By Vuk Bjelic November 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic, through its negative effects on the economy, society and human health, poses a challenge to the “old” capitalist order.
Consumer habits are changing and therefore companies must find a way to attract new customers and keep the old ones. Individuals, unaware of what the future holds, change the way and quantity of goods they purchase. A study referenced in the popular magazine Psychology Today concluded that it takes an average of 66 days for a behavior to become automatic. Some habits adopted during lockdown are likely to last. For example, early research shows that over 55 percent of Chinese customers are likely to visit more online grocery stores on a permanent basis. Even before COVID-19 hit, 92 percent of companies thought their business models would need to change given digitization. Unexpectedly, the world went through two years of digital transformation in two months.
Digitalization is very important for business notably for B2B, which has shown resistance to the crisis, or even growth. Business solutions should however not focus only on the short term, since predictions for economic growth in 2021 are quite modest. The growth depends on several factors, especially how long the pandemic will last and when the vaccine will be discovered. Therefore, it is necessary to make at least a three years plan, assuming that the forecast will come true or that the existing situation will worsen. Management and marketing should as well follow this logic and there is already a means largely used over the last months called a hybrid event.
A hybrid event is an event that combines a "live" event with a "virtual" online portion. It can be in the form of the trade show, conference, unconference, seminar, workshop or other meeting. The popularity and profitability of virtual events are the main reason why they have become popular. Hybrid events are an inexpensive way to proliferate participation in traditional events forms. They allow those who are not able to physically participate in the event due to travel, time zone or nowadays sanitary restrictions to gather online. For many, the desire to minimize the carbon footprint of the event is not a negligible factor when choosing this form. It gives however the possibility to have both live and online audiences.
The virtual aspect usually includes an online depiction of the live case. Online participants for example may have access to:
- Live audio or video streaming of keynote speakers or seminars alongside their presentation material
- Online presentations
- Hybrid case webcast with synchronized slides alongside live video presentation and archived webcast
- Live comment or transcript of proceedings
- Facilities for online chatting or discussion forums
- Live blogs
- Event photographs
- Simultaneous integration of other social media tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
There is a high probability that an important percentage of future events such as conventions, forums, seminars, product launches, exhibitions, international summits and conferences, forums, press events, cultural and sports events, shows and ceremonies, inaugurations, brand activations, experiential will be hybrid. In current pandemic circumstances, the obvious motivation to do so is to permit online attendance to those who are not able to attend due to sickness or government health and safety measures. But at the same time, this is an excellent opportunity to reach a wider audience, including the public in faraway countries. There is a pressing need to adapt to the new normal since we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them as Albert Einstein said.
The expression hybrid events may sound a little bit esoteric but the most important thing is that we need to understand that its existence predates the third industrial or the digital revolution. People are simply not aware how long hybrid events influenced our lives. For instance, sport and cultural events have been followed over seventy years via television or radio, and after digital revolution through YouTube, or some other internet platform. Those events have their live and “online” audience. In the 21st century every summer Olympics has had an audience of over 3,5 billion. The Athens Olympic games 2004 had worldwide audience figures approaching 3.5 billion individual viewers, meaning approximately 60 percent of the world's population watched an Olympic broadcast at least once. Academy Awards 2019 and 2020 had 29,6 and 23,6 million viewers.
There are a lot of books which started as a conversation, interview or lecture. I will mention only a few of them. The oldest example I could remember is “Conversation with Goethe” by Eckermann. This book is a big interview on over 500 pages with the greatest German writer of all times. The book “Écrits: A Selection” by Jacques Lacan was created compiling Lacan’s lectures which he held in a time span of over twenty years. In “Borges, oral” were printed lectures of Jorge Luis Borges at the University of Belgrano in Argentina 1979.
When creating projections for business shifts related to pandemic conditions, businesses may rely on the proposal exposed below.
Businesses should reinforce the use of hybrid events to the maximum extent and persevere in it even after the Covid-19 pandemic, though no precise projections of its ending can be currently provided. This will allow the Company to reach the most remote countries. In that way brands will certainly gather participants who would normally be prevented either because of work, lack of money or some other reason including current sanitary measures. However, it should be mentioned that adding the virtual element may on the short-term increase price and management staff. On the other hand, the cost per attendee will actually be reduced.
When attending the hybrid event, there is more possibility for cooperation and community-building than in live events for those that are remote from one another. Using virtual platforms can be a great way to gather information and boost the sense of community before, during, and after the event even though the quality of communication in person is in fact not there. Using a virtual event platform in Pre-Event can get you good feedback from past participants about topics and focus for future events. A virtual event platform can be used as an information center about changes in your event plan, for uploading materials or sharing notes from other participants.
During events companies can use the platform for networking (for example Q&A, live chats, video meetings, gaming, one to one and other activities connected to the event). The forum thus becomes a medium after the event for both promoters and participants to remain in contact and establish business relationships that continue beyond the event.
The event content life cycle is easy to extend with creating an information library for participants to access slides, transcripts, and other event related content. After the ending of a live event the connect can be kept available as long as there is an interest in it. At the same time, the biggest disadvantages of the hybrid events are lack of interactive activity and the lack of excitement. These two things are causally related to the lack of what is called in sociology “a third place” or more precisely the physical place offering an enriching content that goes beyond the event itself, such as cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons, church.
Meeting someone face to face usually means that words actually have 10% of input. The rest of communication is based on eye contact, body language, pheromones and physical contact. Also, new ingenious ideas can be born from the twosome encounter. It is improbable that, in the foreseeable future, the live meeting will be abandoned forever. The author would paraphrase a French manager who told him that a career is not made with hard and dedicated work, but by chatting in front of a coffee machine.
We do not know what the future will bring to us, but we are sure that hybrid events will be one part of it. Is that a good or bad thing? It depends on the point of view. Definitely better than living in a completely virtual world.