Turning Adversity into Opportunity
COVID-19 has had a drastic impact on the event industry. Events around the world are going remote, canceling, or being postponed. This has pushed event organizers to think of what to do next as they manage the consequences of this global pandemic.
While it can be easy to dwell on a bad situation, there is an opportunity in adversity. And many companies have already taken the approach of turning lemons into lemonade to maximize the resources they have already invested in events impacted by COVID-19.
Since we know just how important events are, we’ve pulled together a game plan you can follow depending on your situation. Take a look.
Make Your Event Remote If Your Event Has Been Canceled
If there’s one thing that the event industry has learned in light of this global pandemic, is that digital, in today’s modern world, is more important than ever. In response to COVID-19, many companies have quickly turned their physical events into virtual ones, instead of canceling them.
Take the Adobe Summit as an example. This world-renowned conference takes place at the end of March in New York City every year. To make sure they are still reaching their audience, they have made the decision into a remote one. And as an added bonus, they have made it free.
Now is a great time to leverage digital tools to still reach to talk to your customers and prospects. Companies like Zoom and Go to Meeting are making it easy to convert physical events to digital ones by offering free web conferencing services at this time.
Previously booked talent can be trained to be speakers, and any swag or conference material you invested in can be quickly shipped to attendees. Likewise, ask your vendors to create a 3-D render of your booth or event space, making the virtual event as engaging as possible.
With so many digital tools available, it’s up to event planners to get creative on how they leverage these resources to make the best of this situation.
Leverage Local Talent if Your Event Is Postponed
If your event is postponed, you’re in luck. But even with this being the best-case scenario, chances are your event budget took a hit. It’s also likely that getting the same people to come out and work the event is going to be much harder.
To mitigate the loss with recreating the event as you had originally planned, consider leveraging local talent that can quickly fill in and man the event at a later date. This will minimize any additional cost to figuring out travel arrangements.
Event marketers and organizers are used to expecting the unexpected. That’s because anything can happen between the start and end of an event. Yet COVID-19 has also taught those in the event industry, like us, the importance of a contingency plan. Particularly one that considers a digital approach in the event of a global crisis like the one we are currently experiencing.
As you work to navigate these uncertain times, let’s work together on how to best represent your brand during this unprecedented event.
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