Online collaboration is the ‘new normal’ in the wake of COVID-19.

 

The re-scheduling of this year’s annual conferences and trade shows by dealer groups Office Brands and Office Choice is symptomatic of the universal disruption of business activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Office Brands has cancelled its annual expo, normally held around October, and will regroup in March next year.

 

Office Choice recently suspended its plans for its OPIx trade show, scheduled for August in association with GNS Wholesale, with the idea of staging the event later in the year.

 

However, it’s understood the event may now be held in the first half of next year.

 

Meantime, Office Choice is considering the idea of a virtual online member conference later this year, which may even include a ‘virtual gala awards night’.

 

Online conferences and meetings are, of course, par for the course these days with the Zoom platform leading the way with enterprise video communications, using a cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars. 

 

While video conferencing has been around for yonks, the format has gone to a new level in the wake of the pandemic, which has basically eliminated organised in-person gatherings and severely impacted domestic and international travel.

 

According to a new survey by research firm IDC, when the pandemic created the need to move in-person events to virtual meetings and conferences, these ‘connected consumers’ brought along some expectations. To a large degree, they were looking to replicate their ‘in-person’ experiences in the virtual world.

 

Some of the most common activities when attending an event in person are engaging in conversation, socialising and networking with other attendees, as well as exchanging business cards. The survey found attendees at virtual events want to pursue similar activities by posting to social media, interacting with other social media handles, and exchanging LinkedIn addresses. 

 

The sudden shift to virtual events in the first half of 2020 produced mixed results in terms of attendance. While just over half of the events lost audience in the transition, 46 per cent gained attendees as a result.

 

Removing travel requirements plus audience familiarity with video presentations worked together to keep event attendance largely intact.

 

From an event organiser’s perspective, the virtual events were largely seen as a success. Overall, nearly half of organiser respondents found the virtual event to be less expensive to produce than an in-person event.

 

When asked what could have been done better, event organisers and attendees both identified engagements during the event as one of the top areas for improvement, along with audio quality (organisers) and the need for closed captions (attendees) on the technical side. Both groups also identified networking events as something warranting further attention.

 

One interesting aspect to emerge from survey was the popularity of ‘swag bags’, which are being used by almost a quarter of the organisers surveyed. 

 

In place of a meal, these may include a voucher to a food delivery service or a gift voucher.

 

Given the tenacity of the COVID-19 virus, it seems virtual events will be the “new normal” for some time to come.