www.fastcompany.com: Over the years, corporate live events have transformed to include celebrity speakers, VIP access, exclusive private dinners, mobile-first ticketing, and a wide assortment of high production value add-ons—one of which being a film recording or, more recently, live streaming capabilities. But it wasn’t until the majority of the world went into quarantine that the concept of digital broadcasting went from being a cool addition to an in-person event to becoming its central focus.
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I certainly agree with the author’s statement here that the live events industry is changing rapidly in response to COVID-19, but I do not think all of the changes are here to stay. While I can not disagree with Taparia that there are a multitude of benefits for hosting live events virtually, at the same time, where we currently are with technology can not replace the in person experience. There are many financial and safety benefits for companies to host virtual events instead of in person ones. In addition to that, accessibility to virtual events is much more equitable, and those with physical disabilities have greater access to virtual events. So there are undoubtedly benefits to the virtual experience, but at this moment is not a replacement for the in person experience. As Taparia alludes to, arguably the most important part of the in person event is forging and strengthening relationships, and despite our best efforts that can not happen as naturally on a virtual platform. While it certainly is critical that the live events industry begins to prepare for an impending shift in what an “event” is, it seems safe to assume that when it is possible to have in person events again, people will scramble to go to them again.
I am always curious to hear how people believe things will turn out for their respective industry, post COVID-19 caution. We all believe or want to believe that the world will, Eventually, return to be and act like the world we knew prior to this pandemic. Yet, everyone also seems to think that this change is going to stick. It's a weird contradiction of statements because they are both true possibilities. It is hard to ignore that we have successfully made a world where it is possible to be virtual or not physically present in order to achieve things. This is based on our recent human history because we all know we have been creating a world where the digital and virtual abilities have already made it normal to not be physically present for a lot of things that we would normally have been present for prior to this digital world. At the same time we as a species rely on human presence, interaction, engagement, etc. for survival. Currently this is the participation in our economy through travel, shopping, entertainment, etc. In other words, if we all never left our homes and figured out ways to get us groceries, entertainment, etc, without human involvement (which already exist), we would see the economy plummet as industries collapse. When this article talks about this dichotomy, it is accurate. It is also intriguing that while right now the events industry is at a standstill and that the potential for it to become more digitally digested is such a high possibility; It is believed and likely the actuality that this industry wont change at all when it is allowed to resume at the capacity in which it operated not too long ago.
The whole situation with COVID-19 is truly unwelcomed, not only considering the uncomfortable obligations that commoners have to go through across the entire world, but also assessing the financial crisis that so many industries are encountering.
Yet I am delighted to see that, even though there are numbers of news articles reporting the shutdown of markets or productions, there are still a lot of articles trying to detect the bright sides of the effects. As people are seeking for new ways of commutation due to social distancing and meeting obligations, I do think that those efforts have made some of the meetings more accessible in a way. This might sound weird, but I think that the social distancing has ironically driven people to be more connected in different ways. In terms of spreading the meetings, it have actually widened the audience. As the author mentioned how hybrid meetings (both virtual and in-person) would be omnipresent in the near future, I think people would get an opportunity to get used to different forms of meeting by trying to attend the conference that is happening across the ocean via online. While I’m not sure if prioritizing virtual sessions over the in-person ones is a great idea, I think that choosing the virtual presence being more accessible and convenient is a positive change.
The entertainment is in bad place right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic, plain and simple. Change is needed in the industry out of necessity to stay afloat for many companies who simply don't have the option of taking time off. The part that I find interesting and others talk about is the fact what changes are going stick and what changes are going to simply be quick fixes. Everyone hopes that we get back to a world similar to what was before covid but there's no garubteees and no promises it will never happen again. So companies are then creating solutions right now that they hope can be long term projects and "future-proof" concepts that can be apart of the company moving forward. But as many companies have realized and they talk about in this article the virtual world is very harsh for an art for like theatre personal connections are a hard thing to create over a zoom screen and theatres are struggling to find their place.
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