Ongoing global disruption has accelerated the global shift to digital. One of the most dramatic transformations has occurred in the event space.

Within weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, conferences, meetings, and workshops that had always been held in person were moving online. In addition to keeping people connected, virtual meetings also proved to be more cost-effective and eco-friendly—so much so that virtual events are looking to continue long after lockdowns and travel restrictions end.

If virtual events are the new normal, we need to start thinking about how we can create virtual experiences that are just as powerful as face-to-face.

We’ve been working with our clients to do just this. And we’d like to share our best insights–

1. Immersive environments. Say goodbye to text-based dashboards. Immersive 360 environments and augmented reality will draw people into the world of your event, creating powerful experiences that are just as memorable as face-to-face.
2. Keep people at the heart of the experience. Use experience management platforms with apps for collaboration, communication and knowledge sharing to nurture and build your virtual event communities.
3. Accessibility. Embrace the advantages of virtual by creating dual synchronous and asynchronous event experiences that span timezones.
4. Multimedia and resources. Bring your event to life with interactive and dynamic multimedia content. Live scribing can engage people in talking head discussions. Films give your speakers presence. Animations are perfect for communicating to diverse audiences. And infographics are ideal for simplifying complex messages.

We’ve combined design thinking and live event experience to create SmartLab, the experience management platform for delivering powerful events that are just as powerful as face to face. We’d love to discuss how we can help transform the way you deliver virtual events. Request a consult.