AR ’ s big ask was that we familiarise ourselves with and adopt something entirely new . The metaverse is here now and literally contains billions of meta-people going about their meta-lives quite happily . The ask is not the same and so the adoption and application of metaverse strategies will be far easier . Forward-thinking brands are already in metaverse spaces , and they have been led by their audiences or understanding of expected audience behaviours . Gucci and Ralph Lauren are not building gardens and snow lodges in Roblox for fun . They ’ re building digital event environments that will capture emerging audience attention and create brand loyalty now and for the future .

Why the metaverse matters now to event professionals My view is that since audiences are currently engaging with the metaverse at scale and that volume will only increase as platforms mature , when these younger demographics start to engage more with live events , their expectations will quickly align to what their already experiencing in virtual worlds .

Looking at platforms like Horizon , it ’ s barely out of the gate and they are already creating digital interactions in the metaverse for users on Workplace .

On popular metaverse platforms The Sandbox and Decentraland , land is selling for 3.7 Ether and 3.46 Ether , respectively , which is about $ 11,717 and $ 10,957 .

Depending on how wide a definition you want to apply to the term ‘ event ’, Travis Scott ’ s

Fortnite gig , which you could call the largest gig ever , attracted 12.3 million unique viewers . These numbers aren ’ t bubbles or fads , they are meaningful parts of people ’ s lives , which are definitely here to stay .

Proving powerful audience interactions Entire digital ecosystems have spawned around metaverse interactions , not least of all platforms like Twitch and Discord - which in themselves ( especially Twitch ) account for literally billions of hours of content consumption .

The dynamics of audience expectations are shifting to rich media environments in which they can place themselves . They are the closest thing to real live events we ’ ve achieved so far and therein lies their power . As

younger generations such as Gen Z and Gen alpha start to become the biggest demographic in our audiences , they will respond to metaverse interactions as they chose to interact with them for pleasure . In much the same way live tacticians began to adopt immersive , narrative elements following the rise of Punch Drunk and Secret Cinema , this is no different , just digitised .

When is the right time to enter into the metaverse ? Platform is undoubtedly a problem . The biggest metaverse misunderstanding is that it is already an out-of-the-box world everyone can jump on and explore . In reality , it is fragmented across a million platforms in a million ways . So to which CGI horse should you

hitch your digital cart ?

The answer lies in research . Some brands and event concepts will need to enter the metaverse much sooner than others . As mentioned , some already have . So let audiences lead you .

Some level of digital environment around your events is expected , but which platform will provide the most meaningful exchange comes from audience insight . Where are they now ? What do they and you want to achieve ? And which platform suits it best ?

A long-term metaverse strategy is going to be a must for event professionals . We ’ ll need to test and explore over the next few years to get it right . If we ’ re risk averse and shy away from the challenge , audiences will gravitate to the brave and the bold , so we risk more through inaction .