We also repositioned and rebranded the agency to fully align ourselves with where we see the future of the experience industry going . All of this has set us up for the journey ahead and has already led to us winning some exciting new work .
Has the pandemic shifted the skillset you require from your events personnel ; are you placing a greater emphasis on the need for digital skills ? With the rise of the experience economy and innovation in technology , the experiential landscape was already evolving . If anything , Covid has just helped accelerate this evolution .
In response to seeing the importance technology was playing in enhancing our experiences , we launched Cassette in 2018 , TRO ’ s in-house immersive production studio
By nature , events and experiences are always new and different and at times we find ourselves delivering things that have never been done . So , as we look to evolve our talent base , we also can ’ t forget the importance of upskilling .
Tell us about your recruitment plans for 2021 , including full / part time staff and the use of freelancers . As a predominantly project-based business with a broad experiential , virtual and live event offering , we have always placed tremendous value and reliance on working with our freelance community to deliver the experiences we create . And that ’ s not about to stop .
Off the back of some recent wins , we will be recruiting this year and will absolutely be working closely with our freelance community as things begin to scale back up .
Simon Hambley , CEO , Strata Creative Communications
Describe how Strata has changed since the pandemic took hold , and how will you broadly approach the return to live business ? The pandemic has had a huge effect on any live event where an audience gathers in significant numbers . Correspondingly , we ’ ve seen clients move their events online and into the virtual world . This started to happen from about mid-2020 onwards and has continued to grow . We have also continued to execute brand activations , and transformed them to be Covid-safe , where the ‘ event ’ does not involve large numbers of people , but the experience remains highly valuable for brands , particularly in terms of sales conversion .
We see 2021 as a year of two halves . The first half will be mostly online events , and targeted brand activations . In the second half we are actively planning with clients for a tentative return to live , but not at the normal scale of activities . Live events are being planned as ‘ hybrid ’ with a virtual fallback position . We don ’ t foresee large live events returning until 2022 onwards , and when they do , they will be focused much more on clearer ROI to justify ramping up spend again , so amplifying live through digital for better reach and engagement will become standard
Has the pandemic shifted the skillset you require from your events personnel ; are you placing a greater emphasis on the need
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Agency for digital recruitment skills ? Skillsets such as venue-finding , delegate management and event logistics have greatly reduced . Though elements of these skills are transferrable into digital events . With online events there is a lot more emphasis put on the ‘ how you say it ’ element of event . This has placed a much greater emphasis on the skills required to deliver great content . Producers , script writers , film and video , animation and creative skills , as well as technical digital skills .
It ’ s actually been refreshing to see clients focusing on the message and not the nuts and bolts of logistics . Equally , audiences are responding strongly to the new channels in terms of message retention and customer satisfaction has not dropped measurably comparing live to virtual , in some cases improving . This means we all need to make live work harder when it comes back .
Tell us about your recruitment plans for 2021 , including full / part time staff and the use of freelancers . Our expectations are a modest return to growth with continued focus on online / hybrid , and a tentative return to live / hybrid in the second half . While we made the decision to retain the majority of our staff and where possible retrain or re deploy , we are actively recruiting for full time and freelance staff to meet the increased requirement . We are still cautious though . So freelance / fixed contracts will play an important part in our plans . There will still be huge pressure on budgets from clients . The digital expansion , and therefore skills requirement , will continue and we see this as a permanent and growing service requirement as live event agencies have proven their continued value in communicating engaging content not just experiences for their clients . www . conference-news . co . uk