Solo material thrives on Day 2 at Event Tech Live

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There was more really good content at Event Tech Live’s virtual Day 2, which opened with Rae Malcham, VP of product strategy at BW Events Tech, gamely talking, and occasionally croaking, ‘Podcast style sessions for the on-the-go attendee’ from Seattle. At 3am local time.

While every event looks for a new equilibrium post live and live only, Malcham’s towering facts and stats were a voice of reason. Between the lines, I don’t think she expected newly oriented virtual/hybrid events to switch en masse, but highlighting SXSW converting its top sessions post event left a real mark. As did the fact that podcasts are already worth $12bn worldwide and are set to increase 10 per cent THIS year, Stateside. Oh, and 80 per cent of podcast listeners are consuming content while they travel.

Great delivery, fascinating stuff and it was only 10:45am, UK time.

All the ETL21 sessions will be available to download, so these are sketches, examples too of what an event can deliver without impromptu in-person interaction albeit galvanised by the fact that happens from tomorrow, Wednesday 3rd, at Old Truman Brewery. 

As a result, perhaps, the sessions on Day 2 were more single person delivery, more A to B direct, than on Day 1. Florian Courgenouil,head of product at Eventmaker, took us ‘From isolated trade shows to 365 events strategies and communities’, by way of example.

“A new landscape for trade shows”, Courgenouil suggested the hub could be “your website”, enabling, for insance, delivery of qualified leads in the exhibition portal, an opportunity to diversify the sources of lead generation and to integrate data into event strategy.

It’s a system which can envelope an in-person/hybrid shows rather than a means of replacing those elements.

Early afternoon, Sabine Reise from Allseated took on the multi-box ticking ‘How digital twins and the immersive experience of 3D gamer environment change the way we experience virtual events’, which she started by explaining the magnetism of the gaming idea.

“It engages you, you stay longer, you get to control anxiety/the fun of success, it gives you some autonomy and freedom to make your own decisions, how long you stay and who you engage with.”

Reise talked about creating a digital twin, how the principles behind choosing a venue in the virtual world are the same as in the real world, albeit with different drivers.

The evolving model of event monetisation, presented by Anick Beaulieu, VP Growth & Partnerships at innovator C2 International, wrapped the Day 2 sessions.

C2 found clients willing to take a risk, turning what was predicted to be a 10-year evolution into a 12 to 18 months learning or set of learnings.

Having highlighted some of the hurdles, the hidden/not so hidden costs in the pivot, Beaulieu dialled up the monetisation; how hybrid provides new opportunities for sponsors and partners, for example, advertising ‘capsules’ between sessions and more besides.

Brutally, understand your community, provide real value, and people will pay.

There is a whole lot of talk, pretty much everywhere, about diminishing attention spans, people unable to focus because they’re so busy multi-tasking et al. But the Event Tech Live audience, anyone who tuned in to Day 1 and/or Day 2, could have, should have, left with a whole lot more invaluable information across any number of subjects than they started with.

The delivery and the detail was truly good. Very little ‘filler’ material that I could see, it was people sharing tips because they wanted to; because the audience and environment was just right.

It was a great teaser too of course. As Duncan Reid, CEO at Reset Connect told Event Tech Live co-founder Adam Parry on Monday, the virtual days are “testament to what you’ve done with the format, building anticipation for the in-person days”, or words to that effect. And that’s at least a part of the beauty in hybrid events.

Tomorrow – Wednesday 3rd November – sees Event Tech Live open its physical doors for the first time in 24 months. Expect waves of content, solutions, networking and euphoria.

https://eventtechlive.com

Sam Hyland
Author: Sam Hyland

Sam is the assistant content manager for Event Industry News (EIN). Sam is involved in publishing news stories, videos and podcasts. Sam also collates the latest stories for the EIN e-newsletter. If you have a press release or story you think we might be interested to know about please email editor@eventindustrynews.com

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