An Optimistic Outlook
How our 2021 Conversation about The Great Reset, really mattered.
Last week Keri and I had the opportunity to sit down with two of our international colleagues. Our dear friend and amazing host Dave Kelly guided us through a conversation about where our industry is at now, and where we believe it is heading.
Spoiler alert ~
we were all left with a sense of optimism for what is to come.
First a little bit about our guests. I met Colja Dams of Vok Dams in January of 2002, just 6 months after starting e=mc² events. It was my first time at an international event industry conference. I was filled with anticipation and wonder about who I might meet and what I might learn. Having lived in Europe and being a fan of all things European, the very first session I attended was by a German event producer. I didn’t know who this producer was, what he was going to talk about nor how on earth it could at all be relevant to me and “e”.
Let me tell you, when someone is telling his story of logistical challenges of producing the launch of a new Lamborghini on the top of an active volcanic mountain in Italy - you tend to pay attention! That moment in time, that 45 minute conference session set a standard for me that I could not have imagined. There was my event life before that 45 minutes with Colja, and then 19.5 years of event life after Colja.
19.5 years later, we are still paying attention to Colja! We are still looking at him and his company as the standard to achieve when producing experiences for our clients. We were excited last week to get Colja’s thoughts of the industry and his perspective of what is to come.
As for our second guest,
Dan Bolton, our history is much shorter, yet equally as impactful. I met Dan virtually for the first time just 1 week before our webinar. I already know that in a very short time I will be saying the same as I did above with Colja ~ that there was our event life before meeting Dan and our event life after meeting Dan. And that thought is very exciting to me!
Now, I had heard of Dan Bolton since the moment he started his agency in Dubai. I think
everyone in our industry heard of the
Dan Bolton Creative Management Agency. He came on to the scene and literally took the creative and entertainment world by storm. The great thing for us is that unbeknownst to Dan a couple of years ago he hired a close colleague of ours and the rest is history.
We had the fortune of being hired by Dan’s company just a few months back to produce a large international virtual event, and it was quite the exciting ride for our combined teams, managing time zones, international IT security, firewalls, short timelines, etc. While Dan, Keri, nor I were part of this project, our team's collaboration was the start of an amazing thing and it was a pleasure to finally meet the man and visionary behind the name.
Also, as it turns out Dan and Colja’s teams had just finished a collaboration in Dubai months before our webinar ~ so our webinar timing was perfect to show us just how small this world really is.
So ~ how did this conversation matter?
Dan gave us optimism as he shared that live events are in fact already being planned and encouraged in Dubai. Colja gave us optimism as he shared that hybrid events are something to embrace as the future, and not just as a placeholder until we “go back to normal”.
We shared our optimism that our value as event professionals is ringing true in this virtual world.
We spoke about
The Great Reset.
While we are currently working digitally and virtually ~ our skills and insights as event professionals are not only needed, but are truly valued. Events as we knew them are gone, but the need for our industry is as strong, if not stronger than ever before.
We are all in the profession of human connection and while the connections are vastly different than they were a year ago, people are craving them. Yes, live events matter and they will return, but the hybrid model of live and digital will be the new normal. This is the time to reset how we will gather from here on out.
The Great Reset
is where we put on our strategic hats and work with and encourage our clients to reimagine what they need from their future experiences and how we can deliver it.
Strategy.
This is the time we all get to play a bigger game. Historically, live events were a tactic in an overall corporate strategic plan, or were a social tradition or an educational and awareness vehicle. Over the past 10 months we have been able to look at events AS the strategy, not just as the tactic. Our first step is think different, to engage our clients in future forward conversations that will change the way they not only look at “events”, but their entire tool box of resources, to have people rally around their organization and brand. This is where clients need a knowledgeable, trusted partner to navigate these times with. We, event professionals, are that trusted partner.
Audience[s].
This is where we look at audiences in a new light. When events were live and live only, either guests attended in person or they didn’t. In some cases they were mandated to attend, and would come kicking and screaming while others would come sliding in, champagne in hand, across a ballroom.
As event professionals it was always our job to determine, in the physical space, how to reach each type of audience member ~ those who liked to be in the centre of the room, and those who needed a quiet corner; those who learned by listening and others who learned by doing.
We have learned that virtually we can reach audiences in new ways. Therefore going forward we have more knowledge at our fingertips to reach more audiences in ways that resonate with them even better.
For those introverts who don’t like loud crowds and small talk, we can engage them behind their screen and have them feel like they are still connected. For those extroverts who love the noise, the hustle & bustle, the crowds, etc. we will be able to get them back safely into the live experience. [more on this to come in an upcoming blog].
Money Talk.
This is where we work with our clients to look at their budgets differently. In hybrid events, we need to budget for both the live event experiences and the online virtual experience. So in fact, our budgets will be increasing over time, not decreasing. Live Event + Virtual Event = Hybrid Event
Colja pointed out that budgets are being pooled from cross disciplines in order to come up with the right strategic direction and funds to support them. Generally speaking these disciplines include events, social media, digital content and communications budgets. [more on this to come in an upcoming blog].
By strategically bringing these disciplines together in conversation and in budgets, we are able to use the tools that we have all developed over the past 10 months, combine them with the tools we have had in our live event experiences over the past decades and build hybrid events that reach each audience in the right, unique way.
With the right messaging, emotions and storytelling these hybrid experiences will culminate in human connections like we have never imagined until now.
My Optimistic Outlook.
During and reflecting on our webinar conversation, I gained a sense of optimism for our industry. There is a lot for us to all look forward to. We will not look the same as we have in the past, and let’s be grateful for that. We have all been there. It is time for new adventures. There is no going “back to the glory days”. We have an opportunity, and in fact an obligation, to forge forward and to “reset”, to build and to create new possibilities.
And in the words of the young Poet Laureate
Amanda Gorman
who made her name on the world stage on Wednesday ~ “There is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it."
So my fellow industry colleagues ~ let’s both see and be the light in the opportunities that lie ahead for us.
All the best,
Jocelyn
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