Online communities meanwhile have emerged as a way to drive year-round revenue and engagement with audiences , as well as improving the event experience .

The benefits with online components have become evident – flexibility , accessibility , lower operational costs and yearround opportunities .

Irving says : “ For years I ’ ve been talking about community and events . Now we ’ ve got a real opportunity to build it , whether it ’ s taking on what we ’ ve learned from live and repurposing pieces or holding new online discussions . It ’ s the accessibility that organisers can really leverage to provide customers with a different digital experience .”

Clarion has been developing its own 365 communities as it provides opportunities to keep conversations happening outside the few-day lifecycle of an event .

Clarion is now capable of giving its clients room to continue talking through a platform after the show has finished . Furthermore , visitors , sponsors and stakeholders can engage before the in-person experience so the ice is already broken when they meet . This allows them to move “ closer into the sales funnel towards real business ”.

Irving adds : “ We ’ ve become the platform where connections happen , where information is shared , where we come together with exhibitors to learn and share ideas . You can have conversations during a show and then as an organiser you can provide a platform and continue those conversations after the event . Or vice versa – you can start that conversation digitally and then when you come together face-toface , that conversation is much more meaningful , because you ’ ve already done the pre-screening of each other .”

The industry ’ s digital transformation saw Clarion adapt the skill-set of its team so they were in a strong position to make a success of it . Irving says they needed to ensure their teams had what they needed to be able to not only interpret the new data they were acquiring , but also use it to improve a customer ’ s journey .

“ We ’ ve added new data skillsets , digital skill-sets , plus customer journey mapping that is rounding out an already strong marketing team ,” she says . “ I think those are big things that we as event organisers have to leverage . It ’ s no longer about just running a multi-channel marketing plan , we also need to augment our team to be much more data-centric and be able to harness insights and trends to deliver more personalised results for our customers .

“ We have to really understand the customer journey and how to

define it and make it better every time . We use a lot of our digital skill-sets to help us get there so I think it ’ s huge for us .”

Irving believes one area where digital has an edge over in-person for marketing is through the use of influencers . She says : “ When you ’ re in digital you ’ ve got such a great opportunity to use your platform , speakers , sponsors , exhibitors and even other attendees to help get the message out there . It ’ s an untapped piece for us .

“ When we did influencer marketing with live events it wasn ’ t always as successful as it could be . I think now as we move further into digital , we ’ ve got so much more at our fingertips – and people are willing to share and talk .

“ That ’ s a great thing for organisers to think about as they start to leverage both going back to live but also their digital platforms .”