How Events Have Changed Post-Pandemic

Event Company: The audience is increasingly consuming content and services online, yet cannot dismiss the physical presence of a certain experience that’s dear to the heart. To engage the large community of both online users and physical attendees, event organizers have to throw their hat into the ring of hybrid events.

The pandemic stirred traditional means of conducting businesses, a testimony of which has been the events industry that predominantly relies heavily on human presence. Given the pandemic’s negative impact on human life and means of livelihood starting 2020 which has kept reeling to date, the subsequent lockdown lifestyle during that period and the fear induced by the contagion have dented human behavior regarding events. With everything coming to standstill, the cash crunch pushed the event space into darkness, like several other industries.

Given the uncertainty that the crisis brought in, the financial markets remained rocked. With the waves of cases rising and plummeting in an irregular pattern, the restrictions too remained uncertain giving an unclear picture of whether businesses must be reopened for traditional operations or not. Against the backdrop of this scenario, event cancellations and postponements increased by the day which led event organizers to spend more time than ever before dutifully reviewing their event contracts. They struggled to witness a bail-out plan.

It is said that only those who keep fidgeting with one idea or the other, find success. Several event organizers witnessed that everybody across the globe was using virtual means to connect across geographies and thought that why not tap the audience thereby driving events virtually? That was the Eureka moment for many players in the space to take their setup online.

1. Virtual Events

Several events were aired virtually, and with the advent of Web3 and Metaverse, the immersive experience became more feasible through online events. With the bandwidth to do so, some event companies set up virtual auditoriums wherein a music artist could present their show in the form of an avatar. The visiting guests also were being a part of it in first-person view while witnessing the virtual auditorium as an avatar of self. With VR headsets on, one could dive deeper into the events and remain engrossed there. The concept was adopted by other industries too.

2. In-Person Events

Though the new-age technology is here to stay, in-person events cannot be ruled out completely given the essence that such events hold across hearts. A classic example of it is the globally hosted car shows which saw lean footfall during the first two years of this decade on the back of the pandemic-induced restrictions. Though virtual recordings of each booth and the new product launches were showcased through various allied channels of the expos, the hype behind the newly showcased cars/ bikes was not as lively as much is in person. Cars, bikes, etc., are the ultimate style statement for the masses. They want to see, touch and experience their future investment in its skin before it hits the showrooms.

Hence, it will be wise to say that differing by user case, the global events industry is seeing a sea change in being at equilibrium in both physical presence and the virtual approach. When we talk about an all-virtual setup, it has its barriers to be not perceived ideally by all. The digital environment still needs some fine-tuning as it remains a nascent concept. Conditioning all the stakeholders to follow SOPs in the virtual space needs to get concrete. Moreover, to make a SOPs document, there needs to be frequently held virtual events by event organizers from which the shortcomings can be learned and be accorded with viable solutions. Also, the internet to date remains subject to faltering, hence affecting the flow of the virtual event.

As we slowly put the pandemic and its effects behind us, physical events are increasingly starting to see the light of day. The organizers now want to reach out to the global audience and prospective international exhibiting brands in a bid to maximize business outreach and create a win-win situation for all stakeholders. While not everybody can be reached out to for their physical presence at the event company, it all boils down to hybrid events becoming the go-to business model for sustainable growth moving forward.

3. Hybrid Events

Hybrid events are a solution to the futuristic need of the participating brands and event attendees as they strive to find ways to engage both, online users and in-person attendees together in the same event through a diverse yet unifying immersive experience.

Hybrid events increase the reach – given the option extended to the participants to be a part of an event either in person or virtually, the quality of the event can be maintained throughout. Say you are hosting a panel discussion on how countries are seeing ways to attract inbound travel post the pandemic; then this may involve panelists representing various countries. It can be logistically costly to bring them all together at the physical event. In such case, the panelists can participate from the ease of their home country, whose live video can be showcased through a projector in the AV room of the venue of the event.

More engaging – As people are constantly on the look for more than panel discussion and knowledge sessions at events, they want to visit the virtual exhibition space of an event too. Such spaces are designed to catch the eye of the visitors, make their journey through the event all the more engaging, and keep them connected with the event for a longer duration.

Reusable content for long – Just rethink how much of a challenge had it been to bring together the top brass speakers at one of your physical event company of which there are few records to engage the mass audience. Had it been that there was a detailed recording of the same, you could make packages of useful information to be disseminated across social media platforms only to engage the virtual audience who are interested in the topic but couldn’t attend it in person.

Given the fact that the audience is increasingly marking their presence online to consume content but cannot disregard visiting flagship events of their choice in person, choosing the hybrid route to host events will be viable for the event organizers in the long run.

H/T: Timesofindia

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