The Paradox of Divides: The Changing Landscape of Events

Coming from TV/digital, I’ve always applied a unique content and media lens to the on-going transformation of traditional B2B events to increasingly digital experiences.

As I advise a broad range of organizations as a consultant, this evolution requires one to rethink assumptions and explore new ideas at unconventional (maybe at times uncomfortable) intersections.

No more is this more evident than embracing a paradox mindset of both/and thinking. I had the pleasure to sit down with NYT bestselling co-author of Both/And Thinking, Wendy K. Smith to specifically discuss the current state of the events industry and most importantly how to prepare for what’s ahead.The excerpts are as follows from our recent conversation summarized in the article The Paradox of Divides: The Changing Landscape of Events.

The Digital Dilemma:

Bob: At the start of the pandemic, there was an immediate and somewhat awkward pivot by the events industry to virtual events and in many cases as a temporary stop gap measure or contingency plan. Certainly since then digitization has been accelerated, resulting now in many new event options for marketers and event organizers. With in-person events and conferences back in full swing, might the industry be facing a digital dilemma especially with all the clear benefits demonstrated over the last three years of virtual and select hybrid experiences?

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

The challenge between virtual events and in-person events is a classic tension. We all face tensions like these. The issues are not whether we experience tensions, but how.?

Typically, we apply either/or thinking to our tensions. Faced with the uncertainty and anxiety of these opposing options, we narrow our thinking, focused on the question and apply binary approaches to make a choice.?But this kind of thinking is limited at best and detrimental at worst.?

Instead, we can shift our approach and apply both/and thinking to be more generative and creative. Both/and thinking starts with reframing the question. Rather than ask if we should have an in-person event or a virtual event, we should start with the questions: What problems are we trying to solve? What do we want to say? How do we want people to feel? After then can we ask how we can accommodate the best of in-person interactions with the benefits of virtual engagement and greater reach. Asking these questions enables us to start exploring more creative, generative possibilities.?

Experience Divide:

Bob: It’s clear that the audience experiences of in-person and virtual events are quite different, but might that be the point in having the advantage of a mix of aligned formats across platforms including considering the types of content?

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

The goal of both/and thinking is to engage the best of alternative options and find more creative generative possibilities. To get started, we need to recognize the nature of our tensions.??

Tensions are tug-of-wars between alternative options. They are neither good nor bad. The issue is not if we face tensions, but how.?

Tensions show up for us as dilemmas - opposing options that require us to make a decision. We might face a dilemma of whether to have an upcoming conference in person or virtual. But before we make a decision, we need to look beneath the surface. Underlying these dilemmas are interwoven opposites - between past and future, mission and markets, tradition and innovation, stability and change. These opposing forces are also interwoven, to define and inform one another. We call these interdependent contradictions paradoxes. Noticing the underlying paradoxes helps us find new ways to approach the dilemmas.?

Production Solutions Divide:

Bob: With the production process of in-person and virtual so very different, how might a more seamless integration of on-site AV and Event Tech SaaS solutions provide innovative both/and solutions for greater efficiencies, creativity and enhanced audience engagement??

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

An easy way to find a both/and solution is to say that we are going to have a hybrid option. Unfortunately, the term ‘hybrid’ can mean different things to different people. Far too often ‘hybrid’ options end up not elevating the overall audience experience.

Instead, both/and thinking involves clarifying differences to get to a better integration. We call this separating and connecting. We first separate by asking what the benefits are of each option. In-person events allow for greater face to face connection, deeper informal conversations and chance encounters for a smaller group of people. Virtual events are cost effective, time efficient, minimize our environmental impact, and much more accessible to enable greater inclusion and participation. The question then is how to connect these both? How can we achieve deeper informal conversations while being more inclusive and expanding the reach of our audience? How can we save time, optimize budgets and diminish our environmental impact while ensuring serendipitous encounters and have the benefits of communal connections??

Audience Divide:

Bob: With the proliferation of content for consumers across platforms, devices and formats (from streaming to gaming), because of that influence B2B audiences are also becoming much more intentional with their time, discerning with their choices and expect greater accessibility for content. Events are no different. Might there be a both/and approach for greater attention and engagement, therefore better outcomes with a melding of B2B with B2C?

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

One tool for both/and thinking is to expand the aperture of our thinking. Rather than just focus on a one-time event, consider how to engage clients, partners and participants across multiple touch points over an extended period of time. Perhaps there are multiple ways to engage with participants well before the in-person event - providing content and connections that will allow them to be more engaged in person. Or maybe there are ways to repurpose the in-person content to engage with a broader community virtually after the event. Doing so expands the ways in which you can think about how to have impact and enable engagement more broadly.?

Management Divide:

Bob: For events (as well as other sectors) digital transformation requires agility and the ability to manage a much more complex landscape. Beyond the current gap of event management technology with organization’s CRM, CDP, marketing automation etc. how might leaders and managers apply both/and thinking to re-look and examine the traditional role and structure of events in an organization?

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

Effective leaders need to continually navigate the paradox between today and tomorrow. We want to maintain a commitment to our current traditions that allow us to efficiently achieve our work today. Striving for this kind of stability has become even more important as people feel the uncertainty, anxiety and burnout in response to the pandemic. Yet we also need to push forward, innovating to experiment with new opportunities that will allow us to be more effective in the world tomorrow

Distribution Divide:

Bob: I have written and spoken before how events might consider to Think Like A Content Company; Act Like A Media Company. With this reframing, how might both/and thinking create a greater overall value proposition for customers, members and sponsor partners?

Both/And Thinking (Wendy):

In order for sustainable success outside of your organization, it has to first start internally with your employees. As we write in Both/And Thinking, “Employees often want their leaders to offer them concise and uncomplicated directions …; Many leaders want to protect their employees from this frustration.” Yet doing this often leads to greater challenges as the real complex and important issues get swept under the rug. What we find is that more effective leaders address tension directly. They surface the tensions. They name the underlying paradoxes. They listen to different sides and perspectives to inform how they navigate the tensions. They note the emotional discomfort - the anxiety and uncertainty that come with tensions - but then seek to move forward amid that discomfort. That is… they embrace, rather than deny, paradoxes.?

DM Bob Mitchell as I would love to hear how Mitchell Partnership Alliances might help you provide both/and thinking to your organization or team.

For more information on Both/And Thinking book purchases, Both/And Thinking workshops or virtual/in-person speaking engagements please email: [email protected] with the subject line: LinkedIn Blog Follow-up.

BOB MITCHELL - OVERVIEW

As a leading NYC-based marketing and business development executive at the intersection of media, content and corporate partnerships at such media companies as: Paramount, Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, NBCUniversal, Madison Square Garden Entertainment and various digital B2B companies, he most recently was recruited and relocated to Washington, D.C. and over the last several years transformed, reimagined and reorganized the B2B events based global speakers bureau business with a greater alignment and emphasis on integrated marketing, sales, partnerships and new business models with a strategic and philosophical shift into the business of storytelling, audience experiences and content. Serving corporate brands, national trade associations, professional societies and non-profits he and his team successfully brought to market innovative client solutions that directly generated revenue growth, created unique customer experiences, forged emotional connections with audiences and amplified the power of storytelling across multiple platforms.?

Currently, as a principal at his consulting firm, Mitchell Partnership Alliances he advises organizations on the operational, strategic, creative and communications alignment across integrated channels including content, platform, audience and revenue generating partnerships driving successful business outcomes for such clients as: PwC, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Kaltura, USO, Gathr, A&E TV Networks and several B2B information services companies.?

WENDY K. SMITH - OVERVIEW

Wendy K. Smith is the Dana J. Johnson Professor of Management and Faculty Director of the Women's Leadership Initiative at the University of Delaware. She earned her PhD in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School, where she began her intensive research on strategic paradoxes - how leaders and senior teams effectively respond to contradictory, yet interdependent demands. Her research has won multiple awards and has been featured in outlets such as the Harvard Business Review. In her new book Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems she makes 25 years of academic research accessible to anyone grappling with competing demands.

Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions To Solve Your Toughest Problems

From the leading experts on paradox comes an insightful and inspiring book for using both/and thinking to make more creative, flexible, and impactful decisions in a world of competing demands—a guide to life, work, and leadership.

Life is full of paradoxes. How can we each express our individuality and be a team player? How do we balance work and life? How can we take care of ourselves while supporting others? How can we manage the core business while innovating for the future?

For many of us, these competing and interwoven demands are a source of conflict. Since our brains love to make either-or choices, we choose one option over the other. We deal with uncertainty by asserting certainty.

There is a better way.?