{"id":106977,"date":"2021-03-22T10:37:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T09:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/?p=106977"},"modified":"2022-01-11T16:03:56","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T15:03:56","slug":"hybrid-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voyages-d-affaires.com\/en\/hybrid-events","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid events: between compromise and promise..."},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow's event will be hybrid<\/strong> or won't be: this is the message that has been infusing the meetings & events community for some months now. It's an ecosystem that's trying its hand at the virtual 100 % because it can't find itself \"in the real world\", but one that's clearly counting on the emergence of a new, more dynamic, and more effective way of doing business. a compromise combining face-to-face and distance learning, thanks to digital technology<\/strong>. Not a week goes by without a convention centre or hotel group positioning itself on the hybrid file, with a view to relaunch the events machine<\/strong>. And these investments, which are often substantial, seem to be part of a long-term trend, well beyond the health crisis.<\/p>\n

It has to be said that the new hybrid dimension offers many advantages. Online broadcasting - live and\/or streaming - opens the doors to a new audience, to new players, a progression that is both quantitative and qualitative. \"\u00a0All of a sudden, we realised that we could share information online, that a keynote speaker could, from Seattle<\/a>This will have an impact on a conference organised in Singapore\".<\/em>testifies Arun Madhok, CEO of the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"From a logistical point of view, a hybrid event also offers greater flexibility to the organiser, in terms of both space and time.This is another advantage of a digital event: the time scale is not the same. While a physical event lasts two or three days, a virtual event can last a month.<\/em>\"says Alain Chanavaz, co-president of MPI France Switzerland. This new format also does away with the budget lock<\/strong> which could block participation in certain far-flung events, and at the same time is adorned with a environmental virtue<\/strong> necessarily welcome. \"We'll have to come up with new forms of meetings, certainly hybrid ones, in line with the world's new challenges, whether it's preserving resources and the climate, digitisation and knowledge-sharing, inclusion and partnerships with all stakeholders, etc.<\/em>\"said the President of France Congr\u00e8s, Philippe Augier<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Traditional handshake aficionados notwithstanding, the virtual dimension also provides organisers with new data management tools. While it is sometimes difficult to gauge the success of a physical event, the online audience and the commitment of participants are easier to quantify. And according to Alain Chanavaz, who also provides training on these issues for Studio Liveteam, virtual meetings often lead to contractual benefits: \"What works very well today are one-day events during which companies present themselves in the form of fifteen-minute workshops, followed by the opportunity to make contact. While the number of meetings is lower than at a physical event, the conversion into contracts is higher. It's much more qualitative, because it's easier and more efficient to put people in touch with each other. If, in addition, you add a 'layer' of data on participants' interests and expectations, matchmaking becomes very effective.<\/em>\".<\/p>\n

These arguments already seem to have won over meeting and events professionals. According to a study published by Sli.do at the start of the pandemic, companies are betting heavily on hybrid events after the crisis. Of the 8,800 people questioned, a large majority (62%) predicted that most events would be hybrid in this famous \"post-crisis world\". In its 2021 Global Meetings and Events Forecast report, American Express Meetings & Events predicted that hybrid events would account for half of all programming in the European market this year. For Gerardo Tejado, Senior Vice President and General Manager of American Express Meetings and Events, \"\u00a0The key lesson of our report is clear: meetings must be held. There is a desire to return to face-to-face meetings as soon as it is safe to do so. And hybrid meetings will be the catalyst for this.<\/em>\" .<\/p>\n

\"Sli.do\"
Meetings & events professionals expect a majority of hybrid events after the crisis, according to Sli.do<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Technology is undeniably opening up new horizons for event organisers. Especially as the crisis has pushed suppliers to step up the pace of innovation. Managing Director of the association PCMA<\/strong> (Professional Convention Management Association) for the APAC region, Karen Bolinger had a front-row seat to observe the phenomenon: \"Last year, with the expansion of Covid-19, we had to adapt quickly by turning to existing technologies to continue our activity through online conferences, which were not yet hybrid given the health context. But during that period, technology leapt forward by around ten years in the space of six months!<\/em>\".<\/p>\n

However, event organisers must avoid the trap of technology for technology's sake, as Karen Bolinger reminds us: \"In reality, it would be preferable for organisers to getting back to basics<\/strong> To better understand their objectives, the raison d'\u00eatre of each event and what they want participants to get out of it, before looking at the tools to be used.<\/em>\". This is the challenge for organisers who, faced with a host of new attractive solutions, have to sort through them and above all remain focused on the experience of participants. Unfortunately, investing in equipment, however expensive, is not enough to guarantee the success of a hybrid event.<\/p>\n

Professionals now need to rethink the experience they intend to offer participants, both on site and behind their screens. Is it simply a matter of passively attending remote conferences, with no opportunity to interact with the speakers and even less with the other guests? What added value is left for the professionals who have travelled to the conference centre to encourage them to attend the next edition? All the more so when the return to the conference centre will be governed by strict health constraints, and this social distance is hardly conducive to human contact...<\/p>\n

The PCMA conference held in Singapore in January provided a foretaste of the new reality to which 'in situ' participants in hybrid events will have to adapt. On stage, the high-tech showcase with its state-of-the-art facilities: holograms, giant screens, a studio worthy of a TV set. In the auditorium, a strict division into hermetically sealed zones, with participants escorted to their assigned seats and international guests divided into equally hermetically sealed bubbles of four or five people for the duration of their stay, punctuated by PCR tests and temperature readings. It's an inevitably restrictive route, but one that's unavoidable in the current climate.<\/p>\n