Mark your calendars for January 20th when Anna Rembold takes on the Bob Ross way and shows   that making an attractive virtual event is as easy as making a painting.

Other emerging office spaces can be found in Decentraland and Cryptovoxels where you can buy a virtual office or office park.

My adventure in Decentraland made me feel like I was re-learning all my old keyboard hacks, but there was no shortage of folks milling about.

Two new virtual corporate headquarters that look uncannily similar are headoffice.space and Mytaverse. Instead of wearing a gray flannel suit to the office, you’ll wear a spacesuit. Made me feel a bit like C-3PO at work.

Job of the Year: Community Builder

We’re predicting this year’s most popular new job (replacing older ones like Chief Evangelist or Connector) will be Community Builders. A BizBash/Touchcast study found 61% of respondents identified community engagement as the most important function for virtual or hybrid events.

Same Show, Different Time?

EventMB’s latest survey found that almost two-thirds of event planners are still struggling to develop their hybrid event strategies. Many now suggest that the winning formula is to host in-person and virtual experiences at different times. 

Need more proof that virtual and live are separate beasts? Mark Fein of Freeman recently conducted a sentiment study of events. According to Freeman's study, in-person attendees are more likely to prioritize exhibits and networking while virtual attendees prioritize education sessions and keynotes/general sessions. This gives planners insight into how to think about the differences between virtual and in-person events.

Touchcast

Tom Burg, our end-of-year guest at our December VEG group meeting, offered more insights based on a survey of event planners and managers. We’re sharing them so that you have a guiding compass as you enter the new year. Touchcast’s biggest insight is that event planners are not getting the love and affection they need from management to make thoughtful event decisions. Sounds like it’s time for the events folks to have a seat the planning table.

Ho! Ho! Rejoice! 

According to CBS nearly 27% of companies said they planned to hold some kind of year-end event, up from just 5% last year.

PS. If any of our readers are heading to CES (brave souls that you are) we’ll be there. One of the many hats we wear is to help CES organize its conference sessions. Proud of all the great work CES does to keep innovating and we would love to buy a VEG member a drink!