François Floribert, CEO of B2B event intelligence platform, inwink, discusses how events, in the new age of hybrid and digital, can create a better, more meaningful experience for their communities.
After a year of flipping in-person events to online, what have we learnt and what does the future look like for the event industry? Can we take the best of 2020’s virtual events and combine them with in-person in the post-lockdown period? Is hybrid the way forward?
Here are three ideas that organisers of hybrid events could think about: hub and spoke, retaining your digital audience and attendee agency.
Hub & Spoke Network
The challenge for event planners is how to plan for two audiences, in-person and online, and keep the content engaging. VivaTech is a pioneer in this field (supported by inwink, of course!). The organisation is preparing to offer “satellites” around its main event in Paris. Participants and speakers could gather at the same time in different physical locations, perhaps distributed over different continents. Our plan is for these to be held in South-East Asia, North America and Africa, to multiply the VivaTech impact on an international scale.
A combined approach helps to bring people together locally for networking and encourages serendipity at the in-person event, without the excess travel. The unexpected meeting, networking tables, speed meetings, , workshops, sponsored sessions, these can all be created in-person at the satellite event and include virtual attendees too.
Retaining the Digital Audience
One of the changes from the last year we should take forward is the focus on our online communities. Digital events should take a prominent place in BtoB event strategies and the way organisations keep in contact. They should complement flagship events and engage the audience throughout the year, on a continuous basis.
In 2021, the VivaTech Tour has managed this, and been a curtain raiser for the main event. It has engaged with the VivaTech community beyond a one-off event, continuing a dialogue with start-ups, corporates, VCs and others throughout the tour.
Originally a series of meetups in regional tech hubs around the world, VivaTech redesigned it in a 100% digital format for 2021. The Tour has transformed into a kind of mobile TV show, and broadcast live on an intuitive digital interface, with locally relevant content.
One benefit of online events like this, is they are less expensive and can therefore be more frequent. They can be prepared more quickly, over cycles of a few weeks. The organiser can therefore take more risks, especially since the no-show rate online has no negative impact in terms of image or cost.
This year, the VivaTech Tour visited 12 innovation hubs, brought together more than 80 speakers from all over the world and reached 2000 active members of the ecosystem.
Attendee Agency
The design of events and community content is being reinvented. BtoB event planners are acknowledging that online attitudes, behaviours and expectations of participants are not the same as in-person.
As the desire for business travel declines, integrating virtual into in-person gives attendees more agency over the content they engage with. People can catch up with different content in their own time.
The new way is being driven by a richer digital experience, which attracts and retains people to the community. This type of digital event allows organisers to create a 100% customised environment, where participants can attend a rich program of multiple live or pre-recorded sessions, and where they have increased possibilities of interactivity.
The content created during for the VivaTech Tour, for example, remains accessible several months after the end of the event, thanks to the replays available on-demand. This makes it possible to engage with the community beyond the annual event, and it ensures that partners have greater visibility, since it lasts longer. NetImperative readers can access this content here.
The event of the future, the hybrid event, is developing in real time. The newer digital event is playing catch-up with the physical event, which has many years of experience.
Face-to-face events are irreplaceable because we need the serendipity of in-person meetings and exchanges. But this does not prevent us from remaining in contact with our communities throughout the year, providing regular local and niche content, which acts as a curtain raiser for the in-person event.
The event sector has managed a difficult period by transferring online. We will hopefully see the continued rise of hybrid events in 2021 and into next year. We are already learning how to take the best of virtual events and combine them with in-person.
Planners will take improving digital technologies and create a new era for BtoB events. We are only just beginning.
By François Floribert
CEO
inwink