It's no secret that the pandemic that broke out this year brought a number of very serious adjustments to the plans of all business projects and commercial companies, and, of course, those who organized events were no exception. Moreover, they were the ones who suffered in a way even more than the others, since their activity assumes gathering of a large crowd of people, which is not possible during a global pandemic.
It is not surprising that everyone is currently thinking - when will everything return to normal and the organization of conferences will be held in the format we are used to, i.e. without interactive Internet platforms.
It is assumed that in the near future a vaccine against coronavirus will be purchased and it will be actively used, moreover, some countries have already received the first batches and are ready to apply it, however, according to experts, this will take a considerable time - at least until next summer. Does this mean that event organization will return to normal in summer of 2021?
The answer is yes and no. Firstly, the situation created by the coronavirus will inevitably lead to the fact that when organizing events, customers will now more and more often give preference to the online format or remote conferences, seminars and other events. And it is understandable - the whole set of tools for this is already there, although it requires some improvement, but the matter is small. The benefits of an online format are very significant (there are no accommodation, meals, etc costs), and our people know how to count money.
However the main point is that a much wider circle of experts and participants can take part in the event, because they now need to allocate only a few hours to participate, or maybe even less, in any case not a few days. You can also forget about the associated costs.
It is for this reason that the main trend in organizing conferences, forums, seminars that we expect in the near future are so-called hybrid events, when only a part of the participants is present on the site offline, and the rest are connected remotely. This allows you to preserve all the advantages of the offline format (personal communication, image component, use of the platform's infrastructure) and cover a wider range of speakers and participants.
Analyzing the current situation and based on our own extensive experience in the domain of events organization, we can assume that events in this format the will return to us this spring with a gradual increase in the offline component toward this summer.
It must be remembered that the pandemic slowed down some projects and led to the cancellation of a number of planned forums, which now, perhaps, will start to be urgently implemented, so the return of offline may also have an avalanche shape, and, perhaps, April-May will be hot.
In any case, we wish you all good luck and fast return to the real world. See you offline!