With live conferences’ comeback, event organizers need to make complex decisions about how to incorporate digital product extensions into their business model. Based on our research, we estimate that there’s an even split between conference owners who are including synchronous or asynchronous hybrid options and those who aren’t. The half who is pursuing hybrid knows that they can’t just go back to what worked in 2019 despite the return of in-person events. They crave a predictable steady state … [Read more...]
How Much Has Covid Affected the World of Virtual Conferences?
Leading learning firm Tagoras has launched another round of its virtual conferences survey, the results of which will be compared to its last round, conducted near the beginning of the pandemic. The use of online events, by all types of organizations, has grown by leaps and bounds. This current survey’s results “will give us a good sense of just how much impact COVID had,” says Jeff Cobb, managing director of Tagoras. The purpose of this survey is to better understand how organizations are … [Read more...]
5 Post-Pandemic Conference Program Design Changes
“Never let a good crisis go to waste” has become a popular adage in the business world over the past year, for good reason. As it becomes more apparent that face-to-face events will return in some form this year, conference organizers have an opportunity to make changes that would have been more difficult to sell up the ladder in the past. It’s a good time for planners to challenge their organizations to make the meeting experience more valuable than ever. As we work with conference … [Read more...]
My Turbulent Love Affair With Digital-Event Networking
I have been a loyal and passionate disciple of networking for all of my adult life. I have spent decades learning, speaking and writing about it. Yet when our world was turned upside down last March, and all meaningful connection with everyone was forced into a digital world, I suddenly felt like I lost my footing and became very unstable. I learned a lot over the first nine months of the pandemic as I collaborated with clients to design and deliver high-value networking experiences in the … [Read more...]
The High Cost of Hybrid
Our clients and leading industry associations (for example, PCMA’s latest glimpse or our industry’s future, the business recovery dashboard) are turning their attention to future hybrid and face-to-face (f2f) events. While everyone keeps saying that hybrid is here to stay, most association event pros have limited bandwidth and budget to plan and execute robust in-person and digital events simultaneously. In part one of this post, I covered some of the significant risks our clients are facing … [Read more...]
Beyond Hybrid: Repackaging Your Conference Content
Over the past nine months, many industry experts have proclaimed that meetings and conferences are forever changed and hybrid is here to stay. While I agree in principle, I think the future is so much more than hybrid. Meetings of the future will be improved and monetized by embracing the tenets of strategic product management. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we should optimize the benefits of the best, most-advanced and relevant content from your annual conference by … [Read more...]
2021 Virtual-Conference Big Ideas
In 2020, attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors were more forgiving of our virtual conferences than they will be in 2021. They, like you, are all experiencing Zoom fatigue and will have much higher expectations for conferences this coming year — especially those they are investing their precious time and money. Don’t waste a good crisis. Use this opportunity to beta test changes that can be carried over to the next in-person conference. While in the second half of 2020 many virtual conferences … [Read more...]
Normal is Over(rated) – For Now
This is a guest post by Joy S. Davis, CAE, based on an email she sent to me after reading Lisa Block’s recent post, “I Am Sorry, But We Are Not All Fine.” Joy is Managing Director, Member Products, for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Not too long ago, I gently asked my Executive Director to stop opening her weekly columns to members with a depressing reminder of COVID-19 and how weird things are right now. She’s a very upbeat, can-do kind of person, and her columns are … [Read more...]
