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in the past attendees would visit an average of two in person events , but this year , online attendees logged on to an average of eight different events .
When asked what her personal high lights from the event were , Pallett says just being able to actually attend was a huge plus : “ In normal events , as an organiser , you don ’ t often get to see all the content , so being able to watch and participate in sessions was a real personal highlight for me throughout the week .
“ In regard to the planning process , another personal highlight was having to be so structured ,” she continues . “ People were taking responsibility for their content , and so their conversa tions and narratives were very human ised by this . Being able to plan with a real purpose in mind was a real treat .”
As with any event , there were also challenges to overcome . Pallett says that a key one was schedul ing : “ In a physical envi ronment , if a speaker is running late , you can fill with an additional moderator , whereas in a virtual event , you don ’ t have much room for flexibility .”
Despite this , Pallett says that these chal lenges also came with m o r e hu m a n i s i n g moments : “ On the day , we did have a couple of children interrupt a couple of our sessions , and one person was doing their session from a farm so there were cow noises in the background . So , the online event did actually deliver a much more connected and inclusive environment .”
When asked if online elements would now form a hybrid London Tech Week in the future , Pallett responds in the affirmative .
“ I think for LTW , and the majority of events , we are seeing the benefits of the virtual , and I think that as indus tries and as event goers , we will want to have physical environments again .
“ In the future , I think we ’ ll have a content platform that can facilitate through year conversation , but also have hybrids with physical environments to facilitate conversations , and online envi ronments to stream that content out .”
When asked about the chal lenges currently facing the events industry , Palette remains hopeful .
She says : “ I think it ’ s been tough for everybody . I always try and be optimistic and have a positive outlook in that , whenever there is adversity , industry leaders , collaborators , in any ecosystem , want to come together and be able to work as a collective to fuel the next ecosystem of growth .
“ For events , this will continue to be critical , because you will have the need for people to gather . Do we expect the same state of exhibitions as we had last year to come back very quickly ? No , but do we see the importance of phys ical spaces and conversations ? Yes .
“ The positives are the collaboration , with people wanting to join together and convene to survive now and thrive later .
“ In the future , I think that whilst event experiences will be different , phys ical events will absolutely continue .”
London Tech Week took place from 7 11 September via Swapcard .
October — 29