Growth in digital events set to continue despite return to in-person , says Totem
The UK-based event technology company , Totem , has found that less than a fifth of industry practitioners expect hybrid and digital events to reduce in prevalence in the coming year .
Totem interviewed delegates during International Confex , 8-9 March , at London ’ s ExCeL , and found that 37 % expect work on virtual and hybrid events to increase during 2022 than in previous years . Delegates pointed to a combination of inclusivity , seamlessness and sustainability as reasons why hybrid will hold its ground .
When interviewees were asked about the most important feature of a virtual or hybrid event , 53 % cited networking opportunities . This was followed by data at 19 %, and on-demand content at 9 %.
Alex Hughes , co-founder of Totem , said : “ What we ’ re hearing from the industry is that while we ’ re going to see a major push back to in-person events in the coming months , digital transformation continues apace . Hybrid plays an important supporting role in ensuring that organisers , sponsors and attendees have more ways to be event happy in 2022 .”
Hybrid to overshadow exclusively live events , says UK-based agency Maximillion
The corporate event management agency , Maximillion has analysed over 250,000 historical and forecasted web searches to determine what type of event will be the most popular within the events industry in 2022 / 23 .
Maximilian used the online keyword data platform Ahrefs to find the number of searches during the pandemic for the terms ‘ online event ’, ‘ hybrid event ’ and ‘ live event .’
During lockdown ( March-June 2020 ), ‘ online event ’ was searched for the most with 31,561 searches , while ‘ hybrid event ’ was search the least with 7,510 searches .
Nonetheless , it is forecast that from the end of the UK ’ s first lockdown until March 2023 , ‘ hybrid events ’ will be the UK ’ s favourite event type , receiving an 890 % search volume increase . Online-only events are expected to be the least popular event according to data from the same period , forecasted for only a 160 % search increase .
Mike McCloy , senior account manager for Maximillion , commented : “ Live events must have both an online and an in-person presence if they are to remain relevant .”
Right : Marc Crawford
Array receives US patent for its engagement technology
Colorado-based Array , a content engagement solution provider for life science events , announced it has received a United States patent . The patent is for the company ’ s ‘ Systems and Methods for Improved Meeting Engagement ’, which Array uses to deliver hybrid life sciences events with built-in engagement analytics and reporting .
Array has 20 years of experience at more than 10,000 life science events . Since 2021 , Array has surpassed 2,700 virtual events and 250 hybrid events where in-person and remote audiences engage with the same speakers and content in real time .
Array collects engagement data at an individual and slide level , then provides consulting to ensure clients understand the data they collect and can use it to improve future events and make informed business decisions .
Marc Crawford , CEO of Array , commented : “ When the pandemic brought about more reliance on virtual and hybrid formats , several technology providers had to learn , evolve and reconfigure their systems to present material in those formats . Since we had been doing it for years , we simply improved upon our existing systems and methods .”
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