WWDC 2020 - Lessons in Virtual Mega Eventing

Did you watch Apple’s WWDC earlier this week? If so, what did you think? You can find lots of reactions and news on the event – which went “virtual” for the first time this year due to COVID-19.

In 1997 Mike Markkula (the “third” founder of Apple), set out The Apple Marketing Philosophy. If you haven’t read it – go for it. It’s 1 page, big font:-). The third point in the philosophy is “Impute”. It’s a personal favorite of mine –one that effectively links technology, marketing, and the needs of the market. It states “People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities."

As I watched the WWDC stream, I thought “does this event, in these times – COVID, racial tensions, etc. – impute the attributes that Apple desires”?

My answer is YES! Nothing about WWDC was presented in a “slipshod” manner, and Apple landed the attributes that Apple wants people to feel, and attributes that Apple customers passionately feel.

In these times when mega tech events will move to a virtual setting, we need to take Apple’s lead – in fit, finish, production value, and delivery. We are all suffering from web-meeting-fatigue. But at the same time we are all longing for those BIG events (buses, bad food, too many meetings, tired feet, hangovers et al.) in San Fran, Vegas, NYC, Atlanta, Boston, etc. After all – we are sentient, social beings. But if our tech virtual events are not engaging, our target viewers will “watch” and listen as background chatter at best – and we will miss the mark! And simply accepting our home living-room and bookcases as background, may work for team web-meetings but they will not land for a mega tech conference digital-twin keynote.

Check out this 1 minute video for a summary of some of the techniques Apple used at WWDC 2020.

Hope it helps you think though your next virtual event. Would love to hear your ideas on that and what you are planning in-order to impute your brand attributes into upcoming events!