On building Netflix-like events and the future of events
With Zoom fatigue kicking in, few big questions haunt event marketers. How to make events engaging? What is the future of events — virtual, physical, or hybrid.
To decode the answers to the above questions and more, I hosted Bharat Varma (Co-founder and CEO) of Zuddl, a leading virtual event platform company. Bharath has also run physical events for many years as a founder of an event management company — Phoenix Live Experiences. As the pandemic hit, he transformed the business(as a “phoenix”) into Zuddl, a virtual event platform trusted by the likes of Microsoft and Adobe.
Here are top takeaways from the event
How to make events engaging?
1.Great content: This is basic stuff. Well thought-out connected themes aligned with relevant speakers.
2. Physical events all about Shared Experiences where the audience learn from the speakers, learn from each other. There is a sense of belongingness.
Event markters should think about creating shared experiences in virtual events — Q&A, 1:many networking, 1:1 networking, networking with speakers.
3. Gamification: Its about adding a fun element through polls and leaderboard (built based on audience engagement).
What is the future of events
- Virtual events will continue stay. Why?
Its scalable. It is lot easier for anyone to design an event for 1000+ audience. No one would have thought of the massive-scale of virtual events before pandemic. Now its proven that companies can plan global events at scale.
Its accessible. For audience its easier to attend. Most importantly, getting world-class speakers for a virtual event is easier compared to a physical event because of logistics.
Its personalised. Companies can plan hyper-personalised events (city-based, persona-based).
2. Hybrid events
There are 3 emerging models
a. Companies will plan to do a slew of virtual events leading to a physical event. The virtual events can be a great spring board to learn and get feedback for the physical event.
b. Multi-location physical events where audience across events can network virtually.
c. Host a physical event with limited audience and stream it globally.
These 3 models open up a new world of possibilities. You pick and chose the model based on the need.
What are the top things to look for while choosing an virtual event platform
One platform for speakers and attendees. One platform where speakers and attendees can engage / chat post the speaker session.
Customisable. An event platform should offer a creative canvas where event organizers and markters can customize end-to-end event experience. No one likes yet-another-zoom-like virtual event experience
Ease of setup. Planning and execution of end to end event should be like a child’s play. Zero dependence with vendor is an ideal scenario.
Ease of use. Its important to offer simple experiences for audience. one extra click will lead to a big drop out.
Ease of show-run. Managing multiple stages, speakers should be a breeze.
Support. platform vendors should offer 30 second SLA during event. Yes, every second counts when a keynote session is ON!
Event metrics that matter
In physical events, its hard to measure micro metrics such as session-specific engagement. Virtual events, backed by digital offer endless possibilities to measure micro metrics, which really matters.
Here are Top 3 metrics, which are important
Engagement Score: A score derived based on the attendee interactions — number of sessions one has attended, duration of sessions one has attended, number of questions one has asked, networking depth etc.
Influncer Score: A score to double down on influencers. Finding people who got maximum connections. Finding people whose questions got the maximum upvotes.
Lead Score: Measured based on the depth of conversations in virtual booth (time spent, number of downloads etc). This can help companies to plan post-event engagement with leads with high lead score.
The future of events looks very interesting and promising.
PS: Have you heard of POAP?
POAP enables a new way of keeping long-lasting records of life experiences like events. A POAP is a digital collectible created as a NFT (non-fungible token) powered by the blockchain.
