Are we moving toward a COMPLETELY virtual world?
Focus on the importance of face-to-face interaction
The coronavirus pandemic has been a massive accelerator for virtual technology in all fields and spheres: private, public, and professional (or is it rather for its adoption?).
In the events sector in particular, all stakeholders rushed toward new solutions to allow advertisers to maintain the link with their clients ‘virtually’; the primary idea being not to break the connection and not to simply cancel all events.
In recent weeks, we have seen trade shows convert into virtual exhibitions: ITB Berlin transformed Twitter into a true virtual show with the hashtag #whatiwantedtosayatITB, and LAVAL Virtual was able to bounce back in just a few weeks with a 100% virtual show where you could walk around with your avatar.
Announcements for 100% online events are multiplying—Microsoft IGNITE will be 100% virtual in 2020—
and you have undoubtedly received numerous invitations for webinars or other multiplexes replacing your usual events.
It must be admitted that, even if the industry was caught off guard by the crisis, we have been preparing for several years for a transition toward increasingly digitized and connected events.
The crisis served as the catalyst allowing for the massive adoption of technology.
But is a shift to a COMPLETELY virtual model the solution? Is this the end of physical events?
In early May, Gaspard Koenig—philosopher and founder of the think tank GenerationLibre—wrote an editorial in Les Echos titled “We can do everything virtually, except the essentials.”
With the end of lockdown, we all aspire to a return to “real life”: a life made of social and physical interactions, emotions, and the unexpected.
Applied to the event industry, this prompts us to question the fundamentals of our medium: the importance of the meeting, its design, and the experience.
Far from rejecting virtual technologies, but on the contrary by adopting and integrating them into physical experiences,
events will be the social glue at a time when 80% of meetings will take place digitally. Events, whether internal or external, will allow us to re-humanize our bonds and our relationships with our clients, suppliers, and colleagues.
Events will support struggling communication budgets and will help strengthen brand awareness, generate the emotion that is missing from a COMPLETELY digital approach, and foster engagement through experiential solutions.
It is up to us, as event specialists, to do this by following new health regulations to offer maximum security and peace of mind to our advertisers and their clients.
SOURCES:
https://business-lesechos-fr.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/business.lesechos.fr/amp/06/337706.php
https://www.cbnews.fr/tribune/event-virtuel-ne-remplacera-pas-reel-il-sublimera-51964
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