Few people thought of virtual events before the pandemic hit, but this format has satisfied a unique and important need for businesses and organizations large and small during the pandemic. But what will be the value of virtual events as more people around the world try to come back to life before COVID-19?
To find out, we met with the industry’s top executives and investors to learn about the big trends they’re seeing, like the sequel to this survey we did in March 2020.
Certain use cases have been tested, they say. Today, you can find numerous small niche events available throughout the year that could have been buried in the back of a larger in-person conference before 2020. For organizations, in-house virtual events can also be instrumental in helping to connect and promote the engagement of remote teams.
However, some respondents acknowledged that low-quality virtual events are becoming more common, and all agreed that there is much more work to be done.
Xiaoyin Qu, Founder and CEO, Run The World
In the hope that the pandemic will become more manageable soon, do you feel that a return to in-person events is inevitable?
Certain types of events will again be in person. Obviously something to do with a Presidents Club (the company rewards you with a party in Hawaii), that sort of thing won’t go virtual. I think events more focused on increasing reach will continue to tend towards virtuality.
We are also seeing that many events are getting smaller, more niche. Before the pandemic, if you look at a general pediatric conference, for example, an attendee may only be interested in two topics out of 200 offered. But now we have seen that there is an increase in many niche events that are focused on very specific topics, which helps to streamline these events for attendees.
I think such events are still going to happen virtually just because they are easier to organize and people can have deeper conversations. In-house virtual events for employees is another category that is gaining more traction, because companies have been getting remote. Many of the internal events like company happy hour, events that help employees to participate better, we believe that will continue to happen virtually. So there are a number of use cases that we think will remain virtual and are probably better virtual.
