Transitioning to Virtual and Hybrid Events. Ben Chodor

in New York, where there was physical audience and a virtual audience.

The ask from this client was: How do you take the intimacy of a fashion show, with models walking down a runway, and make it exciting for the journalists, buyers, and customers who could not make it to NYC for Fashion Week and secure the hard‐to‐get ticket?

      We were able to do this by giving the virtual audience the best seat in the house and incredible camera angles, but the key element was giving this audience more, which included a behind‐the‐scenes look at what goes on backstage to put on a fashion show. They were able to actually ask a designer questions before the show, and as a little sneak peek, the virtual attendees saw the new fashions a few moments before the actual live attendees did.

      My second hybrid event that we produced was for one of the most successful rock bands of all time. Their ask was: How do we not only make the virtual audience feel like they are at the concert, but allow them to be the director of their version of the show wherever they were watching the concert?

      This event was taking place at the then‐named Garden State Art Center in Holmdel, New Jersey, with 10,000‐plus screaming fans at the venue and tens of thousands watching via web who we not only gave the concert experience to but also allowed them to get involved in the show. In short, we got creative and this is how we did it:

      1 We had a typical concert five‐camera production setup, with a camera set up for wide shots so you could see the entire band. There was another camera set up so you could see the lead singer, and an overhead camera so you could see the whole band from above. Lastly, we had an additional camera focused on the audience and a final mobile camera so you could get various closeups on stage.

      2 To get creative we decided to give the virtual audience control of their camera views and also added three more lipstick cameras (they are called lipstick cameras because they are the size of a lipstick) so we could put one on the lead singer's microphone, put one around the neck of the drummer, and the last on the hat of the lead guitarist. While you were watching virtually you could either watch a mixed program feed that we directed or at any time you could click to the view that you wanted. Giving the controls to the audience gave them the ability to not only watch the concert but see the concert the way they wanted to.

      3 We set up a pre‐concert virtual meet‐and‐greet with the band, where a few lucky virtual attendees got to ask the band questions before the concert.

      4 We also enabled one lucky virtual attendee to request a song that the band would play at this concert.

      End result, the virtual audience had a unique experience that they would not have had at the live concert.

      Now let's fast‐forward to today and the reasons that have brought you to pick up this book. Where were you when the world changed forever and got you to this point? The point where virtual and hybrid events became a necessity in not only your event strategy but your overall business strategy.

I was just getting back from our sales kickoff world tour. We started in New York and then went to Chicago; Los Angeles; Toronto; London; France; Malmo, Sweden; and our last location was Sydney, Australia. We flew home on a Thursday. On the following Monday I was asked to join a call with one of the largest online retailers in the world for their Entrepreneurial Fund event, where they were going to give $5 million in investment funding to the winners. They had decided to cancel their physical event in China because of the risk COVID‐19 was posing to the world. In under 11 business days we created their first‐ever virtual event, where they had over 45 presenters from all over the world who could not make the trip to China, or were down‐right prohibited from making it. Little did we know when we were helping them move this incredible event from a physical event to virtual event that this would be the start of a global movement that would take us from interacting in person with business associates and friends at physical events to a world of work from home, videoconferences, and 100% virtual events.

      I haven't looked back since, and I expect virtual will remain a highly valuable channel for our future and a driver of revenue and profit growth, but success will depend on delivering truly innovative programs that educate and inspire your audiences and deliver meaningful and measurable ROI to customers and sponsors.

      This book, your virtual events playbook, will give you the knowledge you need to navigate this new world of virtual events and to plan and execute a successful virtual event strategy! I tapped into some of the most knowledgeable professionals I know in the world of broadcast television, streaming, event production, design, and marketing and asked them for their secrets on how to make the leap into virtual events. I have incorporated these tips into this book; I cannot thank them enough for the invaluable input. I am excited that you picked this book to help you on your journey into the incredible world of virtual events and remember when reading it that this is your journey and you have to add your own creativity and look at this adventure as a blank canvas to create something memorable. I cannot wait to participate in one of your events!

CHAPTER 1 Understanding Virtual and Hybrid Events

      The nature of events has changed forever. Companies are reconsidering their in‐person event strategies and shifting to virtual or hybrid events instead.

      A little fact that I found in a recent survey conducted in early 2020 was that 78% of marketing leaders said they expected to significantly increase their budgets when it came to virtual events. That says it all; the need for virtual events continues to grow so if you understand and master them, you'll position yourself as a forward‐thinking asset in your organization.

      You can't just take a physical event, make it virtual, and instantly expect the attendees to have an incredible user experience, or expect your speakers to be able to make an easy transition to virtual when they won't be able to look into the eyes of the attendees, know if their jokes went over well, or hear their applause. But don't worry, by the time you finish reading this book, I promise you will have all the information you need to produce a virtual or hybrid event.

      In this chapter, you'll get a basic understanding of virtual and hybrid events, including benefits and challenges, and I will also clear up some common myths and misconceptions about taking your events virtual.

GOING VIRTUAL

A virtual event is a meeting or conference that either was originally held as a physical event and moved to be online or was created to exist only online. The only way that you can access and attend the event is via the internet from a computer, laptop, mobile device, or OTT (over the top) on a Smart TV.

      Enterprise companies have been pushed to come up with new and innovative ways to connect with their customers, partners, and prospects. For years, large physical events have been a great way to network with these audiences and share new innovations, products, and services. Today, organizations have to turn to 100% virtual or hybrid events to extend the reach of their content, attract more interest in their company, and stay in touch with their investors, members, partners, and employees. The rapidly evolving event technology space has enabled companies to have thousands of additional people engage with a virtual event and keep them coming back to view on‐demand after the event has ended. So instead of being at a physical event they are now participating from their home or office from any corner of the world.

      A major benefit of the hiatus from in‐person event delivery is that it has forced in‐person events teams to finally embrace virtual delivery in ways that would not have been possible if they'd been focused on the production cycle of in‐person events. Out of this hiatus has come an intense focus on how to integrate digital delivery of content: either as virtual‐only or (in the future) as a mix of staged in‐person and virtual delivery. The latter will be important because when in‐person events do return, social distancing measures will continue to heavily impact the way events are staged, requiring larger space footprints to stage them, which will impact revenue and margins and can only be offset by the thoughtful integration of virtual delivery to enhance reach and drive ROI for sponsors.

      Like most