Armenian healthcare robotics companies that have made it to “TIME” magazine. Or, that there is expertise on computer vision with satellite imagery here? So, the first point is to understand the urgency, the second point is what are the stories to tell. This is the level of storytelling required for relevance, resilience,” he added.

Artyom Harutyunyan, Web3 Evangelist, Blockstars highlights: “The third generation of web is coming, and it’s called Web3.0 and everything like blockchain, NFTs are at the core of that. The shift from the Web happened when everyone on the internet was using content and reading only, with the rise of YouTube and Facebook Web2 arrived, when people started to create and share content. “Now we are moving towards Web3, which will democratize the net, because the big tech companies now own your data and identity. Web3 is going to change it.”

Stephany Sanossian, an NFT and visual artist says: “We definitely know that NFTs are now the new means to help brand communicate their stories via artwork, in new platforms un-imagined before. We still don’t know, and can only imagine to what extent the NFT will impact the way we use them for communications, anyhow there is a new reality of how we create, distribute, consume, and communicate not only art, but other things as well.”

“One important thing about the event today was that it brought all the dots together via the topics we discussed here. In this changing world communications is happening in multiple new channels that we need to leverage,” says Viktoria Khechumyan, CEO of Nooor Gaming, and a block-chain education enthusiast.