Cvent engaged as in-person , but they can still be involved through digitisation : matchmaking , polling , asking questions , and more . Despite this , I would still say that , statistically , virtual attendees ’ depth of engagement is lower than in-person .
How is digitisation influencing Cvent ? We ’ ve adopted AI into our content system and have included OpenAPI in our package , which we would never have thought of six months ago – it didn ’ t even exist ! That ’ s the thing about digitisation ; it ’ s unavoidable . Ultimately , we ’ re all still learning . As a product provider , while the world is going through such a degree of change , we ’ re aware that we all may develop and follow new protocols in the future so we ’ ve made our AI optional . We need to embrace the technology but embrace it responsibly .
Calculating depth and breadth
AT IMEX FRANKFURT CMW HEARD FROM JAMIE VAUGHAN , VP EUROPEAN SALES AT CVENT , ABOUT THE TECH PROVIDER ’ S LATEST CATCHWORDS
W hat do you mean exactly by ‘ depth ’ and ‘ breadth ’ in your terminology for engagement ? When Covid came along and changed the world , we had to reevaluate a lot of things – including the definition of what good engagement would look like . We came up with ‘ depth ’ and ‘ breadth ’.
We realised a couple of trends very quickly , including the benefits to the industry that came out of the pandemic - which we call breadth . When measuring engagement , we refer to that as the ‘ depth ’ of engagement . To us , that means face-to-face conversations where you ’ re more likely to have free-flowing , deeper connections that you ’ re more likely to remember .
How have you been using the terminology ? When the pandemic hit , everyone went virtual . Our virtual Cvent Connect event in London saw 10 times the number of attendees than in-person , but now ‘ virtual ’ has become ‘ hybrid ’ those numbers are closer to four times increase for most events . But organisers are still seeing amazing amplification from virtual attendees through that breadth .
Many say virtual attendees aren ’ t as
“ We ’ re challenging the status quo and people must consider what tech they choose and why .”
Does digitisation have a financial barrier ? It depends on the client and what they ’ re trying to achieve . It ’ s not necessarily about size , just what they want . For big companies , like BP or BMW for example , putting on an event isn ’ t necessarily about making money ( they might not make money from it at all ) – so they ’ ll use digitisation to improve the delegate experience . They ’ re not focusing on cost ; they ’ re focusing on lasting value and memorability .
Many companies won ’ t be able to afford digitisation even if they ’ d like to , but the MICE world is being challenged by new tech . We ’ re challenging an old status quo , and people must consider what tech they choose and why .
Overall , the actual value of digitalisation and hybrid is to extend an event for as long as possible and make it potentially more monetisable . By making the content accessible afterwards , and adding additional post-event content , digitisation will ultimately help you to improve both the depth and breadth of your event . n
36 / CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD / ISSUE 125