SAEC NEWS

Are you ready to walk away from being a lone ranger?

The events industry, especially conferencing, has changed forever. The Council of Event Professionals Africa (CEPA), as a member of the SA Events Council, believes that there is a major competitive opportunity in creating an engaging and specialised experience for each of their in-person and remote audiences.

Glenn van Eck

By Glenn van Eck, Council of Event Professionals Africa (CEPA).

History is littered with examples of crises that have spawned massive innovation. Mention the words digital or smartphone to Kodak, Blockbuster or Nokia, and you will sense the regret of not staying in touch with changing customer trends and desires. Crises tend to drive us into states of deep discomfort, but the resulting innovation often corresponds with meeting customer opportunities already on the horizon.

Covid-19 has signalled the end of comfort zones for many service industries. Before Covid-19, the events industry in South Africa had been very comfortable packaging events such as conferences and product launches as specifically in-person events. However, during lockdown, we have become very comfortable with using online platforms such as Zoom and Teams. The organisers of conferences and events will now be forced to reimagine their offering to be competitive.

Hybrid events is obviously the new buzz. The challenge is to combine virtual and in-person event experiences that accommodate the health and safety protocols likely to be with us well into 2022. As an industry, we now have wonderful opportunities. We may now extend the attendance numbers and geographical reach, improve ROI, and gather valuable customer data. A recent survey by Northstar in Britain saw that 95 per cent of business respondents expected to hold at least one hybrid meeting this year.

However, I believe that there are major downsides to the new format if the events are not professionally produced. The danger arises when conference organisers see online broadcast as simply an add-on to the in-person experience and don’t differentiate and innovate the online delegate experience in the production. This has been very evident in many of the hybrid events currently being organised. The pitfall is that most of the organisers still structure the production as an in-person event and then simply add varying levels of video production to bring the image and sound to virtual viewers. In effect, this leaves the virtual viewer feeling that they are exactly that, a virtual viewer without feeling loved.

This add-on approach invariably leads to online viewers becoming distracted and less engaged with the proceedings. I believe that organisers need to treat the in-person and the online audiences as two separate productions. We will need to create more features, interactivity and exciting moments for online viewers. These may include questions to the presenters, role-playing activities and live polls, to mention a few options.

CEPA believes that the events and meetings industry may drive the recovery and growth of the tourism industry by embracing the new opportunities as a team. Building a reputation as an events sector that maximises the opportunities of Hybrid Events will help the decimated tourist sector in the country’s various destinations to recover and create a competitive advantage.

Our organisation passionately believes that the ‘Lone Ranger’ approach to the events business is no longer sustainable. Collaboration is critical for success. CEPA feels that the buy-in from event venues in particular is a critical success element. Venue staff need to be trained in the dynamics of hybrid events and must be able to give their customers excellent information about the advantages of including online audiences. They should have enough knowledge about the logistics of hybrid events to give accurate logistical advice to customers, in a confident manner.

By building knowledge and collaboration, we may deliver world-class hybrid event experiences for both in-person and online audiences and allow the tourism multiplier to spread the recovery of cities and towns across our country. At CEPA, we are researching the possibility of including this training in our offering to events industry staff. We look forward to being a significant contributor to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for the business events industry in South Africa.

e: hello@saeventscouncil.org