Why Digital Experiences Make Sense - Part 5

The executive C-suite or non event facing portfolio directors in your corporation may not understand the world of hybrid, virtual, digital-first events. Are they eagerly awaiting for “in-person events to full return” and counting on a portfolio of experiences to live mostly in-person again soon? Or perhaps you feel a little pull towards integrating digital events into your portfolio but you aren’t sure of the benefits or pros or how to sell them.

In order to support successful conversations about leveraging hybrid and virtual events, we’ve created a digestible, proof-driven series about the power of virtual events, loaded with talking points to gain internal buy-in for digital experiences.

Here is Part 5 of our series, about getting ahead of ‘The New Anxiety’ for gathering which may dictate that virtual events are here to stay.

Embrace virtual now as “New Gathering Anxiety” settles in.

There will be no returning back to what we knew as our reality before COVID-19 and this is true across pretty much every industry and sector.

We are moving forward in life as we always do, and the live events industry is going to exist in its future realm. The truth is, we are facing many new challenges and realities that impact the way people will engage and how comfortable they are to gather.

There is a conversation emerging about the “new anxiety” around being in the same room as other non-household people. Humans are by nature social creatures and community and camaraderie is the antidote to unhappiness, yes. That said, the pandemic has taught modern day society to be wary of gatherings and so, there will soon be a very interesting ratio of in-person to virtual events and choosing between both strategies.

For instance, even with vaccination count rising, we will be designing experiences with a new kind of social anxiety on our hands - one where millions of people just aren’t interested in gathering physically - and in order to continue to tap into these audiences, get comfortable with digital events now while 2021 lays ahead of you. 

We are encouraging some of our clients who are wary of virtual events to dip their toes into it: start by engaging employees through digital events or town halls, expanding from teams to departments to cities to regions through each iteration - leading eventually to an employer brand virtual events strategy. 

Once you’ve found a virtual event purpose that works for your organization, master it. This way you can bend and mould to what society wants in terms of in-person events or the option to chose the virtual/livestream component from home.

The antidote to the “new anxiety” might just be consumer choice between in-person, digital or hybrid event attendance and brands can lead the way by presenting options as such.