Despite the good news about COVID-19 vaccines, it’s clear the pandemic is far from over. For communicators, a major question is when will the business world exit the pandemic? Similarly, when can business travel and events restart safely in the US and abroad?
The answer to these questions depends on reaching herd immunity via vaccines. Unfortunately, scientists don’t agree on the percentage of the population that constitutes herd immunity.
For example, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted estimates he’s offered, ranging from 70 to 90 percent of the population, are just that–estimates. “We have to realize that we have to be humble and realize what we don’t know. These are pure estimates,” Fauci told CNN Dec. 27.
Fourth Quarter 2021
So, it seems safe for communicators to assume live events won’t return, at best, before late summer or Q4. That leaves some eight to nine months for companies to continue to stage virtual activities, including trade shows, press conferences, media interviews and other events.
Late in November, weeks before the first vaccine jab in the UK made global headlines, we asked communicators what the spate of virtual activities in 2020 taught them about operations. In addition, we asked whether or not a virtual event is an efficient method of attracting business leads, enticing prospective clients and creating revenue.
We’ll consider operations first.
‘Don’t Replicate; Reinvent’
True, it’s no longer considered unusual for a company to mount a physical event on an online platform. From an operations viewpoint, though, a major issue, communicators say, is the changes to make to what formerly was a physical event. It’s key, communicators say, to reimagine the event in today’s virtual setting, rather than simply putting a physical event and agenda online.
For example, in-person conference sessions often run 45 minutes or longer. Expecting attendees to sit that long in front of a computer screen, though, is no longer feasible, says Jenny Wang, a VP at kglobal.
“With so many virtual meetings and events now, it’s important to keep sessions short. No one wants to be on Zoom for hours and hours at a time, especially 10 months into the pandemic.” Zoom-fatigue “is real,” she adds.
That sort of thinking was applied to the “Summit on the Future of Communications Measurement,” a gathering PRNEWS columnist and Paine Publishing CEO Katie Paine holds each fall at her New Hampshire farm.
For 2020’s virtual summit, Paine’s motto was “Don’t Replicate; Reinvent.” First, she considered how people at physical events spend their time. Half the day, she reasons, they’re in sessions. The other four hours revolve around networking, checking email and social and making phone calls.
Similar to Wang, Paine asks rhetorically, “Now, do you want to have people spending four hours looking at Zoom?” Accordingly, what usually is one day of presentations at Paine’s summit stretched over three, to accolades, she says.
At the pandemic’s outset, using virtual technology to replicate a ballroom or networking table offered attendees a novel experience. Yes, there might be tech glitches and navigation wasn’t always smooth, but in the pandemic’s early days, such creativity was a plus.
Almost one year in (at least in the US), expectations and patience have changed. Glitches are tolerated less, as are fancy, hard-to-navigate software that attempts to replicate the before-world. For some attendees, these bells and whistles are reminders of what they miss most about pre-COVID-19 times. Moreover, attendees can end up spending more time navigating channels than listening to speakers, Paine argues.
Instead, she emphasizes making access to content as easy as the one-click-buy button on Amazon. Paine prefers recording all presentations in advance and allowing attendees to search easily for sessions they wish to attend. Again, put the emphasis on one-button ease, she says.
Another question concerns Q&A sessions. Here it’s a toss-up. Do you schedule live Q&As on Zoom for a certain time and hope attendees show, sometimes hours after they’ve heard a taped presentation? Or, do you prefer a captive audience, running the live Q&A right after a taped session is offered? We were unable to find a consensus.
Efficiency and Business Leads
Similarly, there are diverse opinions on whether or not virtual events are an efficient way to gather leads and engage potential customers.
For Mowergroup VP Mark O’Toole, who specializes in working with technology companies, virtual trade shows “simply don’t serve the same lead-generation function” for tech products that live, in-person events did pre-pandemic.
In fact, his advice is that for much of 2021, companies may need to employ other channels to engage target audiences. He admits, though, it will take a large quantity of such channels “to even come close to replicating the exposure of a physical show booth.”
Even with some virtual events charging little or no admission, “it’s become difficult to attract attendees,” Wang adds, again citing Zoom overload.
Empty the Holster
Indeed, this is why O’Toole suggests PR pros with ample budgets consider deploying as many communication channels as possible to engage customers.
Communicators can treat virtual events as an account-based marketing activity, O’Toole suggests.
So, for example, they can try to engage customers with email marketing, content-generation from virtual event presentations, paid and organic social media posts, press releases, blog posts and even direct mail, as people return to offices.
‘Dynamic Visual Presence’
In terms of content at virtual events, it’s critical that the event has “a dynamic visual presence,” O’Toole says. Such a presence, he adds, calls for compelling imagery, “captivating” video and animation, meaningful taglines and CTAs.
In addition, these elements should work in concert, he says. Ideally, they will “surround” prospective customers before an event, and engage customers during and after.
Much of this returns to operations. The restart of the 2019-2020 NBA season illustrates O’Toole’s “dynamic visual presence” well. The league added several elements to bolster awareness and excitement around its restart, despite being unable to have fans attend games in its indoor Florida venues.
For example, working with broadcast partner Turner Sports, the league repositioned 30 cameras closer to the court to provide viewing angles not seen on TV previously. Such camera placement was not possible when fans were in arenas. Audio quality also was strengthened with microphones placed around the court, giving viewers the feeling they close to the game.
And what’s a game without crowd noise? The NBA made sure the gym sounded full with simulated crowed noise, as well as in-venue public address announcers and DJs, who offered music and other effects.
Working with Michelob, the NBA also created virtual cheering sections. 300+ fans each game were invited to appear live on the Michelob Ultra-Courtside, 17-foot video screens surrounding the court. Thanks to another alliance, with Microsoft, those fans were able to cheer live as well as interact virtually with those ‘sitting’ nearby. Microsoft’s Together Mode removed fans’ individual backgrounds and gathered them in a virtual arena that was seen and heard during the TV broadcast and in the actual arena, providing a more realistic environment for players.
As with physical events, businesses need to establish metrics to determine what a good result looks like.
For example, technology companies sometimes feature complex offerings and sales cycles that can last nearly one year. Often the target audience for these companies is a small group of decisionmakers.
For these businesses the key to success is engagement, “getting a prospect to attend an event, participate and respond,” O’Toole says.
For companies with mass-market or consumer products and services, lead volume matters. “The approach and efficiency of lead generation is entirely dependent upon which type of prospect or sales cycle is at play,” he says.
In terms of what events are most efficient, that also varies. For many of the tech companies O’Toole advises, the struggle to measure results “is that there is no uniformity in approach and opportunities” for third-party virtual events.
On the other hand, he falls back on advice mentioned above. He urges companies to stand apart with “a unique rallying cry and a distinct, differentiated look and feel.”
He’s also learned smaller virtual events, such as webinars, Zoom Q&As, LinkedInLive sessions and other “focused and more intimate opportunities” deliver the best engagement.
As for cost, common wisdom is that mounting a virtual event must be less-expensive than a physical event. There are no transportation costs or construction costs. Budgets for travel, food and hotel are gone, right? Not so fast.
“Sure, for [virtual events] attendee costs are lower. But not necessarily for event hosts,” says Paine.
For example, Paine spent a significant sum on a virtual platform. She also attempted to put her farm in a box, sending attendees local food and drink so virtual happy hours could be more enjoyable. While these innovations worked for the most part–attendees in Australia found drinking at 4 am local time taxing–they cut into profits.
Indeed, O’Toole says, “Cost for virtual events is a big variable.” If a company is hosting a large virtual event on an existing event platform, costs may be much lower than a live event.
“However, building a robust, interactive virtual event platform that works hard to replicate the actual event experience can be expensive.”
While brands were forced to quickly learn about virtual platforms, O’Toole is confident “we’ll go into 2021 with a bit more experience.” Still, he considers virtual events “a radical shift in doing business, so the right event opportunities and related costs are still very much a work in progress for most businesses.”
The good news is virtual events emit a load of data, so they easily measured, Paine says. If the purpose of an event is to generate sales leads, compare the online event to last year’s in-person activities. See which provided the most leads for the least costs. Make a similar measurement for events whose goal is generating revenue.