On 15/Apr/20 11:45, Denesh Bhabuta wrote:
> 1) There is a shift in where the costs are
Agreed.
>
> 2) Putting on an online conference still requires a lot of prep work (more so
> than a physical conference) and behind the scenes work (more so than a
> physical conference) - especially if you want it to run smoothly and do not
> want Max Headroom style presentations and participants.
Agreed.
>
> 3) I personally do not think you can replace a physical conference with an
> online one, in a like-for-like fashion. The schedules need to be shorter, the
> presentations need to be shorter. The focus needs to be a lot more on
> delivery and engagement with the delivery… if at least to prevent fatigue at
> the participant’s side.
Agreed.
>
> 4) The full benefits of a physical conference / meeting can not be met with
> an online one with the current tools and technology. There is a lot to be
> said for in-corridor and ad-hoc face to face chats. I have been discussing
> this in another forum and was told that there are tools out there which will
> fully replace physical conferences (these do cost quote a lot of money -
> pretty much the same as hiring a venue) and are far far better than the likes
> of standard Zoom. I was put in touch with one such company and the first
> thing they told me was that I was correct. Even though they are proud of what
> they can offer, no such technology exists which can replace the full benefits
> of a physical conference.. unable to replace that face to face, ad-hoc, peer
> relationship building. Online meetings are all about attending and then
> leaving as soon as it is over.
Agreed.
>
> The above is not to say that we should not try.. but we need to be aware of
> what we gain and what we lose in the process.. and shape the nature of events
> accordingly.. and evolve with all of that in mind.
This, here, is the meat.
The Coronavirus is accelerating and amplifying the shift in models; in
many cases, much to our chagrin. But, while we've all been talking and
hypothesizing about this for years, no one can claim delusion because,
well, we are all now living it, daily.
The outcome? To some degree, I believe there will be a huge drive for
improvement in efficiencies, because while we are struggling to keep
incomes coming in consistently on the back of all the lockdowns, our
CFO's are not going to be too unhappy to see that the 1st quarter of
2020 saw a travel and logistics cost savings of well over 90%; and we
didn't all fall over and die.
So while physical interaction is certainly the holy grail, I anticipate
that we will be forced to be smarter about how we collaborate. I mean,
it's not like we don't have a live example. That cat's well and truly
out the bag now :-).
Mark.
