Watch again (and again?)

It’s something the Greek philosophers might have discussed, but also one of the defining – and potentially most liberating – questions facing meeting planners in the age of Covid-19.

The rush to embrace online meetings during the last 18 months has challenged traditional assumptions about the nature of meetings - their purpose, constraints, and limitations.

Central to all this is time – and how it can be exploited when gathering people virtually.

In-person meetings are defined by time. They last a certain number of days. Those days are broken up into sessions, each allocated a certain number of minutes, or hours, according to the programme schedule. Pretty much everything is live - people engage with the content in ‘real time’.

These constraints are not just a matter of logistics, they have their own special function. The ticking clock creates an energy and a sense of purpose. Knowing that a conference is not going to last forever helps to focus minds and get things done. Furthermore, the fleetingness of a ‘time-based event’ – married to a sense of place – creates its own camaraderie and sense of community.

But without the need to occupy or vacate a convention centre or hotel meeting room at a specific point in time, organisers of virtual meetings have more scope to push the margins of conference programmes to improve delegate learning and add context to the content that is being presented.

With the ascendancy of virtual and hybrid meetings, more associations have begun experimenting with asynchronous formats, providing ‘on-demand’ content, for example, that can be watched at the delegates’ own leisure. Different associations have different approaches to this.  

Some have sought to preserve a sense of exclusivity by limiting this content to the duration of the conference itself – then putting it behind a wall, for members only. Others have taken a more relaxed view, making on-demand content freely available for a period after the event (three months is typical), to allow delegates - in theory at least - to ‘continue the conversation’.

Roberta Odebrecht, from association and conference management company K.I.T Group, said the ‘unique potential of digital events’ rested in ‘this decoupling from the constraints of time’.

She observed: “The actual event days are still where we find delegate attention peak, but that attention can be integrated throughout the journey, starting weeks ahead and lasting potentially forever, in a way that can increase the event’s overall legacy. Organisers of international meetings don’t have to worry about finding the perfect ‘time’ for attendees from different time zones.”

Just as the time constraints of an in-person meeting have their own function, the flexing of those time constraints online is not just a matter of convenience or logistics. It can help improve learning and generate interest before an event to drive more registrations.

Odebrecht explains: “Incorporating on-demand content into an event schedule means a broader audience can be reached and given more opportunities to engage with that content. Virtual attendees are more likely to understand the content, as they can watch it several times at their own pace, which may help them generate their own ideas around it.”

“Our association clients are showing an increased interest in extending the lifecycle of their conferences. They often experience significant peaks around the event that move their audiences forward, followed by drop-offs where their audience loses connection to their peers and the association. They may look elsewhere for education providers and new connections.

However, according to Odebrecht’s colleague Laure Norger, associations trying to extend the life cycle of meeting content by simply ‘keeping it online and hoping for the best’ were bound to fail.

“Recorded sessions are a powerful tool for associations to stay relevant to their community year-round, attract new members, and drive more revenue and engagement. But it must be strongly embedded within an association’s overall education strategy. You have to somehow keep the content ‘alive’, otherwise it will just be sitting there on your virtual event platform.”

Norger suggested scheduling ‘re-play & discussion’ sessions amongst members, based on special interest or local/regional groups, which could be done either in-person or done virtually.

“It is also a good idea to assign moderators to monitor questions and discussions linked to recorded content- and ensure responses are provided! If suitable, interesting questions and engagement from the audience can be used as a hook to re-share recorded content on social media. Another good idea is to use your speakers as “ambassadors” for their talks, by providing them with ready-made social media posts, for example, that can be re-posted in their social media feeds.”

Odebrecht adds: “Recorded content can be re-purposed into live online events, such as webinars or 'best-of events' with curated content, which can tie into the association's 365-day engagement strategy.”

Says Odebrecht: “The main challenge that we currently face is digital fatigue. Therefore, it is imperative to create engaging virtual experiences for the attendees to make a lasting impact. Creative collaborations become more difficult as you lose the momentum when you have asynchronous discussions, as they are not in real-time.”

Norger sees more potential pitfalls.

“Having content available in asynchronous format may be a disincentive to attend conferences in live digital format. Without a concrete time and date to watch the content by, users may be more likely to keep delaying the point of engagement with the recorded content.”

She adds: “Speakers have less opportunity to connect with their audience directly. Without being able to interpret the faces and body language of their audience they can no longer easily assess the response to their talk and adjust their content, tone or pace depending on the audience reaction. Some speakers may be less tech savvy and struggle with delivering their content in a digital format.”