The Coronavirus pandemic has barrelled full-force into the business events industry, compelling organisers across the world to cancel or postpone seminars, conferences, trade fairs, exhibitions, conventions, and the like.
The disruption has driven such events online, with enough success to ensure the virtual format will become a game-changer.
Surprisingly, the business world has quickly adapted to the reality of online events and accepted that they are the way of the future. In fact, virtual events that have been prepared thoroughly and presented with flair are proving to be big hits with participants.
Virtual events are also increasingly being seen as revolutionary in the conferencing environment, free as they are from the complex organisation required for face-to-face symposiums and summits. They are significantly changing the way business professionals meet, interact, and learn from one another.
Meta Description: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, webinars and online conferences have taken over as the primary form of business events. Is this virtual trend here to stay?
Like everything that we once considered normal, the Covid-19 pandemic has roiled the entire business events industry, forcing it to switch to a virtual format.
Surprisingly, the business world has quickly adapted to the reality of online events and accepted that they are the way of the future. In fact, virtual events that have been prepared thoroughly and presented with flair are proving to be big hits with participants.
Remember the Days When …
It was the norm: millions of people every year criss-crossing the country, and even international borders, to attend business conferences, 
conventions, trade shows, exhibitions, seminars, product launches, and the like.
Changes, inevitably, came with the digital revolution and event organisers a few years ago began offering an online element as an add-on extra.
Those who could not attend in person could at least listen to the speakers and join in the debate. Online was pretty much a second-best option back then.
Since the pandemic turned our traditional way of life upside down, though, online events 
have become the norm—and organisers are getting better and better at bringing them to life.
The Pandemic’s Effect on Business Events
Two recent surveys of how the pandemic is impacting the business events industry make for sobering reading:
1) Business events strategists PCMA found that 87 percent of respondents to its survey said they had cancelled events as a result of COVID-19, while 66 percent said they had postponed. A full 70 percent of respondents said they had shifted their in-person event either partially or fully to an online format.
2) A survey of events companies in the United Kingdom found that due to the slump in demand for live events, 40 percent of respondents feared that their businesses would not exist in the pre-Coronavirus form within the next 6-12 months. Some 25 percent of respondents said they had furloughed full-time employees, while 13 percent said they had made job cuts.
Some Events Companies Are on the Verge of Collapse
While most events companies are just scraping by on government hand-outs, some have already folded or have decided to get out of the events business altogether.
One case of note is American learning company O’Reilly Media, which over the years had expanded its book publishing business by entering the business conference sector in a big way.
In March, however, O’Reilly president Laura Baldwin announced that the company had decided to close down the in-person portion of its business.
Baldwin gave this as the reason for the drastic measure: “Without understanding when this global health emergency may come to an end, we can’t plan for or execute on a business that will be forever changed as a result of this crisis.”
That pretty much sums up the dilemma facing business events companies. Would you go to the expense and trouble of organising an in-person conference knowing that it could be cancelled at any time due to new Coronavirus-linked restrictions?
I certainly wouldn’t take that risk.
The Online Option
Faced with so much uncertainty, enterprising companies are pivoting into Baldwin’s ‘forever changed’ reality by focusing on online events, live streaming, and webcasting.
During lockdowns and quarantines, Zoom conferences 
quickly became all the rage—and their popularity shows no signs of waning, with many predicting that virtual events are here to stay.
The trick, of course, is to make the virtual event as engaging as possible to make up for the lack of social interaction that is a big part of these sorts of gatherings. The following example, in particular, stands out.
The ‘Collision from Home’ Conference
Toronto’s annual high-flying technology conference known as Collision, which brings together Fortune 500 companies, pioneering start-ups, and a plethora of world-class speakers, rebranded itself as ‘Collision from Home’ for its June 2020 event. It was conducted entirely online.
Thanks to a custom-built online platform, the event drew a whopping 32,000 attendees from 140 countries.
Those logging in could, at the click of a button, flick between any one of the big-name speakers addressing the conference, among them Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, 
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Microsoft president Brad Smith, and author Margaret Atwood.
The conference was also noted for its dedicated breakout chat rooms and its attempt to make up for the lack of networking opportunities by facilitating three-minute one-on-one video calls between attendees.
The Assessment
Did it all go well? Given the circumstances and what the conference managed to achieve, the answer has to be yes. That said, the event did highlight some of the limitations of online business events. For example:
- Some attendees experienced technical problems logging in
- Others said they sorely missed the social interaction
that typifies conventional conferences - A few delegates found it exhausting to follow panels and speakers via computer
However, given the fact that online conferences have the potential to bring more people together without the limits of space and without causing travel-linked environmental damage,
it is clear that the format is here to stay.
How Business Events Are Changing
These are some of the ways the pandemic has changed the face of major annual business meetings:
- Facebook announced that its Oculus Connect conference in 2020 will be an online-only event, rebranded as Facebook Connect but still focused on virtual and augmented reality.
- The Microsoft Build conference was changed to an entirely digital event that featured multiple sessions with developer-focused content.
- Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference was held entirely online, free of charge, and featured a keynote address and sessions for developers and engineers.
Where to Now?
Let’s face it, the business events industry is huge and although it may have to transform itself for continued success, there is little likelihood of its disappearance.
Consider the following stats drawn from the 2018 Global Economic Significance of Business Events study, commissioned by the Events Industry Council:
- 1.5 billion people take part in business events
annually - Business events result in direct and indirect spending to the tune of $2.5 trillion (USD)
- Attendees on average spend $704 (USD) at such events
- The industry provides employment, either directly or indirectly, to some 26 million people.
Can you believe that? A massive 1.5 billion people take part in business events every year!
Obviously, the numbers will be significantly affected by the cancellation of events. Meanwhile, the reluctance to travel, the hassles of catching cabs or finding parking, queuing up at registration, and the growing awareness of the environmental impact of air flights are sure to make online events a game-changer.
Hybrid—the Future of the Business Events Industry?
Analysts who have been observing the trends are already predicting it: the business events industry will transform to a hybrid format.
What do they mean by that? Essentially they foresee that once the pandemic is brought under control, live events will start taking place again—but always with a substantial virtual component. Not only does this allow broader participation, it also expands diversity among delegates and cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions linked to travel.
In all probability, we will see digital events platforms such as Troop Travel, Run the World, and Hopin working with traditional events companies to derive new formats that accommodate in-person attendees as well as online participants.
Virtual events are increasingly being seen as a revolution in conferencing, free of all the complex organisation necessary for in-person meetings. They are changing the way business people meet, interact, and learn from on another significantly.