Event management in the pandemic: some hypotheses for 2022
We are sure that this year you have taken part to at least a virtual event. Whether it was a company meeting, a webinar, a conference, a training course, it is clear that virtual events are now part of our new normal.
The events sector has experienced a deep revolution during the pandemic. Live events will always be there, but they have evolved in the meantime and, in our opinion, it will be hard to go back. At least in the short term, we do not imagine that the virtual events will completely undermine the physical ones. They are two very different experiences, implying different levels of involvement.
Drawing conclusions of 2021
2021 saw in part a recovery in the events sector and, thanks to vaccines and to the compliance with hygiene and behavioral rules, even physical events have begun to breathe again. However, it is very likely that the state of emergency and the precautionary measures for the prevention of infections will still be with us during 2022. This involves a greater use of resources for the organization of physical events, which will have to provide hygienic devices, arrange contingent entrances, employ staff members for purposes of verification and control of compliance with hygiene and distancing rules.
In this perspective, it is foreseeable that hybrid and digital solutions will continue to be proposed, in which technological inclusion is undisputed. Digital and hybrid solutions have already proven to be a good alternative for corporate events. The possibilities are many: digital meetings, webinars, conferences, special events, streamings, virtual exhibition stands, virtual and augmented reality, experiential marketing in customized 3d environments, etc. Digital and hybrid events scale the limits of time, space and budget, give a touch of novelty and aim for ever greater involvement. No less important is the constant improvement of the technologies used and the consequent reduction of the related costs over time.
Event marketing and multichannel perspective
Even from the point of view of the event marketing strategy, organizing virtual events can be very profitable. In an increasingly fluid and hybrid perspective, it is a winner to adopt a multichannel perspective, using as many tools and channels as possible (webinars, physical events, storytelling, online campaigns) to ensure a good level of pervasiveness and reach different touch points. This applies to the automotive sector, which we know very well, as well as to many other types of business.
At the risk of being proven wrong by 2022, which is now upon us, we believe that the event organization sector is increasingly linked to technology and that the continuing state of emergency due to the pandemic contributes to further strengthening the link. In our opinion it will be very difficult to give up the indisputable advantages that the organization of digital events entails, even when the pandemic emergency were to end. Covid has actually accelerated the creation of a new normal and it will be unlikely (and perhaps even undesirable) to go back.