AMI 10-21 - My Virtual Life | Association Meetings International

William Thomson, head honcho at Gallus Events, gives us a tour of his career in virtual events…

I organised my first virtual event in 2006, although it wasn’t called virtual back then. We were just streaming an event to a website. We were running a series of regional events at the Institute for Chartered Accountants, including a big one at our venue in London that kept selling out. We couldn’t get a bigger venue, so the only solution was to have a virtual event. The technology was terrible. We had a fixed camera, no audience interaction, no chat, it was literally just watching the content. But, effectively, it was a hybrid event, we had the in-person element and people could watch live or access it later.

I remember my boss saying, ‘We can’t do this! If it’s free people won’t come to the physical event!’ and me replying, ‘Who said anything about it being free? I’m going to charge the same for the physical as the virtual.’ Someone else said, ‘Nobody will pay, it will look really bad!’ And I said, ‘But, if the content’s great people will want to pay for it!’ In the end I persuaded them to give it a go. And, thankfully, it worked.

But that wasn’t the start of, ‘Hey, let’s generate loads of new revenue!’ It was just ‘Phew, that worked! Now let’s get back to physical again!’ That was a mistake 15 years ago and I know that’s a mistake a lot of associations are going to make now. They’re going to look at the last 18 months as a bump in the road and not an opportunity to do things differently.

Everyone talks about technology now, but when we did this back in 2006, we had everything we needed. There was no demand for people to ‘chat’. Social media wasn’t really a thing. People were happy just to watch the content. It did the job perfectly. Fast forward five years to Event Camp Twin Cities, a series of events for thought leaders from across the globe, and it was clear the technology had jumped forward. We were using google hangouts, bringing in cameras from other places, so by then, it was much more like a virtual event - back in 2006 it was just a broadcast. Fast forward again to 2012, when I was involved in TechFest, and the technology was better still. By now we were able to break out, have attendees comment on screen, so it was moving quite quickly.

I just hope whatever people choose, virtual, hybrid or in-person, their decision is objective-led.

And then there was a hiatus with virtual event technology.

The industry put a huge amount of investment into mobile - digital booklets and networking apps, which are great if you’re happy to walk around with your mobile phone, but nobody was really thinking how do we make this work in a virtual world? It was about using a phone as a companion to the physical event. So, when we all moved to virtual 18 months ago the technology was very simple. But there was a proliferation of companies who started to move things forward, like Hoppin, and some of the apps, like Spotme who were fantastic, and SwapCard, who started to provide a really good service. The platforms got much better and there were a lot more platforms. So, by the start of this year, the problem had flipped and there were not too few providers, but too many, so it became quite difficult to find the right platform for a client, because there were so many to choose from.

I would say platforms are still improving, but there’s a point when they don’t really need to improve much more. One company I know have started tailoring their platform to the bespoke needs of my clients and doing it for a really good price, so I think, as buyers, we’re in a really good position now.

It is much more difficult to create an engaging conference online than in-person. And it comes down to the senses. When we design physical events we say to the clients, it’s all about the senses. What can your delegates touch and smell and feel and taste and hear and see. When you’re designing online you can’t do that – you certainly can’t touch or smell or taste anything! It’s a lot harder therefore because you have a lot less to work with. That could change dramatically in the next few years when we’re engaging in a proper 3D world with VR headsets on. I think you can be super creative in that environment. But it’s hard for event planners. I remember going to a Bjork 3D immersive concert about five years ago and being totally blown away by the technology. And I think if we look to virtual events in another five years it will look very different because most platforms are still very much 2D.

I think there will be a rush back to in-person events when the pandemic is over. In fact, I know because I can see it already. And that’s understandable to an extent. But the savvy associations are those who are going to see this as part of their offer. It’s not going to be everything for most associations, but they must keep it going or they will lose all those benefits. Right now, people are desperate for physical events, but I’m expecting a little bit of a jump back to virtual. I reckon after six months people will be thinking, ‘actually given that I was able to exhibit at that virtual event and not send any of my staff there and not have to build a stand and I was able to get 25 good leads. I’m going to see if they’re going to do virtual again!’ I just hope whatever people choose, virtual, hybrid or in-person, their decision is objective-led. They think about their goals and ask themselves which format will work best for them. Because we look back with rose-tinted glasses. I mean, wasn’t it great to drink all those grey, cold cups of coffee while sitting listening to some boring old dude on stage go through a PowerPoint? Nah!