In-Person vs. Virtual Events

Chapter 2: In-person vs. Virtual Events Why do some virtual events succeed while others miss the mark? One likely reason is that organizations simply try to recreate the in- person event they are familiar with digitally. Unfortunately, they fail to find the right mediu...

Chapter 2: In-person vs. Virtual Events Why do some virtual events succeed while others miss the mark? One likely reason is that organizations simply try to recreate the in- person event they are familiar with digitally. Unfortunately, they fail to find the right medium and methodology for virtual success. Swim into the torpedo “The biggest thing we’ve learned is that when you are in a situation like this: You cannot simply translate by taking all the magical moments that happened in the in-person events and try to recreate things like an expo, and the hotel lobby bar. You really have to reinvent,” said Bob Bejan, the corporate vice president: global events, production studios and marketing community at Microsoft. “You just have to let it all go. You have to say what I’m trying to do is make human connections. What I’m trying to do is make people more knowledgeable and understand more. And we’re trying to make people understand that they are part of something bigger than themselves. The root of these online experiences is about that, not how to create a perfect expo booth or a perfect keynote.” In the second week of March 2020, Microsoft went from a strong focus on in-person event experiences, some for tens of thousands of people at a time, to cancelling 32 global events, taking almost all of them into the digital world. “That kind of transformation is pretty radical,” said Bejan. “When you think about taking all the experiences that we know about and all of the things we’ve done for years and years and transforming them to a different medium, the learning curve has been very steep. What’s incredible is that when groups of people get forced into these situations, if you are willing to let yourself have your mind opened, it can create an enormously creative cycle. And that’s what’s happened at Microsoft.” David co-presented at Microsoft Inspire with Bejan on July 22 in a session titled Digital experienFes in a pandemiF era – FonneFting with Fustomers when it is hard to FonneFt. Their talk focused on how to make a quick shift to digital communications.  “During times of adversity, how do you unlock the creativity that’s required to respond effectively? I think the answer is to cultivate a discipline of design thinking and develop a culture where you embrace failure,” Bejan said about the strategies he uses at Microsoft. “What we say in our team is ’swim into the torpedo’. Our entire team thinks it’s better to accelerate into the problem. We cultivate that and it takes discipline because you can blow yourself up. It’s like athletics, you have to do it every day. If you do that you can respond to difficult problems like the pandemic.” While some powerful elements are lost when an event moves from a hotel ballroom or conference center to a computer screen or smartphone, there are other aspects that are optimized and superior online. “The digital medium is way better than in-person for certain things like delivering information verbally together with additional supporting material and driving you to action,” Bejan said. “This is more effective in the digital world. All of us in the events business have been lazy for the past decade about not thinking about the power of digital in combination with in-person. That’s been quite a revelation and humbling, I think. It’s so easy to get lazy.” The switch to an entirely digital event schedule from March 2020 has been demanding for Bejan and his team at Microsoft. However, by rethinking the entire events program and "swimming into the torpedo," the efforts have proven to be extremely valuable for Microsoft customers, partners, and employees. “The power of the human spirit to connect with another one has been the biggest challenge as we explore and move ourselves forward as we learn how to communicate in a digital world. How do you make these emotional connections? Our feedback from the audiences at our digital events has been crazily, overwhelmingly positive” said Bejan. As you make the transition to virtual events like Microsoft has done, start with your audience. Think about what they need and what value you plan to deliver. Consider their desires and expectations. Then, consider budget and objectives. It is possible to find the optimal intersection and deliver a virtual event that will delight audiences, build fans, and add to the bottom line. But the worst mistake you can make it to begin from a place of “we have always done it this way.” While you can deliver much of the value of an in-person event in virtual, the tools and tactics are different.  Virtual events are more like television than theater In a theatrical performance, the audience is present. Their feedback is immediate and palpable. You know right away whether your performance is resonating. You are on the big stage and have to play big and bold to connect with those in the back row. Lighting, sound and production value all come into play and they can enhance or detract from a presentation. Stage performers sometimes struggle to transition to the screen because of the proximity to the camera and the lack of an in-person audience. Production values matter, but they are far from the same as those in a theater. Playing to a camera is very different from reacting to — and interacting with — a physical crowd. Yet without a doubt, connections can be made, and audiences can be informed and entertained. It is, however, a question of mastering a new medium. It probably will not come as a big surprise that — given our work in and around the media industry — we have a fascination with the inner workings of the business. Longtime readers will recall David’s book, Marketing the Moon, which inspired a three-part PBS American Experience mini-series called Chasing the Moon (for which he served as a consulting producer). David had the incredible experience of introducing the filmmaker Robert Stone to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin and then interviewing Aldrin for the project. David has also dabbled in a bit of, well, shall we say “acting.” If you blinked, you probably missed him in feature films like AmeriFan Hustle, reality shows like SpaFe Dealers, and television commercials for companies like Toshiba. Michelle works with dozens of media companies and is privileged to hear their stories from the front lines of production including the challenges of working across a wide range of mediums. It is incredibly fun to see how the magic is made — even from the sidelines. A network television morning program, for example, has producers who work hard on developing substantive content well before filming takes place. This type of production includes a host, who sets the scene and keeps things on track, and features guests who appear live or on pre-recorded segments. They are sometimes on site or appear remotely. (Having been interviewed as an expert on news shows from networks like CNN, MSNBC, and FOX many times, David has seen this from behind the scenes.) Virtual event producers should take note of the processes involved in this type of production. Many organizations provide media training for their executives; being “camera ready” means a lot more than ensuring the appropriate wardrobe and makeup. If speakers play to an audience as they are used to doing in-person, rather than playing to the camera, they will not be as successful in delivering their messages and the entire event can suffer. Renowned keynote speakers like David perpetually hone their craft. With more than 500 in-person talks in 46 countries under his belt, David has developed the ability to move an in-person audience to think, to feel and to take action. Michelle has selected and worked with hundreds of speakers over the years and spoken at events of all kinds. Crafting and delivering a powerful in-person talk takes work, practice, and hard-won expertise. For a virtual event, we must realize that people’s attention spans are much shorter than if they were in a convention center or hotel ballroom. This means we need to maintain interest by mixing things up, adding elements of surprise, and including the audience as much as possible. An effective virtual event is much more than televised speeches. It is not a collection of TED talks; it is more than talking heads and some slides. A great virtual event includes elements of live television, such as hosts (who might be located in a purpose-built studio), great guests, polished production pieces, audience interaction, networking and much more. The live television model offers some interesting elements for consideration, though. For example, at one virtual talk, David shared the story of how Matt Risinger used YouTube to grow his Austin, Texas custom home building company from zero to $20 million in 10 years. David played one of his videos and talked about the elements of his success. Taking a page straight out of a daytime talk show, David and the producers did not let on that Matt was secretly lurking in the virtual wings. After talking up Matt’s success and lamenting the fact that he could not be there to share the story himself, the event producers turned on Matt’s camera and microphone and he greeted the audience. The session then transitioned to a few minutes of Q&A so the audience members could ask Matt some questions live.  This was no static presentation. It offered surprise guests and interaction – two elements missing from many virtual events today. The audience loved it. It is critical to reimagine the presentation itself Delivering an in-person talk is dramatic and theatrical. It is a powerful thing to have a few thousand people paying attention. And the big stage is a feeling like no other. Crafting the performance takes effort, but it is worthwhile. But take that experienced performer and set them down in a room alone, in front of a camera, and those familiar tools are no longer available. There is no stage. There is nowhere to walk to. There is no audience to react. “This is funny!”, a self-conscious virtual speaker might say into the silence, “You’re supposed to laugh at this!” To deliver a powerful virtual presentation, speakers need to think about their art in a different way. At the same time, event producers need to reimagine what is possible and choose speakers accordingly. “It’s obvious that choosing a speaker for a virtual event is different from choosing one for an in-person event,” said Tony D'Amelio. A 50-year veteran in representing talent for live events, Tony is principal of D’Amelio Network, a boutique speaker management firm that represents David as well as Bob Woodward, Ron Insana, Bill Walton, Katty Kay, and others. “When we were all thrust into the virtual events world in early 2020, I heard too many people focusing on the negative — that virtual was flat and couldn’t create the excitement of an in-person experience,” D’Amelio said. “To me, those comments were excuses to not confront reality. The truth is, virtual events are just different. They have unique qualities. And whether they connect with and engage the audience comes down to careful preparation by a speaker.” Knowing when to pause on stage at a critical point during a talk and deliver a well-rehearsed line by walking forward a few steps, giving the audience a beat to react: all part of the performance. Reading an audience, feeding on their reactions and expectations, this all yields a powerful experience. But none of this is possible in a virtual talk. “I received some advice in early 2020 that helped me put virtual speaking events in context,” D’Amelio said. “Every attendee at a virtual event has a front row seat, someone said to me. The speaker doesn’t need to project to the back row – that theatrical model is for in-person events. The virtual model is cinematic; a whisper can be as powerful as a shouting voice. So right there, what you’re looking for in a speaker is very different from an in-person event.” If you are a speaker making the transition to speaking at virtual events, you will need to re-work your entire talk. The first step is to break the existing talk into chunks of about five to seven minutes. In this way, a 45- minute in-person keynote will become a virtual talk of six or eight sections. To mix up the format of the sections, speakers can use the breakout room feature if the platform has one, conduct a poll and analyze the results, show a short video and describe learnings from it, and conduct a short live interview, all in one talk. If a speaker can do all of those things in 45 minutes, the talk will be quite different from an in in-person talk, but it is dynamic and engaging in a way that is ideal for a screen. Given the differences between in-person speaking techniques and what works in a virtual event, how do event planners choose virtual speakers? “The first issue is assessing how comfortable they are speaking to a camera,” D’Amelio said. “It’s not for everyone. Just like you would for in- person, get video samples of virtual events the speaker has spoken to.” What can be done if an event must feature a company executive or sponsor without good virtual speaking skills or if the planning team is set on a speaker who does not have the chops? If event planners have a speaker that they want to use but who is not comfortable on camera, an interview with a skilled moderator like Michelle who can guide the conversation can be a terrific solution. Journalists make terrific interviewers and many have experience in front of a camera. Academics and subject matter experts may also be well suited to drawing out the interviewee. It will be critical to ensure that a panel moderator or interviewer for a fireside chat is highly comfortable with the subject matter, the medium, and confident enough to lead the discussion if it lulls or heads off track. “A speaker who is not comfortable on camera shouldn’t automatically disqualify them. The secret weapon for virtual events is conversation,” D’Amelio said. “I’m convinced an experienced moderator or interviewer can make a camera-shy speaker feel comfortable and also make sure that the most relevant information is excavated. Certainly, two people in conversation is more engaging than just one talking head.”  The best virtual events reimagine what is possible rather than recreate what is familiar To be clear: A virtual event is neither a digital replica of an in-person event, nor is it network news or a daytime talk show. Elements of each will impact the design of an event. But to build your best virtual event, you need to rethink what is possible. It is human nature for us to take what we already know from an offline world and apply it online. Over the decades we have both spent working in digital businesses we have seen countless initiatives fail as they try to recreate online what they are used to in the offline world. Advertising agencies missed the web marketing revolution by focusing on annoying and interruptive ads. However, smart advertisers recognized that digital affords them unprecedented consumer understanding and the ability to deliver desirable information at the right time, in the right context. Newspaper companies nearly missed the online information revolution because they focused on recreating their print newspaper online. Magazines almost made the same mistake, but successful ones realized that consumers behave differently online and that there are experiences that lend themselves better to digital. And digitally native media organizations sprang up that intuitively understood the medium. Our challenge with online events and virtual speaking is to focus on what is possible, not on trying to replicate what we already know. The best virtual events are more than televised keynotes. They must go beyond the charismatic talking head. The best virtual events create a compelling and engaging digital experience. The key is that we need to use the power of the online medium rather than trying to recreate an offline experience. David created a six minute video that he published to Vimeo that goes into detail on these ideas: Virtual Events vs In-Person Events: How Do They Compare? For example, great events include ways for the audience to interact with one another. Networking is one of the main reasons people attend in- person events. Unfortunately, at your average webinar, there is not a lot of introducing yourselves to those seated nearby, or hallway serendipity. However, successful virtual events will leverage digital tools to enable networking, maybe even more effectively than in-person networking. Through different tools built into virtual event platforms attendees can chat with one another, live, as a speaker is presenting. We will discuss this in more detail in Chapter 3. Presenters can use a breakout room feature as part of their talk, to put attendees into small groups of five or six people so they can interact for a few minutes about the subject being discussed. And after a talk, virtual meeting rooms can be set up where people who share common challenges and goals can collaborate based on the information they just learned. Events can offer “speed dating” tools that allow for attendees to randomly interact with peers for short spans. That idea can be further refined by matchmaking around specified interests. This can even serve as a premium upsell if attendees are given the opportunity to interact with speakers, or sponsors are given the chance to meet with potential customers, for example. Perspectives 2020 Like many in-person client conferences, Skillsoft moved its Perspectives 2020 event online. Rather than just taking its existing content and putting it on the web, Skillsoft, a global leader in learning and talent management solutions, completely rethought what was possible. “Reimagining Perspectives during a pandemic couldn’t be as simple as doing a broadcast version of our in-person event; it needed to reflect our new brand and frankly our vision to democratize learning,” Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, Skillsoft’s chief marketing officer told us, “which meant that we had to create something new that encouraged people — everyone — to participate live. And so, our marketing team and agency partners spent 28 hours over two days in a design-thinking workshop determining what would make for a best-in-class live digital experience, drawing inspiration from some of the most unexpected places." Normally, the Skillsoft Perspectives in-person customer conference held each May draws 1,000 participants. In 2020 Skillsoft made a bold move for their virtual event. They chose a 24-hour “follow the sun” approach to entice a global audience. Perspectives 2020 kicked off on May 13 at 9:00 am Sydney time and included speakers such as author of EduFated Tara Westover, panels, case studies and other programming that originated in Sydney, Singapore, Delhi and London, and concluded at 6:30 p.m. Boston time with David’s keynote. David made a five-minute highlight video of the virtual event: Virtual Keynote Speaker David Meerman SFott Highlights from Skillsoft PerspeFtives 2020 from David Meerman SFott on Vimeo. The event was highly engaging, for the full 24 hours. “We packed it with everything leaders and learners need to upskill and reskill for whatever their future holds,” said Boockoff-Bajdek. “The level of engagement and the studio chat was off the charts. And it’s because of the content — a stellar roster of keynotes, moderated panels between practitioners and experts on the topic of Business Continuity Planning, hosted (and heated!) head-to-head debates in each region; and moments of infotainment that kept people tuning in.” Throughout the day, David served as co-host with Boockoff-Bajdek. She was the leader of the event while David jumped in with “color commentary” from time to time. Using hosts brought consistency to Skillsoft Perspectives 2020 and kept audiences tuned in for what was coming next. Skillsoft Perspectives 2020 also included a live musical performance by Kev Sylvester and Wil Baptiste of Black Violin, who played from their studio in Florida. David interviewed Wil and Kev after their performance from the Boston studio and the interplay between the artists, who were both in their studio, was popular with attendees. The results of Skillsoft’s first virtual customer conference were impressive. “We set high stretch targets for the digital event hoping to drive 20 times the registration that we would have seen for an in-person event,” Boockoff-Bajdek says. “We more than doubled those numbers, hitting 42,000 total registrants with a 37 percent attendance rate. We drove real- time engagement from participants: more than 1.4 million minutes of content were consumed over the course of 24-hours. And tens of thousands of people took advantage of our trial offer, gaining unrestricted access to all of the content available in Skillsoft’s Percipio, our learning experience platform.” Collision Michelle (Manafy) was slated to be a host of the Content Maker’s stage at Collision, North America’s fastest-growing tech conference, which was originally planned as an in-person event in Toronto, Canada. In just 12 weeks, their team turned a physical conference virtual. When the producers realized they needed to shift to virtual, they leaned heavily into a “TV-like” model. This involved recording hundreds of talks in advance of the air date, which allowed them to optimize recording quality, lighting, sound, etc. They offered one free channel and two premium ones as well as an audio-only “radio” channel and highlights from past events. In the end they produced more than 150 hours of original content. Collision absolutely did not want to forgo the excitement and engagement of their past events. They employed a number of interactive digital elements, as well as airing live segments alongside the pre-recorded ones. Talks included the ability to rate speakers in real time as well as a chat function that let attendees interact with one another. Several of the most well-known speakers who had produced their talks ahead of time also participated in live interactive Q&A sessions. Collision also held an Irish Pub night for press in attendance. Whereas previous years saw press shuttled on busses to various private events all over the host city, this year they brought press together for a drink in their home country, Ireland, virtually. Press who registered to attend were shipped a box of Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey, Angostura bitters, simple syrup, and lemons. Attendees joined a Zoom call live from Tullamore’s distillery where they were guided through the distillery’s history and how to make three cocktail recipes, and entertained by a popular pub performer. The event allowed press to interact with one another, enjoy a couple of cocktails and a live performance, and created a highly favorable impression for both Tullamore and Collision. And let’s face it: That last bit is one of the primary reasons press are invited to conferences in the first place. Virtual events should be shorter Typical in-person events range in length from a full day to a week or more, with programming starting in the morning each day and frequently running through an after-party late into the night. Keynotes and panel discussions are usually an hour in length and “blocks” of programming time are usually 90 minutes to two or three hours, with networking and meal breaks in between. That model works when people are physically together in a convention center or hotel ballroom, but it is not ideal for virtual events. Shorter usually works better with virtual because people tend to multitask when participating in a virtual event and many people are familiar with consuming short form content online, such as YouTube videos.  Ideally, virtual event programming will include some shorter 15 to 20- minute session. If you have longer keynotes, you can break them up into modules with the Q&A coming after a short break. Consider a typical network news program and how it is broken into segments with commercial breaks coming at regular intervals. While you do not need commercials in your virtual event, you do need to break up content into shorter segments. At a recent event where David spoke, there were five-minute breaks built in every 45 minutes or so. During some breaks, a yoga instructor led interested people in some stretching exercises. Programmers also included a live webcam of some goats with a farmer talking about them, courtesy of a company called Goat to Meeting. Scaling Up Summits As you reimagine what is possible with your virtual event, do not be afraid to make some radical changes. David spoke at a Scaling Up Summit organized by Verne Harnish, author and founder/CEO of a global executive education and coaching firm Scaling Up and hosted by Chief ExeFutive Magazine. Their virtual event was all about short form — really short form. “When the pandemic hit in March, within two weeks we pivoted from our in-person two-day Summits to asking top thought leaders and CEOs to deliver in just 10 minutes what they might take an hour to share at an in- person event,” said Harnish. “We shared the equivalent amount of insights, ideas, and inspiration in two-hours, compared to what would normally consume two-days of attendees time, not including the time and expense of travel. As such, 94 percent of our audience asked for more structured events like this given the time constraints we’re all experiencing in the face of the pandemic.” As with other virtual events we have discussed in these pages, the key for Harnish was not trying to replicate his company’s two-day format online. Instead he compacted it into just two hours. Harnish’s team followed up each of the events with professionally created notes as well as links to watch replays of individual presentations as an added value for attendees. They offered the replays as a paid option for those who could not attend live, generating more revenue for the event. As a speaker at several of Harnish’s new, very short virtual events, David can say with certainty that the 10-minute speaker format was a hit with attendees. After his brief talk, David’s social media feeds lit up with people who had attended the summit thanking him for his session and wanting to engage further with the ideas he presented. It was a success for Harnish and his team too because they sold thousands of tickets at an average of $95 each. In fact, the 12 speaker, 10- minutes- each format was so popular that Scaling Up have replicated the it three more times with celebrity speakers including Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Nate Blecharczyk, Margaret Heffernan, Sarah Friar, General Stanley McChrystal, Greg Brenneman and more. They've also featured top business books authors including bestsellers Gary Hamel, Susan David, Adam Grant, Scott Galloway, Hermann Simon and Keith Ferrazzi. “These events allowed us to reach new people who joined as a participant as well as broaden our reach of sponsors, partners, and affiliate arrangements,” said Harnish. “Whereas we expected around 1,000 CEOs and CXOs to attend our in-person event, we hosted over 14,000 paid attendees across the four virtual summits. So, our reach was essentially 12 times our in-person events and we were able to replace most of our gross margin dollars.” The Scaling Up team are planning additional virtual events using the same formula in late 2020 and into 2021. Harnish added: “As Margaret Heffernan suggested in her opening remarks of the first virtual event we hosted ’now is the time to be ambitious!’” Remember, many audience members will have the expectation of past live events when they sign up for your virtual event. While you certainly don't want to try to replicate in-person online, you want to satisfy one of the biggest reasons people attend events: the ability to build a tribe through shared interests and interaction, something we will cover in the next chapter.