As cities begin to ease COVID restrictions on in-person gatherings, event marketers are increasingly optimistic about returning to what they do best — bringing people together for shared IRL experiences.
That doesn’t mean that returning to in-person is without its challenges.
How do you make in-person attendees feel safe?
Will the event formats that worked pre-COVID still work today?
How do you create an inclusive experience for guests who still prefer to attend virtually?
We know this is a pressing topic on event marketers’ minds, so that’s why we hosted a panel with our community members to talk about their current thoughts, metrics, and business strategies with respect to live in-person events.
And let’s just say…we learned a lot.
Thank you to all our speakers:
Heidi Bianchi, Director, Events at Silicon Valley Bank
Brooke Jones, Senior Events Marketing at Silicon Valley Bank
Berenice Lai, Head of Global Events at Momentive-AI
Pat Swan, Director of Client Relations at MVS Event Production Service
Pat Swan from MVS Event Production Service works with over a dozen companies in the Bay Area and is finding the highest registration rate in the last 5 years for her upcoming summer events.
She said, "June is seeing the largest attendance rates, breaking records for the last 5 years. Live events are back."
"Events are expected to go beyond what they used to be. We need higher budgets with a lot more creativity. We're being asked to dig deep and innovate when we hold in-person events and give customers value," said Brooke Jones, Senior Events Marketing at Silicon Valley Bank.
At Splash, we are seeing our customers increase the stakes for their IRL events. In-person events can’t be ho-hum, they need to be a truly unique and value-added experience for attendees, something they will talk about for years to come.
After two years of remote work and increasing work schedule flexibility, event marketing profs are finding it incredibly hard to schedule events that work for the majority of people. And, people only want to carve out time for an in-person event if it’s really worth their while.
Pro Tip
Send out surveys often to keep a pulse on what your customers want and need. Ask them lots of questions.
Now that attendees can get vaccinated, boosted, or rapid-tested, event marketers are starting to adopt an “attend at your own risk'' approach to in-person events.
The responsibility of protecting attendee health seems to be falling more on the individual and less on the organization that is planning the event.
Pro Tip
Here are some COVID guidelines Splash has created to host your next in-person event.
Even though registration for live events is high - it's important that these registrations turn into actual attendees. Our community discussed some incentives they’re using to ensure strong event attendance:
Our speakers talked about the importance of giving people more 'personal time' at live events. The last two years of stress, isolation, and working from home has impacted our mental health. “We have to acknowledge this and shift our events’ agendas so that attendees have time to talk, take a break, and recharge,” says Berenice Lai, Head of Global Events at Momentive-AI. “It is incredibly important we acknowledge this.”
“Quite simply, if you wouldn’t attend an event, why would your registrants?,” says Heidi Bianchi from Silicon Valley Bank.
Now more than ever, event marketers are putting themselves in their attendees’ shoes. If the event value proposition isn’t strong enough, it’s up to organizers to rethink their approach and ensure their events are worthwhile.
