DIGITAL EVENT FORECAST | Version 2
July 2020 | Ongoing audit & analysis of 60+ digital events
Our team has been working closely with the event teams at the front lines and we’re excited about what we're seeing. The creativity, experimentation and optimism we’re seeing under pandemic pressure will leave a lasting impression on the way we build and model our overall strategy. Sekou Andrews spoke eloquently and inventively about disruption in his keynote for Cisco Live 2020—the only possible way to avoid the discomfort that comes with unexpected change is to embody the change yourself. Yes, event teams have been disrupted. And they’re working actively to disrupt themselves. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
One of the more significant disruptions that we capture in this report is what we’re seeing as a critical shift from event strategy to engagement strategy. Those marquee, in-person events we’ve come to rely on can no longer be the centerpiece of our strategy, especially as audiences become more comfortable with—and, demanding of—digital access. Event teams will now need to forge new alliances with their colleagues in digital marketing, building content-centered campaigns that engage audiences for months (not days) at a time through a diverse constellation of digital, in-person and hybrid programming that meets their customers and partners where they stand.
We’ll continue to track these and other industry shifts as we continue to audit and update this Digital Event Forecast. Foresight and perspective are gifts and value that we bring to our clients daily and, when things are changing at the quip of 2020, we’re committed to sharing that wealth however we can. Together, we’ll define how the next chapter in event strategy will read.
Erica Spoor
Chief Event Strategist
Impact Point Group
This report is the second edition of our findings—incorporating new learnings from the 16 events that have transpired in our most recent audit phase, March through June 12, 2020.