2021 Business Event Trend Outlook

After the Pandemic, the Endemic Era Comes.

Source: Korea Money-Management Expo Secretariat

Vaccinations have begun in the US, the UK, and elsewhere, but many experts forecast that the COVID-19 virus may not end and may go endemic, occurring periodically. It may be a warning that COVID-19 could, instead of ending, become a seasonal epidemic that returns each season. [Source: CNBC] For us, to whom it's hard to predict what will happen going forward, there's a limit to holding the vague hope that, once we get vaccinated, we'll return to the old era and offline events will again become the mainstream. Therefore, even in a situation where some infectious disease circulates and cross-border travel is difficult, we as business-event planners must constantly deliberate and attempt how to keep holding business events and how to maximize the sense of belonging and immersion between hosts and participants. If last year, an audience-free webinar—a contactless event instead of an offline one—became the solution for holding events, this year we'll have to flexibly apply the hybrid-event format depending on vaccines and whether the infectious disease ends.

SCOOP VOCAP｜Digital-event-related terminology

Webinar

• A webinar is an online meeting via internet-connected video and audio conferencing
• It runs real-time chat, polls, Q&A sessions, and more, enabling communication with the audience through various methods
• Popular platforms include ZOOM, Teams, Webex, and others we often use
• It can be used as a platform for running small internal webinars, but because high-resolution streaming is
• possible, a separate professional system is needed to stream for professional international conferences, YouTube/broadcast use, and the like

Webcast & Live Streaming

• One-way streaming (one-way method)
• Has almost no attractive features for attendees and speakers to communicate, or for speakers to share attendees' opinions

Online Conference & Virtual Exhibition

• Designs and runs both meetings and exhibition booths in a tailored way on an online event platform
• Digital exhibitors can meet digital attendees to discuss business or showcase products
• By implementing an online event platform or a dedicated website, you can take part not only in the conference but also in exhibition booths
• The advantage that participants can communicate and close deals online
• Selecting and individualizing an online event platform suited to the event's character and scale is essential

Virtual World

• A 3D-based simulation environment where users are represented by avatars and attend events in a virtual space
• Must be individually produced per event and has the drawback of being costly

Hybrid Events

• A method of running online and offline at the same time—an event that accounts for both the situation where one can attend on-site and where one can only connect online
• According to global travel restrictions and social-distancing policies, online/offline can be used in combination

[Source: PCMA DES Course]

The rising demand for digital-event-dedicated studios

Source: Marina Bay Sands website

When the endemic era arrives, we must quickly change and flexibly respond to the form of events held chameleon-like to suit the situation—sometimes an audience-free webinar, sometimes a hybrid event, or an offline event. Depending on the event's purpose and character, many hosts and planners are constantly deliberating to raise the best experience, immersion, and interaction for the event's participants. Singapore Marina Bay Sands: Singapore's first hybrid-event studio in Singapore, Asia's best event city Singapore's most-cited hotel and a representative MICE-event venue. Marina Bay Sands' world-class studio—an industry-first hybrid-event solution—is equipped to transform events into immersive visual experiences through enhanced technical capabilities. This studio, which opened last August, is praised for providing event participants an effect beyond realism by mounting mixed-reality (MR) technology. It can be seen as a case showing the resilience of Sands, which responded quickly in the pandemic era. Many of the events currently underway are being held at Marina Bay Sands. DSM Square operated by Chris & Partners: Dreaming of Korea's best hybrid-event studio! Chris & Partners, too, this past January, came to operate a hybrid-event studio (DSM STUDIO) where hybrid events can be held, to link the introduction of meeting technology and a technology-demonstration pilot business. It's a professional studio where professional planners provide a one-stop-solution service—from simple streaming to event planning—fully equipped with a 4K LED screen as well. If you prepare to hold an event of any size and form in the future, a creative space and all the infrastructure are in place to hold a top-quality event with the best experts, with peace of mind. Afterward we plan to keep upgrading so we can graft metaverse and VR technologies onto events.

SCOOP POINT｜Checkpoints to consider when booking a webinar studio

• Location: studio size, capacity, location, whether parking facilities are fully equipped
• Internet: whether fiber-optic LAN is installed. With Wi-Fi, the stability of internet streaming is zero
• Basic production system: relay, audio, lighting, central console
• Screen: whether you can customize-select by event character—LED, chroma key, PDP, projector, etc.
• Internet streaming: event-streaming technology and experience suited to the type of event-operation platform, number of participants, event purpose, and the like
• Meeting platforms: Zoom, Webex, Teams held by default; meeting-operation experience essential
• Planning and professional operation staff: staff rich in digital-event experience—from budget, design, and planning to operation
• Whether advanced meeting systems can be operated

What are the qualifications of a business-event specialist planner that must change?

PCMA(Professional Convention Management Association) is the largest organization in the global business-event industry. It is a globally credible organization that runs education and networking programs in cooperation with over 7,000 members in 37 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The DES course planned by PCMA is an education program to improve the MICE-industry environment, where the business-event industry faces digital change, and to cultivate digital-event specialists; it had been working on developing this program even before the pandemic. As it happens, in the event industry depressed by COVID, it's establishing itself as an important course where each planner upgrades their own competencies and skills to suit new trends. After completing this education, passing the certification exam earns recognition as a globally certified ‘Digital Event Strategist (DES)’ digital-event planner. There aren't yet many digital planners holding this certification domestically. Digital Event Strategist (DES) Chris & Partners director Kim Song-yi! We at Chris & Partners always strive to upgrade to suit trends and not miss the latest news and education. In January, our director Kim Song-yi achieved the feat of acquiring this certification! We strive endlessly to advance to suit the digital-event environment and provide leading, top-quality service! We recommend successfully holding events together with a digital-event specialist going forward.

SCOOP POINT｜Checkpoints for a digital-event strategist good to work with

• Do they understand the event's holding and purpose from the client's standpoint
• Can they design the event according to budget and event character
• Can they stably use meeting technology and production, and do they have much experience
• Do they deliberate on how to raise webinar attendees' engagement and immersion
• Do they deliberate together with the client so a data-driven user database can be used before and after the event