Events Beyond Borders: Cultural Sensitivity in Action

Overview

Working internationally taught us something important: you can't impose your way of doing things across borders. You have to listen, learn, partner locally, and genuinely understand the context you're working in.

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Featured Project

Seartify Platform Launch Event at Politeknik Pelayaran Banten, Indonesia (Mascon Technologies, 2025)

• What We Did:

  We worked alongside Mascon Technologies to support the launch event for Seartify, a digital career platform designed to connect Indonesian seafarers, cadets, and maritime institutions with global opportunities. Hosted at Poltekpel Banten, our focus was on ensuring that Seartify's objectives and value proposition came through clearly to all stakeholder groups—cadets, institutions, employers, unions, and government bodies.

  We managed program flow, coordinated technical logistics like videos and platform demonstrations for both in-auditorium and livestream audiences, and ensured every transition was seamless. Behind the scenes, we worked to balance the needs of Mascon Technologies, the institutional host, and the diverse audience—so that the platform's potential could be experienced firsthand by everyone in the room.

  Event Theme: "Seafaring in the Digital Age: Connecting Ambitions, Skills, and Opportunity"

• Our Role Extended Across:

  • Strategic Positioning & Messaging — Before the launch event, we worked with Mascon Technologies to advise on the angle and theme that would resonate in the Indonesian maritime context. We helped articulate not just what Seartify is, but why it mattered in that specific moment and cultural landscape. This foundational strategy shaped every decision that followed—from visual direction to speaker messaging.

  • Event Execution & Coordination — We managed the on-ground logistics to ensure the programme flowed seamlessly. This meant liaising with the livestream crew to coordinate audiovisuals and on-stage elements, working with caterers to ensure snacks were provided throughout the event and a post-event lunch reception was ready for VIPs. Our focus was keeping everything in sync with the programme flow so the launch ran without friction.

  • Post-Event Narrative Development — After the event, we created launch videos and developed comprehensive social media strategies across multiple platforms. More importantly, we helped Mascon articulate what the event meant—crafting the narrative that positioned this launch as a significant milestone in their platform's journey, not just a one-time activation. This ensured the momentum continued beyond the event itself.

• What We Learned:

  • Cultural Sensitivity Shapes Strategy, Not Just Logistics — We learned that international work isn't about logistical accommodation to local context; it's about genuine respect influencing your core strategy. Understanding cultural nuances shouldn't be an afterthought or a checklist item—it needs to inform the foundational decisions about what an event actually is and what it communicates. When you skip this step, you risk creating something that technically works but misses what actually matters to the people you're serving.

  • Clarity About Who You're Serving Changes Everything — Multiple stakeholders often have different interests in the same event. We discovered that explicitly understanding who your primary client is—and respectfully holding that clarity while honouring secondary relationships—fundamentally shapes decision-making. It's not about choosing sides; it's about knowing whose vision you're primarily enabling, so every choice doesn't become a negotiation. That clarity allows you to move decisively rather than getting caught between competing interests.

  • The Pre-Event and Post-Event Work Is As Important As the Event Itself — We realised that the most impactful events aren't one-off moments. Strategic thinking before the event (advising on angle and positioning) and deliberate follow-through after (crafting the narrative, positioning it in their story) turn an event into a meaningful milestone in a larger journey. Without that bookending, even a well-executed event becomes just something that happened, rather than something that mattered.