I am sorry about your loss. I hope that you are doing well.

Thanks for your comment! I think that you are right on about the benefits that hybrid events can bring to events.

I still find that many people are afraid of hybrid and virtual events. I think about it in the same way that I think about the swiffer. Before I changed from a broom and dust pan to a swiffer – I had to try the Swiffer. After I tried it – I realized how well it worked in the corner and picked up everything at once, etc. I think you can make the same argument for hybrid events. More organizers need to try them as participants to get a clear understanding of how they will work in their events. They need to experience some of these benefits for themselves – first.

On the other – more data helps too. When guys like Mark Ragan of Ragan Communications stand up and say – I am making 15% more because of hybrid/virtual events – people listen. I am sure that there were some people in that audience that decided to take a closer look at hybrid events because of his comment.

Thanks for your comment. It was great to meet you in Chicago, too!

I had a short conversation with two event organizers about the non-technology costs for bringing new technology into events. (Kind of elaborating on one of the session topics) We talked about costs like vendor management, supplying data/information, selling these “new” sponsorships and data integration. While most of these costs – don’t show up on a bill anywhere – they are real costs (and real headaches) to the event organizer. We agreed that many of the inventors of “shiny objects” don’t consider these costs. Or worse yet – have any clue that these costs exist.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years. A multi-tiered technology supplier structure – similar to the auto-industry – could very well emerge.

Hopefully MTO Summit will have a hybrid event at their Novemeber Washington DC summit…

Sam, it was great to finally meet you! You’re on the money on the Virtual/Hybrid event being MIA at MTO. Good thing was the audience recognized that and added it to the unconference session. Hopefully, the organizers will take note of the ‘elephant in the room” for the future and also live stream a sessioin or two.

I agree that your open and integrated comments above are definitely important for vendors to develop strategies for. Show organizers want to manage less vendors, not more. They are looking for their primary partners to hook up with other best in class suppliers to deliver an integrated end to end solution. This means that registration, floorplan, AMS and decorator/contractors have a huge opportunity and responsibility to win over the big boys and girls.

Game on!

Thanks for the recap. Sounds like a fun and thought provoking conference. Glad to hear that Hybrid Events and Mobile were key themes. We definitely see those two trends as key drivers of change in the industry for years to come.

-John

Thanks for the nice compliments, Deb. I was really impressed with the wide variety of event professionals that participated in the conference. It was a very diverse and interesting group.

I am sure that Hybrid and Virtual Events will make it on the Agenda next time.