- How event managers are coping with limited resources and taking things virtual
With the entertainment industry being one of the industries that was hit the hardest due to Covid-19, the event industry too, naturally, took a dive. Eventually, when it seemed to be picking back up, we were faced with shortages of basic necessities like food, fuel, and gas that have now led the country to somewhat of a revolution. With most of its people taking to the street due to a lapse in living conditions, the event industry simply cannot thrive.
Recently the Bachelor of Event Management students at the Management and Science University, Malaysia (MSU) and Management and Science Institute, Colombo (MSI) held an event titled “The Future of the Event Industry” that focused on exploring specialised knowledge and innovative practices in the event industry in the new normal. Their objective was to serve as an incentive of reigniting hope to all stakeholders of the event industry, and overcoming this challenge to thrive in the foreseeable future.
The webinar was addressed by keynote speakers from diverse sectors of the industry, including Event Productions (Pvt.) Ltd. Founder/Managing Director and Event Management Association of Sri Lanka President Roshan Wijeyaratne, who addressed the topic of new technological advancements in the industry, while Golden Isle Travel (Pvt.) Ltd. Managing Director Paddy Paul provided insights into emerging event trends faced in the present environment. Concluding the addresses was Leopard Nest and Beyond Escapes Founder/Chairman Ruwan Rathnayake, who provided everyone present with an inductive insight on the strategic survival of the industry, during this global crisis.
The webinar, attended by nearly 300 stakeholders of the industry, including students from MSU Malaysia and other local and private universities, SMEs, and the general public, mainly focused on the solutions they were looking at in the post-Covid-19 context, along with the discussion of issues and challenges.
Client expectations are higher
Opening the floor, Roshan Wijeyeratne highlighted the importance of understanding what the industry has been in terms of client expectations.
“Before we came into the new normal, we were at a level with physical events that clients went with whatever was offered to them. Right now, client expectations are higher and they know exactly what they want,” he explained.
When Covid-19 hit, and upon the realisation that they would not be able to conduct physical events, they questioned what could be done and came up with new and innovative ideas. These ideas are now being implemented in what we call the new normal, and have taken the event industry to new heights – clients now can have their expectations met with innovative technology available in the modern context.
Virtual events are here to stay?
Sharing her thoughts, Paddy Paul stated that the future of the event industry is a very evolving subject.
“I think the students of today will have to adapt themselves continuously to update themselves, be creative and innovative in this business,” she stated, before sharing a presentation with statistics based on an international survey that showed 60% of people being unsure of travel (at the time of the survey), and 75% of organisations including virtual and hybrid options in their portfolios.
Reiterating Wijeyeratne’s observations, she said they used to provide exactly what was asked, but now they have to keep offering novel solutions. At the moment, she stated, the event industry’s biggest challenge is networking and engagement, which will be what is expected of the industry.
“The physical meeting of our industry is so important – the networking is not the same if it’s done virtually or in a hybrid manner,” she commented, adding that she personally doesn’t prefer it, but it had to be done during the interim period.
Speaking about whether the public is ready to participate in an open environment if the authorities were to relax their stance on events and social gatherings, she shared that the public are most definitely ready – they are simply waiting for the opportunity. She believes that in Sri Lanka, people will still physically participate in events, but it is a smaller portion of the bigger picture that the event industry targets in the long term.
Despite her preference for in-person events, she added that hybrid events will stay, even in the future, simply because of their many benefits, since the downside is less when it is taken as a whole.
As Paul alluded to earlier, the events industry by and large opted to go virtual in response to Covid-19. Virtual events require no travel whatsoever. This makes attendance more convenient for everyone. People on the other side of the country – or even the planet – can experience an event without hopping on a plane.
Even local attendees find tuning into a livestream simpler than driving to a convention centre. When attendance is easier, more people will attend; it’s as simple as that. This is why countless organisations shattered their previous attendance records when they made the switch to virtual.
Still, Paul said, in-person events should return.
“Although event technology has evolved to make virtual attendance remarkably immersive and engaging, you shouldn’t overlook the advantages of place-based experiences. It’s difficult to replicate the organic, person-to-person interactions that occur onsite. Casual chats between sessions and during happy hour are more important than you might think. They’re a substantial part of what draws people to events in the first place.”
Additionally, a few organisations have struggled to monetise their virtual events to the extent of in-person events, she stated.
“Often, this results from an expectation that virtual attendance should be free. We believe that events should be priced based on the value they provide, not the method of attendance. And you should too.”
Working with limited resources
Ruwan Rathnayake too stated that virtual products are taking over the industry, and fast.
“Many entrepreneurs are working on breakthrough technologies that will give the event industry something exciting to look forward to that is bound to revolutionise how we have been going about events,” he shared.
At the same time, he pointed out that we are currently faced by many resource barriers and have to work with limited resources, stating: “We have to try to consume less energy; the newer generations are very focused on sustainability so we have to cater to that need and stay relevant while being conscious of wastage.”
He highlighted that it’s not just organisations that benefited from the virtual renaissance. The planet did, too. Could virtual events be the key to a sustainable future for the events industry?
“The rise of virtual events has a huge implication for sustainability in the industry. We learned that events could have a negligible carbon footprint. But we also gained a newfound respect for the inherent value only an in-person experience can provide,” he shared.
He also highlighted that the way the undergraduates had organised the event itself reflected the capacity of the students on both academic performance and the practical knowledge that they have gained during their studies at the university.
“The future generation has come forward with their best game; it is up to us to ensure that when it is their time to shine, they have sufficient resources to do so,” he concluded.
