EVENTS DURING THE PANDEMIC: EXPERIENCES, LEARNINGS AND TRENDS

In the past few months, we have been able to gather a lot of experience with our clients in relation to digital, hybrid and live events and draw our lessons from this. We would like to share these with you.

Experience:

1. Requests for face-to-face events increased immensely after measures were relaxed:
   

After the federal and provincial government(s) promised relaxations of the Corona measures, we had a huge increase in requests for face-to-face events. The hunger for face-to-face encounters and direct exchange was great.

To ensure that these live events did not become “superspreader events”, we took care of the right framework conditions for the live events to be organised. Already in January, we completed the hygiene officer seminar to be able to safely implement all hygiene standards.

The self-imposed rules were often even stricter than the currently applicable regulations. After all, both the invited guests and the participating staff should feel safe and be able to enjoy the event on site. Lax concepts are not desired here and should not be used, even in one’s own interest.

We will be happy to help you create such a “watertight” hygiene concept for your event and advise you on the current regulations and possibilities for implementing your event.

2. Getting participants to the live event: a challenge!

There are many reasons for this: some participants have a subliminal fear of infection, others are simply not allowed to participate due to company regulations. Or they do not feel addressed by the contents…

People have become more selective!

However, we found that the communication of a mature and enforced hygiene concept in combination with interesting, exclusive topics convinced participants to come to the event on site.

3. Respect for technology and the new

The time to try something new has never been better than last year! With many new formats and technologies, there is a lot to discover and of course not everything can always be perfect from the start. You just have to dare and try things out.

This attitude has always been worth going the extra mile and has shown us new ways and solutions. Thanks to all our clients who have taken this step with us. Together we have implemented exciting events and gathered a lot of know-how for the events of tomorrow.

Learnings:

1. Even more flexibility in planning live events

Due to the constant changes and adaptations of the current Corona measures, the clients and we had to increase our flexibility once again. Whether it was adapting the hygiene concept, deciding on seating and catering or switching the event from live or hybrid to completely digital.

2. Adjustment of the time schedule before and during the event

Due to the complexity of the many components, every event today requires more time resources in advance. Expect successful planning and implementation to be more time-consuming than you were used to before the pandemic.

The necessary corona measures also change time management at the venue itself. As an example, the time-intensive control of the 2/3-G(+) controls at the entrance to the event site. Here, depending on the announced number of people, we had to plan a time buffer of up to 30 minutes and set up functioning logistics.

One solution to this would be to enable the possibility of uploading vaccination and recovery certificates in advance. This was already successfully implemented this year at the IAA MOBILITY 2021 in Munich and will certainly be increasingly implemented at smaller events in the future.

3. Exploiting the potential of digital events

a. Use the budget saved:

The budget that has been freed up, e.g. through catering that is not needed, should be invested in high-quality content, professional moderation or a well-equipped studio. The reward is not only good feedback from participants who stay until the end, but also high-quality content that can be used in many ways beyond the event.

b. LIVE does not have to be

It has been shown that not everything shown at the digital or hybrid event has to be LIVE. You can also pre-produce content and then play it in. This is where a healthy and, above all, varied mix of both makes all the difference.

c. Importance of content production

Engage your audience with stories! Interact, inform and entertain. Even with digital events, there are ways to connect people and even reach a much larger and more international audience. This starts with the “broadcast packaging” (countdown, intro, transitions, outro, broadcast logo) and goes all the way to the skilful implementation of your story with moving images and 3D animation.

d. Good participant communication: more important than ever

There are many opportunities to get lost on the digital journey of participants. A sophisticated concept for participant communication is essential for a successful digital event. What have we learned: how do I provide enough information without being annoying…? Media breaks should be avoided as much as possible (e.g. separate registration and event platform with double opt-in). How can I involve the participants at an early stage?

Trends for 2022:

• Hybrid events provide us with another instrument of live communication. Which event format is the best choice for which message / target group needs to be carefully considered and depends not least on the available budget. Please also read our blog post “Hybrid – really THE solution”.
  
  
• Quality over quantity: many of our clients have confirmed that Corona’s enforced limit on attendance at face-to-face events has had many benefits. The events were of higher quality, the conversations more in-depth and the results better. In 2022, our clients will continue to put much more effort into the invitation list and invite a select group of people instead of a broad mass.
  
  
• Convince with skilful storytelling and high-quality content and use it on many channels even after the event.

At the beginning of every planning is the idea. Our round-table discussions provide impulses and inspiration. Curious? Give us a call