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INTERVIEW
Left: 3 Monkeys’ Rudi Buchner. Right: Alexander Vartzbed, Elisa Pupulin, Brace Thompson and Kazim Naim.
WHY HYBRID IS HERE TO STAY 3 MONKEYS’ RUDI BUCHNER RECOUNTS SOME STANDOUT EXAMPLES THAT COULD POINT TO A BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE OF HYBRID EVENTS.
With the COVID-19 pandemic almost behind us (hopefully), everyone in the industry is eager to get back into ballrooms, tents, exhibition halls and stadiums. However, there are still virtual events happening and the number of hybrid events is increasing. So, what does the postpandemic event world look like? 3 Monkeys has supported a series of events throughout their evolution from in-person to virtual and then onwards to hybrid, serving a diverse client base in both the Middle East and the US. The transition from in-person to virtual was painful for many event professionals and dominated by attempts to apply everything that defines an in-person event into a digital format. Those giving up on this push-to-fit approach and focusing on new possibilities offered by a new production environment developed successful events; the others declared virtual events to be useless and only a temporary phenomenon.
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This transition phase is far from over. While in the past planning started by looking into a date and location, now one of the first decisions that needs to be made is whether the event will be in-person, virtual or hybrid. The virtual/hybrid events 3 Monkeys has run so far in 2022 have been mostly for clients who embraced virtual events during lockdown. They acquired the knowledge, strategies, and logistics to produce virtual and hybrid events quickly, efficiently, and successfully; they embraced virtual as a new element of the internal and external communication mix, easily extending this methodology into the hybrid world. Clients who are new to virtual events are driven primarily by cost efficiency compared to physical setups. For virtual and hybrid events alike, the simpler access to companywide or widely distributed audiences comes up a lot. Stakeholders who did not give virtual events a shot seem to have little to no appetite to
explore hybrid options, but there are a few data points that may yet prove invaluable during the decision-making process. First is feasibility; can all speakers and guests attend in person or are there restrictions or hesitations about travelling? Next is capacity; is there a larger potential audience than could fit in a venue and could this audience be activated virtually? Then there’s reach; is the event – or parts of it – suitable for a public or extended audience? Are there segments in the event’s target groups that could be reached by offering customised content out of the live event? Policies are also a key consideration; Are inclusion or environment important parts of the event’s policies, and might a hybrid or virtual event support these policies? And finally, income; is there a chance to sell virtual tickets or could a hybrid element increase sponsorship? A client who embraced virtual events early and started producing hybrid is the agency e2k –
