Colja Dams is a self-confessed tech nerd . The CEO of Vok Dams has been tinkering with broadcast and event technology for years so when the Covid-19 pandemic broke , he immediately realised that virtual and hybrid formats would pave the way for the industry ’ s recovery , allowing for his technology passions to steer the Germany-based agency ’ s future strategy worldwide .
When we speak , Dams is standing in a home studio , recently constructed in his basement and designed to be self-operated so that he can present in front of a green screen and operate the slidedeck controls with the bright orange trainers he ’ s wearing on his feet .
“ Gartner ’ s marketing predictions for 2021 state that by 2023 , 60 % of companies that pivoted to virtual events will incorporate real-time , real space back into their overall communications ,” he says . “ In the intervening period , before hybrid goes mainstream , I believe we ’ ll see a strong return to live before companies find the balance between online and in-person .”
Dams ’ assertion that we ’ ll all race back to live before resorting to a stable mix of online and in-person formats is supported by those event enquiries currently being received by his agency worldwide , together with his own belief in what he calls ‘ the campfire gene ’.
“ After the long months of
The hybrid reset
Vok Dams CEO , Colja Dams tells Mike Fletcher how our campfire gene will result in a return to live before a reassessment of how hybrid can build for the future of marketing and communications
lockdowns , people want to meet face-to-face again . This is human nature , we are social animals who thrive in groups . We ’ re attracted to congregating around the fire where it ’ s warm and familiar and it will take longer before we ’ re ready to venture into the darkness beyond ,” he says .
Over a quarter of all the enquiries currently received by Vok Dams in Germany now concern face-to-face events , while in China , where in-person events have been allowed to take place since the middle of last year , Vok Dams ’ faceto-face activity enquiries now account for over 30 %.
“ The fact that large events with more than 1,000 participants have also been increasingly requested since the first quarter of 2021 reflects this deep need for strong community experiences ,” Dams says .
In the past year , Vok Dams has staged more than 1,200 virtual events including digital sales kick-offs , press conferences , trade show substitutes , panel discussions , virtual company meetings , award ceremonies and product launches .
As clients re-embrace live and strategically plan for a hybrid future , Dams believes that certain virtual elements will evolve but many will fall by the wayside .
He says : “ Virtual twins - those exact replicas of event environments where you ’ re an avatar and you have to walk over to the information or registration desk in order to click for details of the content programme - people years from now will only remember those as ‘ one of those Covid events ’. Why would you want to walk around a virtual event ? There ’ s no future in making digital events look like physical events , you have to think digital first and evolve for online behaviours .
“ A key evolutionary aspect will be the role of the moderator and cloud-based studio broadcasting . Gone are the days of the company CEO embarrassing himself on-stage trying to host the conference . We ’ re moving into professional broadcast emcees and high production values .”