Reimagining the Event Industry
Even before Covid-19 put in an appearance, thought leaders advocated the need to rethink old paradigms, calling to move beyond a business-as-usual approach and instead reimagine challenges as new possibilities. But now, with entire economies in lockdown, even the disrupters have become disrupted. In the event industry specifically, which was already moving into the digital sphere, the last year accelerated a move into virtual spaces from years to mere months.
Before the pandemic was declared such, I published my ideas about disrupting the event industry. Today, I’d like to expand that list and add a five-point road map of what it takes to embrace the digital and virtual world opportunities.
1. Get the timing right.
Short attention spans and online burnout are a thing, so when planning digital events, try to find ways to anticipate those who may be virtually exhausted. To make a multi-day event more impactful, consider splitting it into shorter blocks that extend across several weeks. This way, attendees will show up and participate rather than just passively watch the recording.
2. Make attendees feel involved.
Digital platforms democratize participation by giving each attendee a voice. You can imagine how awkward it would be to have an attendee jump up and start speaking during a keynote in the real world, but in the virtual world, attendees can contribute using chat, Q&As and breakout sessions.
Working remotely has its perks, but many are getting burned out or, worse, lonely. Creating opportunities for attendees to connect, even get together virtually for “drinks and chat,” can turn another humdrum online event into a fun and valuable experience.
To mimic serendipitous connections in an exhibition hall between attendees, create a digital exhibition hall where people can post their portfolios and interact with each other. You can also set up speed networking sessions using breakout rooms. Participants are given a limited timeframe to meet and get to know each other before being rotated to another room. Often leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools to match people with each other is a great way to achieve profound results.
3. Choose specialized professional services.
Although there are many free event services out there, specialized professional services bring you a team of experts who draw from a wealth of experiences to increase your ability to deliver a first-class event. Naturally, you need to budget for such services, but then the benefits of technical support for presenters and attendees, pre-produced video segments and post-event video editing more than offset the cost. Down the road, as the world opens up again, specialist services will be looking to provide more comprehensive abilities for blended (hybrid) events.
For example, the platform Imagen offers the ability to organize video and rich media content, distribute and monetize content, control branded content assets and streamline collaborative projects with easy-to-use review and approval tools. Another digital platform is Hopin, which enables participants to learn from and network with each other. Hopin specializes in conferences, expos, tradeshows, training, social gatherings and more, yet they feature moderated sessions to prevent people from dropping out by being lost in a crowd. They are ultimately enabling people to create unique spaces where they can meet according to their preferences.
4. Embrace your holographic self.
Ever considered beaming yourself in? Microsoft Mesh is a new type of 3D-capture technology designed so presenters can beam avatars of themselves in from afar, allowing attendees to see, hear and even interact with that presenter. Company CEOs and other thought leaders can turn to holoportation to present themselves at conferences worldwide at a fraction of the cost. As a busy entrepreneur myself, I would love to take advantage of this technology. It will allow me to easily streamline global keynote performances in a more effortless and much more efficient way.
5. Be data-driven.
Just as the event industry is being transformed, so are the people who lead it, and in a digital age, you need to track your event and monitor the data that you gain from it. Everyone on your team must be familiar with digital tools and the data they collect.
Before the event, be strategic in your promotions. To simplify your communications, use an all-inclusive CRM (customer relation management) tool. To get the word out, integrate your promotions across social media and your website, and be sure to include a call to action for your prospects to register easily. Many events require way too much information as part of registration, which is often time-consuming and can lead to dropping off even during this early phase. For your email marketing campaigns, include a promotional video and a registration link to invite your attendees to your event. You want to make the entire experience as seamless and straightforward as possible.
After the event, send out feedback forms to collect data about the overall experience. There’s a lot of talk about taking risks and developing memorable ways to make your brand unique. Still, one of the best ways to be unique is to be conscientious about your attendees’ experiences at your event — from beginning to the very end, which also includes the week after the event is over.
As the world reopens post-Covid-19, live events are sure to surge back to life, but the headway made with digital events will continue to have a lasting effect. This is in part thanks to technological advances but also to how we’ve changed during our year-plus-long slumber. We’ve been changed socially and emotionally, and the digital sphere, to remain relevant, has had to change as well to our sudden and expanding needs for an authentic experience in a virtual world. The new reality that will continue to unfold is sure to be more immersive, more interactive and more alive with opportunities.
This article was originally published @Forbes.