Where Next? – The Next Generation of Events

With the onset of the current economic and political climate, event agencies are challenged once again, and not unhappily, to re-evaluate the approach we take with our audiences. This shake-up happens every once in a while, and does wonders for encouraging creativity, innovation and creating a whole new approach within the events industry.

The real question is: how do we do it this time?

Those individuals now entering the work marketplace (and thus our audiences) are the same who have not only grown up with but embraced such diverse online presences as Facebook, Flickr, Bebo, MySpace, Spotify and many, many more. These people are the ones we will be talking to when businesses present to their workforces in the future, therefore engagement cannot simply be a well written registration site…

Instead, we need to be looking at current technology to inform how best to interact with those methods and approach. Not necessarily by mimicry, but by thinking of how to engage with a tech-savvy audience. Additionally, we need to think about the costs of such solutions, and that’s where this approach really comes into its own.

Networking on-site is a vital element to keeping the effectiveness of the day ongoing post-event. However, by creating pre-event sites that go beyond the usual registration, we can tap into this before delegates even meet on site. With a Facebook-style format, delegates can personalise their profile with company/professional info, and ‘friend’ each other, contacting one another directly to arrange to meet, or to have contact and discussion beforehand.

This can be added to further – grouping delegates into areas of interest or industry adds a better understanding of who each person is speaking to, and with added messageboards, questionnaires, live Q&A sessions, forums and more besides, we can transform a simple registration site into a fully-fledged interactive tool for learning, networking and querying. Additionally, it’s an exceptionally cost-effective approach, providing the correct content incentives are for content, plus can be a lot cheaper than other digital on-site networking options, though these do have an important part to play at larger events. However, the online site can be pushed even further still…

Virtual events have the added bonus of being environmentally friendly (less reason for delegates to travel), but can easily be integrated into the pre-event content mentioned above. Allowing delegates to view elements live, or watch back with colleagues later, adds another level to an event and gets the messages provided out to an even larger audience. To this end, pre-event video can also be extremely helpful, to give those remote delegates a taster of what is to come, even if they can’t be there on the day.

Of course, not every event needs to include all of the above. Tailoring to each event – and of course, its audience – is key to any project we create here at Comshows. But knowing the options that are available, and being able to pull elements from the above to add real, vital value to our projects. Understanding what works where and how to apply it is essential, and will help steer us all through the next exciting chapter in communicating with our audiences.

So, the question now is: when can we start?

Contact Comshows on 020 8747 4300 or info@comshows.com