The Future of Events
This is about upgrading major industry conferences and all company events - anywhere people are gathering is considered an "event"
Nowadays leaders need to equip themselves with an additional sense to upgrade the quality of their work, and it’s called sensitivity. Alongside their professional capabilities in sales, customer service, administrative affairs, HR, legal, R&D, marketing, and logistic, teams need to be sensitive to what’s happening in the world around them. Things often happen and we simply continue without stopping to learn the lesson.
We're seeing obvious shifts in the event industry - the largest conference producers have switched to a hybrid model with physical and virtual options. Many of them pivoted very quickly to produce incredible virtual gatherings at the height of the pandemic.
But what I'm talking about is bigger than that. We need to make actual changes in the content and format of these gatherings. They can no longer simply be about listening to VIP speakers and celebrities, coming for the food and parties, gaining knowledge to further our own interests, networking to promote our company and boost sales, and copying each other's ideas, strategies, messages, etc. Now that we're headed into a new era where we need to make some adjustments.
So we have two options:
The general trend in the business world is the same as everywhere else — connecting two opposite elements into a single topic. Meaning if a decade ago companies were mainly busy with profit and loss statements, today leading companies in the world also need to be concerned with social challenges: the human qualities of employees and new recruits, the well-being of all stakeholders, and the quality of relations internally and externally. These are not things that were at the top of a CEO’s priority list in the past. Today they are.
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Anywhere we want to experience success we need to spend some time strengthening our connection in fun and meaningful ways.
Clearly these trends are on the rise, and finding the right balance between professional and social challenges will require more of our attention as we progress forward. So on the one hand, a business must first and foremost be profitable. On the other hand, it must be prepared for these new social challenges. There needs to be a far greater emotional investment in the workplace; to encourage creativity, make sure workers are comfortable, and being involved in every tiny detail that goes into providing a good work environment. This of course involves investing in human connection. Anywhere we want to experience success we need to spend some time strengthening our connection in fun and meaningful ways.
We must prepare ourselves in a very practical way for these same types of changes anywhere major international conferences are taking place. These conferences are extremely valuable, and there will never be any substitute for meeting in person. Since these gatherings require vast and highly complex preparation, we must prepare accordingly.
This means that any large physical conference must combine these two elements: professional and social. Up until now the social part was mainly provided during breaks and in the evenings. That needs to change.
This means that any large physical conference (virtual events have many benefits as well - read about that here ) must combine these two elements: professional and social. Up until now the social part was mainly provided during breaks and in the evenings. That needs to change.
From this point forward, the beginning of a trade show should focus on the social.?So if we were planning a three-day international conference, the first day would be fully devoted to the social aspect. All representatives, which is often hundreds or thousands of participants, would only participate in social activities on the first day: meals, games, movies, lectures, Happy Hour, etc. Anything that’s interesting for the participants. In this part of the event we create warmth, and people get to know one another as humans. This is how we transform a new and unfamiliar place to have more of a family feeling. Here there are no pitches and presentations.
On the following day we continue to the booths and other platforms that were planned, but with a new perspective we didn’t have before — because the participants created the new vibe in the air together. All the empathy, respect and politeness, competition and fair play take on new meaning, because it’s based on what was achieved on the first day.
No one can take this on except the huge organizations planning these events, who must be aware of the responsibility before them — to experiment with this new format and promote it as quickly as possible. If a few conference industry leaders begin preparing for this new reality, the others will happily follow their example.
Once we start thinking along these lines, we can start imagining all the possibilities, and how many "tricks" we'll have to play on ourselves to get used to this new format. Some of us will be too impatient to get down to business, may skip the first day or really not take it seriously - so we're going to have to come up with creative ways to get everyone on the same page. As I'm writing this I'm imagining a huge vault at the entrance where everyone has to deposit all their business intentions and thoughts before entering - so we can simply meet and connect as fellow humans. No tags with company logos - only first names! And while we're at it let's "deposit" some things that are weighing us down - our negative thoughts about others, beating the competition, how to take advantage of certain people. Let's clean up the atmosphere that first day so we'll all have a far more pleasant environment for doing business in following days. We'll all still have the buzz from the amazing natural high we got from connecting on the first day. Let's use it to lift and inspire each other - and see what a positive impact that will have on our business success.