On 9 February, the Spanish chapter of Meeting Professionals International held the second of its two sessions, dedicated to new formats, technologies and tendencies in the meetings and event industry, at the Melia Barcelona Hotel.
Before a large audience representing agencies, venues and event planning firms, the expert in ROI and event architecture Rosa Garriga put the accent on the rise of hybrid events and their impact on the meetings and event industry.
Alda Egurrola, head of Elite Meeting International in Spain and MPI member, moderated the session and interviewed Garriga, a consultant for the Event ROI Institute and member of the organizing committee of the experimental hybrid congress The Fresh Conference, who stated: "A hybrid event is that which focuses as much as on what is happening live at the event as on what is happening online, although the concept requires a long-term vision, since it is hard to make it profitable, as well as being regarded above all as a marketing tool."
Along these lines, Garrriga shared her experience as an organizer of and participant at two experimental and highly innovative hybrid events with the audience: the aforementioned The Fresh Conference, in Copenhagen (Denmark) and The Virtual Edge Summit, in San Diego (California), both held last January and which can still be followed via their respective websites.
Both events served as an example to highlight new formats, trends and technologies essential for the successful celebration of hybrid events, such as the use of games to transmit knowledge (gamification); a new breed of face-to-face or virtual participant that is no longer just a spectator, but becomes actively involved in the event and interacts via social media (networking); live or deferred event broadcasting (webcasting); virtual reporters, etc.
Hybrid events are still in the experimental phase, although it is surprising how quickly they are gaining ground and popularity. Unlike face-to-face kind, hybrid events are not limited by time or space, for which reason they provide many more dissemination and marketing opportunities.
These conclusions, far from being unsubstantiated, are backed by a research study on virtual events, conducted jointly by Garriga and the MPI Foundation, entitled, "The strategic value of virtual meetings and events". Among the most striking preliminary conclusions of the study, presented for the time in the Barcelona session, it is important to mention the positive future for meetings and event professionals willing to reinvent themselves. Since virtual events are gradually displacing the face-to-face kind, there is now a demand for a new breed of professional: the virtual event planner, with newly acquired communication skills keyed to the virtual participant.
Garriga pointed out that, although it is true that face-to-face events are irreplaceable when the aim is to motivate employees, promote networking or present products, event virtualization is here to stay, before encouraging the audience to be open to innovation and prepare for the future when, whether they like it or not, basic elements that are currently regarded with skepticism will be commonplace.
MPI Spain addresses rise of hybrid events
