COVID-19 was the scariest thing on earth a couple of years ago. Uncertainty and anxiety would go hand in hand blurring the thoughts of what the future holds for us. We were confined to our homes and more so to our rooms if one had been infected.
This was the time we truly longed for social interaction. We realized and valued what we took for granted before COVID-19. It also had a deep impact on global events across different sectors, from culture to trade to sports, hitting event owners, organizers, and participants.
Specifically, the events industry post-COVID-19 has changed the dynamics of networking.
Organizations across the globe are gradually flattening their recessionary curve by leveraging technology. Many businesses are going through response, recovery, and renewal phases.
Building business resilience with a post-COVID-19 event strategy and enabling agility will aid organizations to move forward in their journey out of the COVID-19 crisis towards the new normal.
Not only has it diversified the way events were conducted, but it has also pushed the limits for event management as a profession. Before COVID-19, event planners would usually be concerned about booking the right hotels and venues while now they are equipping themselves with virtual event technology.
Virtual & Physical Events - A common underlying problem
With physical events, there were a lot of word files and excel sheets needed to maintain data. As an event manager, you would start with planning and sending out invitations to attendees via email or post. Then comes the event venue booking and if your attendees are traveling from other cities to the event, you needed hotel reservations too.
People either had to physically reach the event premises to register themselves or they would email to confirm participation while some of the event registrations were managed through online forms as well. These information collection points are mostly not integrated with payment systems. Later, the attendees have to go to banks to submit their registration fees.
All the bits and pieces of information were scattered. Tracking back a single disruption felt no less than a nightmare.
With a surge in virtual events post COVID-19, the inclusion of digital tools to conduct such events successfully has also been on the rise. 54.8% of event planners use different event technology providers rather than an all-in-one solution. Hence the data was everywhere rather than being centralized.
Oreed has radically changed this by providing all event-related data in one dashboard. Oreed is a 360-degree solution to better understand & serve your user. If you know what your audience wants and you can gauge their interests from past event activities, you have got the recipe to nail your next event.
Inviting registration using Orred’s platform, you can collect all the information about users’ previous activities such as how many events they have attended in a month, quarter, year or so, and then you can accordingly pitch your event.
You must be wondering, oh well! Zoom or Go-to-Webinar are already there. Why would you need Oreed then?
Zoom and other similar video conferencing tools do indeed collect user data but it is on a very basic level. It is not a centralized format and doesn't provide much value to you as an event manager. You need to download tons of excel sheets including user data and then manually analyze them till the end of the decade.
Oreed saves you from all this hassle and burnout. It provides a centralized system where you can get all the relevant audience insights in one place. It gives you a bigger picture of all the campaigns and events that you have conducted while bringing analytical results. This data analysis would support you during the planning of the next event and you can offer content that is more engaging for your audience.
Oreed is offering an array of virtual event management services; from online learning to educational webinars, broadcasting, hybrid learning, and microlearning. As an event professional you can manage sponsors, simplify the participant registration process and ensure attendance while also providing certifications to attendees.
With Oreed, event managers can significantly cut costs and improve efficiency for the end-users. They can access all the event management capabilities in one place. Having a centralized database can seamlessly deliver data analysis.
Based on these insights you can design events according to audiences’ preferences. Eventually, it will facilitate enhancing the participation rate. Also, it has a system in place to process accreditations and certifications for attendees.
Oreed allows you to create a customized experience for each learner. It can enable end-users to enjoy education in different modes such as onsite, hybrid, remote, and microlearning. Its efficient CRM integrations provide smooth communication between event managers and participants.
Post-COVID Event Strategy
Though many events are being conducted virtually now, most people are eager to gather together for events once again. Adaptations and accommodations must be made to conduct physical events successfully.
Always Stay Flexible
If the event planning industry has learned anything during the COVID-19, it’s that details can change in the blink of an eye. Flexibility has always been an essential skill for event managers, but it is even more important as you plan post covid event strategy.
Stay up-to-date on all the latest restrictions and recommendations, and be prepared to change the details of your event at a moment’s notice. If your event needs to change to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, remain patient as you communicate with clients, vendors, and guests.
Implement Social Distancing
“Social distancing” is no more an unfamiliar word. We frequently see stickers on the floor indicating six feet of space and signs posted in public spaces that remind patrons to maintain their distance.
Event planners should thoroughly plan activities and site maps in a way that accommodates social distancing. Of course, six feet of distance between each person is not always possible at large events, but the effort is worth it to minimize the spread of infections and diseases.
Go Contactless
Since March of 2020, “contactless” has been a popular term. People get contactless grocery pickup, non-contact food delivery, and make contact-free payments. Technology has adapted to accommodate people through event apps and check-in kiosks so they can avoid unnecessary interaction if desired.
As the event industry moves forward in a post-COVID-19 world, contactless registration, sign-in, and purchasing will become even more popular. Oreed provides you an extensive platform to gauge audience interest as the well seamless registration process.
Many event managers may even decide to completely forgo cash payments to minimize contact. With Oreed’s integrations, you can ensure safe payment transfers.
Prioritize Hygiene
In indoor venues such as stadiums and concert halls, event planners should secure ample hand sanitizer stations to be placed in accessible areas around the venue. For outdoor events, hygiene takes a whole different priority.
You may remember how much handwashing and social distancing were encouraged at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. This was because healthcare experts determined that, like many other diseases, COVID-19 can easily spread from people’s hands to their faces and from person to person nearby.
Since many outdoor event locations don’t have access to pre-established restrooms and sinks, it is vital to provide enough portable restrooms and mobile handwashing stations for guests.
Maintain Virtual Options
While so many people are excited to attend in-person events again, many others remain nervous. Even though you may be ready to move on from virtual concerts and networking events, consider accommodating people who would prefer to attend online. Set up a live stream at your large event so people can tune in online.
Virtual streaming options also allow you to reach audiences that would normally be too far away to attend certain events in person. When you opt to provide virtual streaming options, you maintain the best of both worlds. People who want to attend live events get to satisfy their social quota, and people who feel most comfortable at home still get to participate.
Conclusion
The event management as a service market is driven by the increasing demand for online registration and payment. In addition, the rising number of events and meetings is expected to trigger the event management as a service market toward witnessing a compound annual growth rate of over 7% during the forecast period.
Whether you are conducting events physically, virtually, or in a hybrid manner, you need to ensure that the collection, maintenance, and analysis of data are done efficiently. With so many options available for event management competition also intensifies. Losing even the smallest of the data that you thought was useless could become another business’s competitive advantage.
Realizing the need and importance of a tool such as Oreed, that integrates different applications, takes away your headache of remembering a gazillion data sheets spread through several folders and pulls them to you in one dashboard is only a blessing.
