The hopin event had a small live (and often a little forlorn looking) audience onsite at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles. The vast majority of folks attended virtually on the hopin event platform. The only person I could say with 99% certainty was live and in real
time was the emcee on stage at the Marriott. When he tossed to a session it was live (sometimes), prerecorded (sometimes) and the in-person audience seemed to miss the happy chatters and online networking. (Unless they looked at their phones through the entire live event.)
Swapcard’s event was totally virtual but it’s secret sauce was to commingle groups (IMEX and Evolve) on its virtual platform. Things ran mostly smoothly although I did get to listen to Arianna Huffington, Thrive Global and Julius Solaris from Swapcard shoot the breeze in the green room (who left the mic on?) while the company’s execs were delivering
their keynote speech. Oops.
Each company brought in big name/big bucks headliners. Arianna Huffington talked about innovation at Swapcard. Malala Yousafzai, activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate ever, talked up social action to kickoff Hopin’s new relationship with
GoFundMe.
The big question for each event was what will hybrid events look like in 2021 and beyond. The quick, synthesized answer? In the short term you’re seeing ‘revenge events’ — people who just want to be physically together again. But by 2022 smart producers are going to begin to remember the wonders of growing their attendance and sponsorship numbers with virtual events. Ultimately the two will coexist, cost more to produce, and earn more, too. The perfect balance will be dictated by the goals of the event, so start talking to your customers, attendees and sponsors now. |
