Blended Events – Now & Tomorrow
Experiential Events Industry – the metamorphosis
Challenges are a box of surprises, solve the riddles and there emerge a sea of Opportunities!
The Indian Event Management is a melting pot of diversity. Exhibitions, Smart Displays, Meetings, Conferences, Town Hall, Panel Discussions, Celebrations, Meet ups, Musical Shows, a World of joy, a galaxy of memories. Things were going at a steady pace, opportunities were blossoming, Innovations made headlines, time was in short supply, and the race was pacing up...
Then arrived the uninvited guest, the one we who came to stay and manifested into multi avatars, held us back, locked us down, and killed the opportunities, grinding the business to a halt. The unexpected blow was too fast & too strong!
We were unprepared, but we were not lost..
We took time to recoup, but the gallop was dynamic
Change is Constant we know, but the Change we expected got Changed
A New beginning it is !
Welcome to the World of HYBRID Events!
The concept of having a limited number of live audiences collaborating with a Universe of Virtual Audience with Real Time Simulation is the core of HYBRID Events.
The World of HYBRID events is a new beast that needed to be tamed, quick unlearning and re-skilling became essential. The stakes were not known, the boundary, not drawn, the audience sceptical, but the Show had to go on. The curtains were to be pulled up, confidence needed reinforcement.
The physical setups were replaced by the SMART Setups, the Venues were replaced with Interactive Walkthroughs, the Crowds were now Simulated, the panel discussions were happening on the cloud, sans geography! The opportunities for the on ground Executioners looked bleak, no physical stuff to supply, no late night setups, no permissions were required, no licenses to worry about, no protocols to be managed, the worries were less and so were the opportunities.
Like a silver lining in the cloud, there were sprouts of opportunities in the Hybrid Events. The Lockdown was a blessing. With a plethora of Virtual meets the audience were fatigued, soon it became boring & the Knock out round drove away many guests.
That was an opportunity to build a new model of Hybrid events. A mix of limited live audiences, with a World of Clustered Virtual Audiences was quickly evolving. Cluster meet ups, Cluster Marathons, Multi location SMART connects gave a new lease of hope.
The requirements were anew with Remote Program Planning, Direction, Management, Registration, Online Support, Digital Consoles, IT Mitigation, Gamification Experiences and Engagement Metrics.
The Top line may not look fancy but the Bottom line is highly attractive, multi HYBRID events on the same day became a reality, the HYBRID events provide intensive short engagements thus opening up numerous SMART assignments within shorter time frames. The Costing format has changed from Supply to Efforts, material to deliverables, Hard Work to SMART Work, Physical Counts to Integrated Audits.
The game is not easy anymore but if played SMARTLY is indeed a sea of opportunities. Media Point Academy (A Division of Media Point) launched a special HYBRID Event training program and a new cult of #EVENTPRENEURS were created. Over 100+ Professionals have been trained in the art of Hybrid Events and a network of talents around the Country is today connected partnering and delivering HYBRID Experiential Events.
A power packed 40 hour program at Media Point Academy trains professionals and young talents in the Nuances of pitching, creating, building, managing and auditing the newly evolved Hybrid event opportunities. The results have been very warm, and encouraging.
In the Pandemic, the Hybrid events business is a silent warrior, saving and protecting the Re-Skilled SMART talents with numerous opportunities. The pride of engagements varies from HYBRID Customer Experiences, Digital Lounges, Hybrid Weddings, Corporate R&R Events, Blended Town Halls, Clustered Sports Events and Virtual Festivals.
The Future is here and now, the playing field is now altered, the boundary reset and the rules of the Game are new, and thus an all new skilling is the calling. This change leaves these types of Stakeholders.
The SMART leaders who have imbibed the Change
The Dormant Leaders Who are observing the Change AND
The Slow Adapters who have lost the Change
HYBRID Events are the New Normal that the Pandemic has left behind!!
Dr. Deepak Swaminathan
Founder & CEO – Media Point & PEPUP Technologies
www.mediapointevent.com & www.pepupemerge.com
deepakswaminathan@mediapointevent.com
Author of India’s Pioneering Book on Events – The Art of Building Experiential Events
Chennai, India
23.05.2021
