The Pivot to Hybrid Events: Upgrade Your OS or Die

Everyone’s made a pivot in their lives, whether personally, professionally, or via their startup. Pivoting is not just about changing direction, it is a tool that can drive growth. Much like a lot of terms that get thrown around in business, this is one that often gets misused and overused. However, for the purposes of this article, I propose that the pivot we’ve made to a world of remote work and video conferencing is preparing us for a second pivot, towards a future where in-person event experiences are completely interwoven with digital.

I recently wrote a piece that suggested that the B2B events industry was facing a similar fate to that of the print newspaper industry and asked whether our newfound adoption of video conferencing technologies like Zoom means that we will not want to meet in-person in the future? Are we now discovering that much like reading a newspaper cover-to-cover, attending in-person events is an inefficient use of our time?

Central to my point was the fact that B2B events are a massive drain on resources and, much like print newspapers, are expensive to produce and offer little of the breadth of content and experiences as their digital counterparts. Given where we stand today economically, and the fact it is no longer safe to travel or attend large scale in-person gatherings, we have to reimagine the future, one that is going to look very different from where we were pre-COVID.

In response to the article, many people left comments reacting to the suggestion that in the future there will be no in-person events. This was not the point I was trying to make. A huge part of my business is in running large-scale conferences for thousands of attendees. My argument was that events, whether in person or not, must be essential for them to be worthwhile. More specifically, for events to be worthwhile they must deliver a specific and measurable return on the investments made, by the organizer, attendee, sponsors, and other key stakeholders. 

The way in-person events are run is deficient on a number of levels and there are significant advantages to hosting events digitally, from data capture, scale, and enhanced networking to the efficiency gained by not having to travel or block out huge amounts of time to justify the investment. On the other hand, there are tremendous benefits from attending in-person events including face-time, serendipitous meetings, relationship building, and of course, the opportunity to enjoy a cocktail during a happy hour or attend a dinner with friends and customers.  

The moral of all this: we have the chance to take everything that was wrong with in-person events and upgrade the entire operating system and bring them into the 21st Century.  

So, our next pivot is to a hybrid of the two whereby we analyze what works and what doesn’t and create a new value proposition -- one that delivers meaningful business impact for everyone involved.

Hybrid has to be the way forward. It’s progressive, but we must bear in mind success is not guaranteed. Nonetheless, going back to events as they were is the equivalent of the newspaper industry abandoning their online publications at the time that it was unclear as to whether they would actually work or not. It took 10 years for print newspapers to go through their pivot to digital before realizing that scale and distribution weren’t as important as creating products and content that people actually wanted to pay for. Display advertising as it turns out was and still remains a flawed business model, whereas subscription and paywalls have in large part proven to be more valuable, both for the publisher and the consumer.

What do we mean when we talk about hybrid-experiences?  Ultimately it’s about optimizing the experience for all stakeholders, utilizing the strengths of each element to ensure that you deliver the highest possible return on everyone’s investment. It requires us to re-think every aspect of in-person events, from ticketing, registration, check-in, through to the way information is shared, on-stage presentations, networking, exhibitor floors, meetings, and the ways that audience members can interact with speakers and moderators.  We have to take each of these elements and redesign them with a digital-first approach. What does this actually mean? It starts by asking yourself the following question:  How can we drive the maximum impact by creating a hybrid experience that plays to the strengths of each of the mediums, digital, and IRL. 

Another good analogy to think about is the in-person fitness space, versus. the incredibly fast-growing digital fitness category, which is being led by the likes of Peloton, Mirror, and many others.  Ask yourself this question as a consumer, which feels more appealing to you at this time, Soul Cycle, which charges it's users $45 for one class and is currently closed, or Peloton, which charges its members less than $100 per month, includes the bike, plus access to a massive library of classes on-demand?  And as a business, think about the scale and reach that Peloton has compared to Soul Cycle.  The two don’t even compare. Do you think that everyone is going to switch back to in-person classes after the pandemic?  No way, why would they? They've already experienced the efficiencies of participating in virtual classes and they significantly outweigh the benefits of attending in-person. Some will return and they will do so because they enjoy the energy of being in the same room as the instructors and other members, or perhaps because they don't have space for a Peloton in their NYC studio apartment. Fine, but we're talking about a major shift in adoption and it’s a trend that will continue.

How does this support the argument for going hybrid if Peloton is digital?  Peloton also has over 70 studios throughout the U.S. and Europe to provide its members with an incredible in-person experience but which is limited to only a small number of people.  It's considered to be a major perk to be able to join a class at one of these studios.  Fundamentally, they are digital-first, with in-person providing a value-add for those with the appetite to invest the time to join an in-person class.  But ultimately, they are a hybrid business and this is what sets them apart and what I believe should serve as inspiration when we think about the future of the B2B events industry.

In today’s economy and in the midst of a global pandemic, we are experiencing a massive acceleration of digital transformation. This transformation is happening whether we like it or not. We have to approach this moment with the recognition that change is ultimately a good thing. Imagine looking back in a year, perhaps two, and asking yourself this question: Did I embrace the opportunity to pivot or did I try and protect and hold on to what was? If you choose the latter, I suspect your business will be in a steady decline for the next few years. Either way, it is your choice. Embrace the moment, pivot, go hybrid, upgrade your OS or die, it’s up to you.

What do you think? Do you agree with this way of thinking about the future? What is your vision for the hybrid-experience?