September, 2020
Opinion 21
This past month saw the first online
editions of the world’s largest
tradeshow, the Canton Fair, and one
of the largest technology conferences,
Web Summit’s ‘Collision from
Home’. While it is an achievement
that, in little over three months both
these events, along with many others
impacted by Covid-19, have developed
a digital equivalent to serve their
communities, the online event model
is still to be cracked successfully.
A successful physical event
combines multiple elements: conferences
focus more on speakers and
content, while tradeshows have a
greater focus on the exhibition floor to
showcase and discover products and
connecting buyers with sellers. Both
meet a strong need for networking.
Virtualising conference content
is more straightforward, and webinars
and live streaming are well
established. However, replicating the
experience of a tradeshow floor online
requires more than creating a virtual
floor plan, a booth with product listings
and a chat box. And, despite the
emergence of AI-powered matchmaking
solutions, recreating face-toface
networking remains a challenge.
Some of these challenges are
technical in nature. It has taken a
pandemic for event technology to
really think what the right digital
solution is for their participants (as
illustrated by Web Summit’s decision
to develop its own platform for
‘Collision from Home’), and better
solutions should continue to emerge.
However, other challenges are
more intrinsic to the digital world. The
decision of an individual to attend a
physical event drives the commitment
and urgency to meet and interact with
Digital
solutions
Jonathan Dufton
says virtual events
are not the answer
and asks, What is?
Words
Jonathan Dufton
others. In an online environment,
this time sensitivity disappears, and
the overall proposition weakens.
Furthermore, lessons learned
from digitisation in adjacent sectors
should be heeded for organisers
launching virtual events. Once freed
from the constraints of the physical
version, there is no reason why the
digital version should look the same.
The digital equivalent of a trade
publication could become specialised
news portals, a data business
or a job site, the high street and
shopping malls have become social
networks and marketplaces, and
training courses have become unbundled
into online learning platforms.
Building digital equivalents of physical
events without understanding
the objectives of customers and the
resulting digital need risks the threat
of losing out to a native solution.
Some organisers are starting to
respond to this threat: Informa has
partnered with the e-commerce platform
NuOrder for its fashion retail
portfolio, while IMC launched a B2B
e-commerce division through the
acquisitions of Pharos and RepZio.
Given the unique value of the physical
event experience, it is likely that
face-to-face events will return as soon
as they are safe to do so. The format
of these events will evolve, incorporating
hybrid digital elements to
adapt to the post Covid-19 environment,
but also with the continued
development and uptake of digital
tools that can improve the effectiveness
of the in-person experience.
However, in the mid-term, we
will see the emergence of real digital
alternatives. The diversity of industries
means the solution, be it digital
marketing services, lead generation
platforms, digital marketplaces, online
networking, e-learning, sales and
marketing enablement data or more,
will be different for a US retail event
vs. a manufacturing event in Germany.
What is not in doubt is that
event organisers who invest in digital
capability and meld the right
digital offering with their events
by understanding their audience
needs will emerge as the winners in
the next era of the events industry.
Jonathan Dufton is a director at Plural
Strategy www.pluralstrategy.com