WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF VIRTUAL EVENTS WITH THE RETURN OF LIVE EVENTS?

Hello, this is Les Goldberg, and welcome to The Road Ahead. The Road Ahead podcast is dedicated to the future of the live events business, bringing together industry experts. Hello, production world, this is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead. Today I have four amazing guests. I have Elliot Arocho, who's the managing partner for C + E The Company. I have Krista Aders. She's the executive producer for Q Center. I have Brett Halsey. He is the senior programmer for Q Center, and I have John Mathis. He is the president and executive producer for Rocketmail Productions. Everybody, welcome to the show. Thank you. Great to be here. And thank you all for joining. Today we're going to talk. Our subject is the future of virtual events. With the return of live events. And this past weekend, I was sitting in a ballroom at the Gaylord in Orlando, and I was experiencing the emotion of elation. I was so happy to be sitting in a ballroom filled with equipment, lights and sound and LED screens and the happiest crew I've seen probably in the year 2021. And I was experiencing that because clients have started to return to doing live events and based on jurisdictions and safety protocols and different areas of the country. So this is the process of return to live has started. And we also have this channel of virtual events, which essentially maybe a year and a half ago, pre-COVID represented something that was very different. So today we're going to talk about what the world of virtual will look like when events return live returns. So I'm going to ask some questions and we're going to have some fun. So my first question is to Krista. With the live events returning, what will happen with virtual events. Could you give us your opinion? Opine on the subject? Sure. I think it's going to be a combo. I feel we're going to have to offer both a virtual component to the live event, and the hybrid model doesn't just mean a video stream of what's happening in the meeting. I think, you know, that has been done for years. Rather, I see us designing for both the user that's at the meeting along with virtual. Okay. So we're going to have combined platforms that are operating independently but happening at the same time. Yeah. That's my that's my thinking. Okay. I'm switching the gears. Elliot, do you feel the same way? What are your thoughts about virtual events? I have to preface this. I was on the phone with a producer yesterday who told me that they thought live events were going to come back and it's going to be 95% live and 5% virtual. And I was like, oh my goodness, Elliot, what do you think? Yeah, I'm not sure about those those percentages. But yeah, I agree they will come back in in a couple of different forms. Right. So as Krista just said, kind of like the hybrid version where we will be producing for both the live attendee and the virtual attendee for one meeting, but I think the standalone virtual meetings will continue. We've been doing a lot of them, and we've been producing them in both the broadcast model and also what their preferred model is. They're working with a particular platform, for instance, whether it's Teams or whether it's Zoom or whether it's WebEx. They still want some production value to be added to that. So there's still a component, maybe not so much from a technical standpoint, but from a creative and content delivery standpoint. There will still be a need. And I've had clients who just flat out say this particular meeting, you know, one of many will from now on just be virtual. So you believe meetings that have been live previously have changed their destiny, and they're just going to be virtual moving forward? I've had clients flat out come out and just say that. Right. And those are usually some of the smaller meetings. Of course, you know, anything like a major product launch or a major national sales meeting or something like that. People will have that live hybrid component, but they're looking at the ledger and the balance sheet and they're saying, hey, you know what, this smaller meeting, maybe we just keep it virtual moving forward. It'll change, I'm sure. But for right now, that's what some of what I've been hearing. So, John, what are your thoughts on virtual and live events? Are they going to co-exist? Well, I think they're going to coexist, but I don't think into Elliot's point. I don't think they're going to be 95 five. I think it's going to it's going to be much different in that manner, because I've got clients that have that are wanting to do a live event, but they're only going to put 20 or 30 people from the headquarters in, and then they're going to stream out to the thousands that would normally come. So they're going to do them from their local offices recording. So it'll be live in a sense that we'll have we'll have a stage, we'll have some LED walls, we'll do some really good production value. But in the other part of that is we're not going to have anybody more than just the attendees from the local office that are there to be in the audience. I and I think going forward, I'm looking at stuff for the fall that we're booking, and there's still people that are like, we're going to be mostly virtual. We're just not ready to go back to, to to 100% live. So I think that's where it's going to land. Okay. All right John I'm throwing it to Brett here. Now, Brett, as the senior programmer, it's kind of a techie term. Someone used the term smart guru. So today you get to be a smart guru and tell us you believe the virtual and the live will co-exist. Mostly virtual, mostly live. What are your thoughts as we move forward? I'm agreeing with what's being said. I mean, hybrid, I see it being offered for sure. And I think also we're now hitting a demographic that we haven't hit before, especially being a senior programmer. I'm not too much of an extrovert. I mean, depending on, on, on, you know, the situation and maybe the, the atmosphere, I might be a little bit different, but I think we're hitting a different, dumber graph that we haven't hit before. And that's your introverts. And with that person personality, you know, you're getting now an audience that normally might not have come to a live event just because they don't want that, that one on one interaction. Just because I don't feel comfortable because, you know, the personality doesn't fit that. So now you're getting that demographic of a introvert. And we're seeing now more attendees than maybe we have been in a live event and clients are seeing that too. And I think so hitting that demographic is definitely going to be a positive with that, you know, giving that that hybrid offer. Well, you know, it's interesting. We have done some events for online selling companies. I will leave names out, but the event might have 3000 people in a live audience. And when they went online, now all of a sudden we have 15,000 people. And I don't think people who have done online events are willing to give up those large audience sizes. And that new what I'll call them, the new set of of potential either customers or audience members, kind of what you're talking about, Brett, you're talking about more about the personalities of some people that might not want to actually travel and participate, whether it's their extroverted, introverted nature or it might be. Maybe their company doesn't want to spend money for them to travel, to be able to get a larger demographic. An audience is a big deal for a company, and this is a whole new world. So we can still do live and we can still kind of appeal to the larger demographic. Listen, on that point, I'll tell you that I had a I had an MLN do a show in January where we created a virtual environment and, and used the virtual set and streamed out to what ended up being because they're a global company, but ended up being about 22,000 viewers. They know that they would never get 22,000 viewers to come to anything, anywhere. Vegas doesn't matter. They're not going to get that kind of turnout. I don't see them. I have another event for them in August. They don't want to give that up. To your point, they're just like, no, this is my God. The reach we're getting out of this is amazing. We don't really want to give that level of reach up, because they're never going to get that many people to show up in person. So, you know, that is such an interesting thought. But I think it's it's how do you engage that remote audience? And if you have two a live and a virtual audience? And I'll throw this question to Krista, how do you create content for a live audience and a virtual audience, and how do you make that work together to to make one great show that whether I'm in the audience, I have an experience or if I have a virtual I'm a virtual attendee, I have an experience. How does that work when you're producing something? Yeah. Hey, that's that's a great question. I wish I had the answer to it. It's all about experiencing and doing different things. We need to make sure that we're just not streaming what's going on on the main stage. We need to create some poles and interactions between the virtual audience and have that presenter that's live on stage. Refer to the the virtual poles that are coming in. Another thing is just open up a chat. So making sure you like a Facebook Live where you have chat going on nonstop and maybe that's a ticker in the live room. So the live folks feel connected with the folks that are watching virtually. So yes, we need to really make sure that we're trying different things out and making sure it's engaging for both audience and also on that, you know, a key thing on that would be interaction between the audience and the virtual and a sense of video. So if the if the external, you know, audience can somehow go up on screen and interact with with the live audience with maybe Q&A or something, and to bring those people online, that's going to make them feel more connected than it just them watching and seeing what's going on. So, so essentially what you're saying you have to integrate whether I'm a live attendee, I'm a virtual attendee, I have to be able to participate in a meaningful way. So, Elliot, what are your thoughts on this and how do you see this developing? Yeah, I mean, interactivity is key, right? I mean, we've got we're constantly being challenged. How do we make it more interactive. And by that they're asking us how do we engage the audience more. And so, you know, one of one of the other areas that have been discovered are channels, right? So for instance, you can have a hybrid event. And so and that's great. And then you try to integrate and interact with you. But we also know that that live the people who are attending live are going to have a very, very specific experience. And so, so that we don't make the online participants feel like they're not as valuable. You know, we've been streaming different channels for them and say, okay, you know, these guys are going to go off to that and that's going to, you know, because that the value of that is going to be the live experience. And then we're going to have a very special online experience for our online attendees exclusively for you. So the idea is to be able to kind of cater, integrate, but also cater to the two different audiences is also very important. If I'm going live, attendees are going live, okay. I want the best out of that live experience. And if I'm online and I can't go there for whatever reason, my my boss doesn't want to pay for it, I can't afford it. Or, you know, I'm an introvert. I'm partial introvert myself. Who's for an executive producer. Right. But but then then there's there's got to be this kind of of very special online experience. And you know who taught me that? My granddaughter taught me that she's like, loves attending, like these special event concerts where they get kind of a very special invitation and she's through the moon because she was, you know, she was picked out and she was able to do that. And then, you know, kind of kicked it off. And it was like, the minute you make people online also feels special. That level of engagement heightens it. They appreciate it. They feel valued. So kind of like that multi-channel approach. Sometimes it could be a little more expensive for clients, but when they do see the value of it and you integrate it, it's been working really well. So so John, your thoughts on this subject. And, you know, obviously virtual events came out of nowhere and they came out of nowhere March, April of 2020. And they became such an important, meaningful part of what we do. And now that live is coming back, everyone seems to suggest that virtual is going to continue. And you know, what are your thoughts? I think I don't see an individual, at least in talking to to the my crew and talking to clients. I don't see that ending. I have a sister that works in the oil and gas business. Her company has decided going forward they're not going to pay for anybody to go to meetings anymore. They want to just do that. As long as virtual is available, they're going to be all going, all virtual. So I think there's a level of that that's going to occur. I also think there's a level of people that are going to say, I'm not going to Vegas this year yet. I'm not going to go to Orlando, I'm not going to do that. What is the virtual offering? And I think we all have to be prepared to continue to offer that virtual and to Krista and to Elliot's point, if we can't enhance that experience for the people viewing from their house or or some way to do that, I think we're going to lose a level of that. Yes, there's a lot of people still in love with the novelty of it being virtual now, and it's but there's also a level of, you know, Zoom burnout, everybody's, everybody that works for companies. Now, the clients that I know that are larger companies, everyone's burnt out on being on Zoom forever. You know, they're just on all these meetings. However, if you can have a platform and I'm sure that you guys are like me, we're kind of platform agnostic in the sense that clients come to us and say, oh, we've signed up for X or Y, or we want to do everything this way, we're fine with that. We'll fit into your platform and do that. But I think unless that platform engages those viewers in a way to say, here is our general session area, here is our breakouts, here is where you go to find more information about that. If it's just flat, straight, I think there's going to be a level of disengagement of I'm not just going to sit here and watch this webcast. I need some way to interact in some way to get more information. But I think there's but I think, you know, to talk a little bit about LMG product, you've got a platform that engages people that way already, and I think there's going to be more of that if we continue to do this. Like Krista was saying earlier, you got to have the level of of show for the people virtual, and you got to have the level of the show from people real, you know, that are in the room. So I think that's where that where that all blends together is the spot and the sweet spot where all of us that do this and define that spot, right. You know, it's interesting, I, I feel like even within our own company, there's a number of technical people that pivoted to start doing all this virtual stuff. And as the live events come back and then those technical people will potentially shift back. But we still need to be able to do the virtual stuff. But now we're doing live. So I think as the industry has shrunk, I think there's going to be a shortage of people, competent people, because if you take the person, the Brett, the technical person, right, who has who, the guru who is now having to go back and do some live stuff. Well, who's going to do the virtual stuff, right. There's only one Brett. So I think this is one of the challenges, but I want to shift the conversation and I'm throwing this to Krista. Will international travel impact people showing up at live shows? Yes. The answer is yes. I think we need to think small and local when it comes to international, and we need to have the ability to broadcast people in presenters as well, not just audience. You know, with the global companies we work with, we're not going to be able to travel to India in a long time. They're now starting the whole COVID pandemic piece, where we were experiencing that a year ago and coming up creatively on what we can do with our international presenters and audiences is huge. And I think it's, again, small and local, and that means more resources on our part because we're going to be managing, you know, 10 to 15 different locations where usually it's just one. Interesting. I'm throwing this to Elliot and what, like I had a meeting this past weekend. It had between 1000 and 1500 people. And will you have clients that say they want to get back together in a room, or will they stay? As Krista says, that small and local approach, you know, you know, the happiness I had was seeing a large general session. But is that something that you for take will see in the future? Or was what I experienced this week in the exception? No. We've actually done a few of those. And I think, John, you were you were touching upon it earlier, which is essentially what we were doing. We've been we've done a couple of these were kind of like satellite. So you've got like a small office in Ohio with a group of people and in a small office in New York and a small office in San Francisco. And then and then we're waking people up really early or really late in London, and then we're kind of streaming out. And so what we're doing is we're having kind of like the satellite virtual meetings where you've got groups of people in different offices, you know, and then we're kind of, you know, showcasing whatever the presentations are. So, yeah, it'll it'll continue. It'll continue. Just because there are some things that are, as you know, are just outside of our controls. If someone puts a stop on travel in or out, there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. And so then we have to kind of be creative. Same thing with presenters. It's really difficult to get international presenters. So more often than not we're just pre-recording them, you know, and then, you know, plugging them into the program. But yeah, it's good to be here for a while. I do think in the US it's baby steps. I'm seeing 100 to 100 and 50th, the cue center, our learning facility. We're rolling that out. And I think our first one is in a month. And making sure we're hitting all of the the guidelines taking place. So I think the US is going to be meeting as in larger groups than the international peace. And I still just think that's going to be until probably 20, 22, 23, whenever we can see a full global large meeting and us traveling again abroad. Well, Krista, the crystal ball that you have. So I'm throwing this to John. John, touring has started to return. We have a touring business and we are starting to book artists. People are dying to go out onto tours to go in person. And if you watch the news or anything about tours, all these tours are going to come back. And with the tours returning, do you think that corporate CEOs that are trying to make decisions about whether to hold meetings, are they watching the news? Are they watching the idea that they can go to a concert and see, you know, you know, 20,000 people at a concert or a festival? Do you think that impacts their ability to say, it's time to get back together to have a live event? I think it does, and I think it does, because they're going to see how that's going to go. Right. For instance, I, I just saw the news today. I don't want to date this too much, but I'm talking about June 11th, where there was a cruise where everyone was supposedly vaccinated. And now, oh my gosh, there's two COVID cases, right. So I think everyone's going to be watching all those concerts and all the tours and things to say. You know, I think there's going to be CEOs that want to get back together. I think there's a there's also a level of, well, there's the one side where there's the that's a boondoggle like my sister's company thinking there's another side where if it's more less technical and more oriented to sales, there's a level of I cannot get to my customer or my people unless I have face to face, right? If I'm going to get face to face, I think I need to be in the same room with these guys, in the same room with my customers to talk to them. So I think everyone's going to be watching all that because especially when you start talking about having these summer festivals over the summer and bands touring into the fall, into the late summer and fall, I think there's going to be a lot of looking at that, deciding, okay, that was working. Maybe we can advance back to that. I just I also think there's going to be when you're when you're are a company putting on an event for customers, there's going to be some customers that are going to say, not going, and you're still going to have to have that hybrid piece in there to kind of say, okay, I've got the streaming ability. If you don't want to come, no problem. We can stream to you. No problem. So but yeah, to your point list. Yes. I think everyone's going to watch all of that very closely to see how that all plays out. You know, in the grand scheme of things. So so what you're really describing is whether it's a cruise boat, a general session, any type of concert gathering, if the trajectory is positive and people don't report a lot of illness, then that will perpetuate maybe a faster return to our business. I know whatever that new normal is. And if alternatively, if if there's incidents that come up and you hear negative news reports that will continue to delay whatever return to live happens. So I, I was at a conference, I think it was two weeks ago in Las Vegas for Kinect, and it was put on my big bash. And they're the hotels are talking about demand for fourth quarter of this year and next year. And it's hard for clients to get space and how the hotels are not negotiating as much because they're there's so much demand. Everyone wants to get out there and do events. And it's interesting that that's what they were talking about. And I when I the contrarian view, Krista is the contrarian of that view. And she's like, no, we're going to stay small. And and it's just an interesting thing. And the event that was this past weekend was a pharmaceutical type company. And I'm not sure whether pharmaceutical companies are more conservative or less conservative. Elliot, what are your thoughts? I know you do lots of pharmaceutical. Yeah. You know, of course, that they're a little bit more conservative because they have a very specific audience. It's nonpublic and they're they have to take care of their employees. And, and if there's any kind of, you know, if they feel that, that, you know, they're not doing right by them, you know, there's going to be a certain sense of responsibility. But I think we don't have to look that far. I mean, just before I jumped on, you know, it was kind of just reading the news about a particular event that happened in Florida very recently. And already there are reports. Right. And that was kind of more public event where people were not just coming from all over the country, but people were coming from all over the world. And so now there are reports coming out that, you know, that there are some illnesses being reported, and some people are saying that it was a result of that particular gathering. 12,000 strong. Right. It's a big gathering. So there's also a more conservative company like our pharmaceuticals. Yeah. There's a sense of liability. Right. Not just that I want to take care of my people, but I also don't want to put them in a position where I'm going to be feel liable, you know, and open myself up to something. So that's a consideration that goes along. And that's part of our discussions. Oftentimes when we're planning these meetings. You know what I want to ask this, this kind of the the last question for this group. And it's been a very interesting subject. I'm going to start with Krista. A year from now, what will the world look like in the meeting events business and just opine, take me a full year. It's now June 11th, 2022. And what kind of conversation are we having about meetings and events? Are they returned? Well, hopefully I'm in Miami or somewhere on an incentive trip with 20,000 people. Hopefully that's the case. But again, I think US is going to be much different than global, and I think we need to figure out how we're going to do it with our counterparts on on making sure they feel engaged, especially whenever you're working with global companies. I don't know, I hope we are doing live events, but I do think we're going to have the hybrid model going on. So virtual is not going anywhere. I don't think it's going anywhere. And I think the virtual platforms are going to be different. If you're doing a training and they need to attract CPE accreditations or if it's a fancy, you know, product launch, you can use a different type of platform. I think, you know, I don't think there's one platform that meets all the needs. I think we need to, you know, I think you're going to have that variation and determine what the best platform is, depending on what your client needs and objectives are for the meeting. Cool. Okay. Brett, a year from now, what are we doing? Take me into a year from now. So again, I think it's still hybrid approach. A lot of it has to depend on the vaccine and how effective the vaccine is and how. You're the comfortability of the audience. So if if the different variants that come out for COVID and the vaccine hits it, I think you're going to get a lot of people that's going to have positive reaction to that, and they're going to be like, okay, let's go ahead and we're going to feel comfortable going to a lot of time to deploy if that. Yeah, if, if it doesn't, I think we're going to go back to, you know, probably even more virtual than it is going to be live. But I man, I really hope that it's it's live a year from now. Everyone wants to go to live at some point. I mean, you all look beautiful on my screen today, but in living color you have three dimensions here. You only have two dimensions that I can see. Elliot, a year from now, it's June 11th, 2022. Take me into the future. Yeah, I'm there with Brett and Krista. Just to kind of put it in perspective here, what my proposal responses look like live meeting, pure virtual hybrid meeting. They want to know all three. They want to know all three. So I think they're going to be a few more live meetings. Obviously I believe there will be few more live meetings. The hybrid meeting is going to is going to be there, and then the virtual meeting will continue in its strata from basic platforms to high production value platforms. I like that, Elliot. That was a very comprehensive. John, will you take us home? Will you give us your opinion a year from now? What is the world going to look like? I didn't ask, I don't want to know what the Dow is going to be out or the S&P 500. I just want to know what the live event business will look like and the virtual business. So I agree with with Elliot and Brett and Krista, I think that's exactly how it's going to be. And I'm looking the same buckets as Elliot is live hybrid virtual. I think if you look forward to everything, I think a lot of these platform providers, I hope will shake out because there's a lot of platform providers that need to go away or change, and there's a lot more that will be more streamlined. I think that will help us eventually. And I also think technology is getting to the point where we're getting more virtual set, more virtual reality. I think that's going to have a big impact on where we go going forward and everything. Well, listen, I want to thank all of you for joining me today. Elliot, Krista, Brett and John, you all are amazing and I look forward to doing some version of production, whether it's live, whether it's virtual, whether it's hybrid in the days, months and years to come. Please stay healthy everyone. Thank you so much. You're awesome. And this is Les Goldberg and The Road Ahead, everybody. Good job. Take care. Thank you, thank you, thank you.