By Mice Affairs Media, 22 July 2020
AIM Group International, a company specialised in
congresses, events and communication with 60 years’ experience, today published a new White Paper entitled: Virtual and Hybrid Events: a guide to
success, signed by the senior expert Annalisa Ponchia, Director
of Innovation and Customer Experience AIM Group International.
The global pandemic has forced the
event industry to embrace and explore the realm of virtual meetings like
never before. AIM Group has already organised more than 90 digital
events (congresses, CME courses and corporate meetings) in the early months
of 2020 and a further 180 virtual events will happen by the end
of the year.
During the pandemic many corporate and
association clients had their first experience of fully virtual event,
often planning it in very short time frames. While the digital pivot is a
necessity, in unprecedented circumstances, the need to become digital sometimes
can pave the way for virtual events with little or no strategy and
design, lack of creativity and professionalism.
That is why AIM Group decided to leverage the
experience gained from our international client experiences to prepare
guidelines on how to plan and organise virtual events that satisfy the mix of
different stakeholders - attendees, speakers and sponsors, leveraging
the new opportunities offered by the virtual formats and channels.
“The organization of a virtual and hybrid event
requires a DCO, not a typo (!), this is a DIGITAL CONFERENCE
ORGANIZER, a team with specific knowledge and competences and the ability
to offer strategic guidance on planning events with full or partial digital
components” outlines Annalisa Ponchia.
Before embarking on a new virtual or hybrid
event, you need to follow a strategic map and complete a number of
actions. The methodology presented in the White Paper, downloadable for free from the AIM
Group website,
suggests six easy steps:
1.
Content FIRST. Linking the content with the right communication format and style should
come first, adapting the tone of voice, session formats and tools.
2.
The Digital Event Team: strategic mind-set and tech skills. From the Digital Event Strategist
to the Content & Resource Manager or the Digital
Tools expert, there are several specialist skillsets and profiles that
are needed for this kind of event.
3.
Digital platform and the best user experience: how to choose the most suitable
solution? Whether it is a fully virtual event, a hybrid or
multi-hub digital event, you must assess your needs first and then choose
the right technical equipment and tools.
4.
Digital Sponsorship opportunities and Virtual Exhibitions. It is important to consider and find
new ways to generate sponsor value and not simply replicate the ones used for
in-presence events.
5.
The importance of Communication. A focused effort on communication is needed
to gain attention, reliability and trust from your target audience and engage
users throughout their journey before, during and after the event.
6.
Sustainable actions and CSR initiatives for virtual events. Online events can be much more
environmentally sustainable than physical events, we must feature this and also
look for opportunities to add CSR initiatives to leave a legacy on the community.
“Organising a digital event can open a wide
range of new opportunities because you are not limited by the usual physical
barriers, you can very easily expand the audience and with the correct
event duration and timetable you can even prolong the event lifespan”
adds Annalisa Ponchia. “There is one extra tip that I would suggest and that is
leveraging data and feedback to make sure that the event is fully measurable.
If you set clear KPIs at the outset and leverage all the channels from
analytics to social media and the event app then you will be in a great
position to measure the event impact”.
“Virtual is here to stay: online and
hybrid meetings are expected to become an integral part of corporate and
association meeting strategies, even when large in-presence events resume”,
says Patrizia Semprebene Buongiorno, Vice President AIM Group
International. “Planning a virtual or hybrid event is much more complex than
you would imagine. Mastering virtual is the first step, but it is also crucial
to leverage online event strategies to create memorable and engaging hybrid
experiences. Our teams are consulting clients to embrace the innovation
and are fully committed to explore the new possibilities and find
new, creative solutions”.