Conference News April 2022 | Page 49

and of servers which were incapable of hosting 3,000 online delegates .
There are absolutely some very good platforms and wider tech solutions out there – genuinely – but there are some poor ones , too . Event managers tell me they felt their needs weren ’ t catered for , but rather they were told what they should have , like it or lump it . That ’ s just plain wrong . Today , the event managers are largely looking to return to live , in-person events . It ’ s what their bosses want , it ’ s what their delegates want but , chiefly , it ’ s
what their budgets allow . At my count , I spoke to 38 event managers – a good sample size – from the corporate and association world and they all broadly had the same message : “ virtual did nothing for us ”.
One trend I think we should expect to see is a bit of self-reflection from some of these virtual event platforms on how they deliver value to event managers . It should not be sales-led , it should be solution-led , with full transparency on cost and hardware requirements . It ’ s a hard truth , but the trust needs rebuilding .
Photography by Jonathan JT Taylor @
Aniseed Photo
Budget matters As I mentioned last year , I ’ ve always been concerned that event budgets would be tight in the wake of the pandemic , and they are , even more so with the cost of living increasing at the rate that it is .
Event managers are returning to live , in large part without a hybrid element ( depending on how you define hybrid ). They are simply being told it is in-person or online over Zoom , not both , and certainly not a TV-quality style broadcast .
That ’ s not to say there aren ’ t any . I had two in-depth conversations with two big AV production companies , and they are booked up for the year , one can assume with clients from big ticket industries which weren ’ t overly impacted by the pandemic or major corporates with deep pockets .
But we must be careful not to frame the industry through the buying habits of giant multinationals : the overwhelming majority of events that happen in the UK are for regular organisations with regular budgets . They are the bread and butter of the UK ’ s £ 19bn conference and meetings sector and they matter a great deal .
There are some who seem to think that every event will be a big budget virtual or hybrid production going forwards : they are wrong . Some organisations just want to bring people together in a room and leave it at that . Not everything requires a technological solution or so-called enhancement .
This doesn ’ t need to stifle creativity , there will always be scope for innovation and fresh thinking , and we must encourage more strategic thinking rather than a more tactical approach , but let ’ s not kid ourselves that basic in-person events with coffee and croissants are going anywhere . They ’ re back , and they work .
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