PIVOTING YOUR LIVE EVENTS TO VIRTUAL OR HYBRID EXPERIENCES

In the blink of an eye...everything has changed.

BUT… what happens if we change and pivot to a new way of doing business.

What happens when we lead change into a more successful and sustainable business.

We have to envision the benefits of this change and ask the right questions….

What happens if we can build a bigger audience… What happens if we can turn this horrible challenge into one of the greatest opportunities for our industry.

This is the point in time where we as an industry can truly redefine the business as well as each of us personally.

Art Basel Hong Kong was a great example of a physical event which pivoted in such a short time to build a virtual experience with incredible success. They had 233 Galleries participate in their first Virtual Gallery experience with more than $US 250 million dollars of art for sale.

Instead of working from a position of fear and the potential of losing millions of dollars they pivoted and transformed their business to an online experience. Since their very successful launch of Virtual Galleries they have begun to grow even further by adding Art Basel Conversations which is a weekly Digital series talking about the Art World.

The most important element of what Art Basel gained from this new Virtual show was learning how to better understand their guests who participated. The Data gathered from their Customer Journey allowed them to build a much more valuable understanding of their Customer base which in turn helps them to more successfully monetise their efforts with sponsors and exhibitors in the future.

Additionally, as we pivot to Virtual or Hybrid events it is also important to understand how vital this is to the overall marketing strategy of an organisation. Normally, physical events are a huge part of successful marketing strategies. They generally provide a number of benefits including:

?     Lead generation/Net New Acquisition

?     Create real human connections

?     Interactive and Engaging

?     Focused audience attention

?     Idea that they are better “experiences”

However, as we pivot to Virtual and Hybrid events we can still have all of that...at digital scale!

Marketers can deliver tremendous value to their businesses through Digital Marketing but often struggle to highlight their impact or true Return on Investment (ROI) when reporting on Events. In order to prove the value, event professionals need to rely on ROI.

With new Digitally connected Virtual/Hybrid events the landscape has completely changed. Now marketers and event professionals can easily measure ROI quickly and more effectively. However one of the most important ingredients for success is to ensure that Data is collected in a structured and an ongoing manner and measured over time as well as being connected to all the Customer Experience points along the journey. Don’t think of your event as one-off but plan on using the data across all touch-points over the course of a year.

STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY BUILD A DIGITAL OR VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

Virtual and Digital events allow you the opportunity to build in key marketing components including:

• Branded Look and Feel
• Persistent On-Demand Experience
• Global Speakers participating from anywhere
• Audience Participation: Q&A, Polls, Surveys
• Links to giveaways/swag
• Downloadable Content and Call to Action transactions
• Immersive Interactive experiences
• Multiple Sponsors

One of the most important first steps to take while building a virtual event is to gather the stake holders together and develop your key Business Objections and strategies for measuring success. Once you have clearly defined your objectives then you can decide what platforms and technologies can be used to best implement your strategy.

Another suggestion to ensure success for a Hybrid Event it is to DESIGN A DIGITAL TRACK SEPARATE FROM THE PHYSICAL TRACK. Make sure that you don’t just re-purpose the Physical track but you build the Digital track in the same manner that you would for the real event.

Below are critical elements necessary in helping you to successfully pivot your existing events into a Virtual or Hybrid experience.

1. Know the facts and assemble your team

• Very early on, get leadership buy-in with visuals
• Develop new teams as needed
• Scrum often and communicate across all teams
• Ruthlessly prioritize and reprioritize every day

2. Create a strategic approach for content

As a great example, The Salesforce World Tour Sydney team procured a broadcast location almost immediately after deciding to move to a Virtual event and then set to work on content programming. A war-room team was assigned within the first few hours.

On day one, they determined which of the event’s 150 sessions would translate best to a virtual format. They came up with a plan for the top 30 sessions and all the people needed to deliver them. They recommended working with the wider team on a need-to-know basis to stay on target and move fast. 

 3. Figure out how to keep your online audience engaged

Piece by piece, it is critical how to change direction with the resources on hand. The overall goal should be how to quickly create and develop a compelling multichannel digital experience.

It might be very useful to consider what could be repurposed. At the Salesforce event they used Digital content that was developed to project onto the back wall of an exhibition hall which could be used as engaging backdrops for online sessions. The builders for the exhibition stands shifted their work to constructing studios where the content team could film sessions.

Attendees from around the world could explore 18 virtual rooms based on Salesforce Customer 360. A company expert hosted each room, sharing demos with visitors and answering questions in real time.

Social media was also utilized to share highlights and preserve an element of two-way, live interaction. Although Salesforce didn’t use it in their event it is critical for social teams to add interactive activities such as contests, Q&As, polls, and other fun moments into the mix.

 4. Prep the team for Live AV, train, rehearse

This is one of the biggest challenges and most important steps into turning your event into a successful Virtual event. The speakers need to be prepped, trained and rehearsed to interact with a camera directly verses a large crowd. This can be very intimidating for many speakers and it is generally recommended for them to actually record their session ahead of time to review and improve their direct eye to eye contact and overall performance.

NEXT STEPS

Currently there are so many new technologies that will be able to supercharge creativity and ideation. When you bring storytelling and technology together amazing things happen.

How often do brands get these types of opportunities to bring really exciting innovative ways to engage with their customers, have the ability to reach customers using new technologies and also thrill and engage them in new unique ways?

Brands and agencies need to experiment today, and not wait for tomorrow which will ultimately give you a competitive advantage. Be that first mover in the marketplace and begin learning how to work together, physically, and virtually to create a much more powerful and compelling experience.

Don’t allow your team or yourself to be paralysed by analysis. This is the time to learn, try new formats and experiment with new technologies and content delivery systems.

Don’t wait…. Don’t over plan…. Just Do it! 

Each and every digital event you execute you will learn more and become more successful. The more you procrastinate stepping into this new world the more difficult it will become in the long-run… Good luck on your New Virtual Journey.