4 Tips for Switching to Virtual Meetings

According to data from events agency Freeman, event attendance is sitting this year ataround 65% compared with 2019 numbers. The fact is that, just as the world is starting to pay attention to the climate emergency, on the meetings side, we all need to pay attention to what might be dubbed “the events emergency”, because although things seem the same, sometimes it feels like the sky keeps changing colour.

We’re starting to see more organisations think about a blend of events and meetings. We’re working with an organisation on a series from Ireland where there will beat least one hub of people meeting face-to-face, with the sessions streamed out to people who will watch virtually. After two years of working from home and attending events virtually, there is a comfort level with connecting via Zoom or other platforms. People have established a pattern behaviour, which is to join meetings online from the comfort of their home – albeit with the variability of the quality of delivery from poorly run sessions to positive, engaging meetings that encourage people to join future sessions.

Enhancing the delegate journey in a hybrid event: 1. Adapt your strategies: improve engagement through translation. 2. Question what’s right: What’s the profile of these delegates from different parts of the world?, Why would they come to a live event?, What might stop them from coming? What can we do to still reach out and engage them more effectively, make it meaningful and impactful for them, and potentially bring in current and future membership fees?

Whether through networking or poster sessions, the point is to create ways in which the audience can learn from the experts, engage with key opinion leaders and gain access to respected leaders they wouldn’t normally have a chance to speak with. How that is branded – networking, engaging conversations – or the methods used are less important than ensuring learning is more interactive.

Virtual conferences reduce financial and travel barriers that are inherent to in-person conferences, opening up knowledge-sharing to participants that don’t have the resources to travel to major conferences. However, survey results found many respondents found virtual networking to be contrived and inauthentic. One way this can and has been addressed is through local networking sites or hubs.

Virtual meetings have provided a lifeline during the Covid-19 pandemic, but also have a number of additional benefits, which can and should be part of the future of all conferences and symposia. Leveraging virtual helps bring down knowledge barriers based around cost, gender, career stage and geographic location.