Events

The most exciting new technologies for the future of events

After a whirlwind of change and innovation over the last year, it can be easy to miss just how far virtual events have come – so try this. Flick back through your on-screen calendar (or appointments book if you like doing things old-school) until you get to January 2020. Now keep going backwards through the weeks until you find the last event that you attended virtually. And try to remember what it was like.

Prior to the pandemic, a virtual event most likely meant a webinar. The chances are that you spent about an hour being talked through a set of static slides, without seeing any speakers – and just listening to one disembodied voice at a time. You had little sense of sharing the event with anyone else. You might have the chance to ask some questions at the end – but otherwise, the opportunity for audience interaction would have been minimal.

It’s a measure of just how much innovation we’ve seen in the last year that very few virtual event attendees would settle for such an experience today. Few event marketers would be happy putting one on either. The virtual event revolution started with Zoom, but it’s swiftly evolved to incorporate sophisticated production values, newsroom style sets, seamless links between live and pre-recorded video, parallel online chats and other interactive elements, not to mention the value-added extras delivered to participants at home. Virtual events have become the cutting edge of interactive, live video marketing.

When you’ve come this far in just over a year, it’s exciting to consider what could be coming next. We know from speaking to senior marketers that they haven’t finished innovating with a view to embedding greater excitement, stand-out and interactivity within virtual events. And there’s still plenty of space for brands to explore. In this post, I wanted to indulge in just a little bit of future-gazing. Here are some of the technologies that could help drive the next wave of virtual event innovation:

Virtual Reality

Marketers and tech commentators have spent over a decade waiting for Virtual Reality (VR) to finally pass the tipping point. Generally speaking, there have been three factors holding it back. Firstly, the headsets involved are expensive. Secondly, there hasn’t been a tremendous amount of content for them. Thirdly, there hasn’t been an obvious application where they can add game-changing value.

Now, all three of those factors are changing. The advance of technology has made headsets relatively more affordable, taking some of the sting out of the first issue. The second and third issues could both be addressed by the rise of virtual events – and the incentive that brands have for investing in experiences that offer real exclusivity and stand-out.

At a cost of £299 per headset (for the Oculus Quest 2), brands won’t be in a position to send complementary VR kit to every attendee of every event. However, bespoke VR conferences, experiences and roundtables for high-value contacts and accounts could become a key element in Account-Based Marketing (ABM) strategies. Imagine sending your most senior and influential sales contacts a branded headset for them to keep at their desk ready to join their peers for a series of immersive experiences over the course of a year or more. It’s true that VR headsets remain expensive – and true that creating bespoke VR content carries a hefty price tag as well. However, with events budgets being realigned and traditional investments such as major conference venues, celeb speakers and luxury hospitality on pause, the case for making VR part of events strategies could grow.

Holograms

Immersing attendees in a virtual reality helps transport them from the home office, kitchen or meeting room where they’re actually experiencing your event. Hologram technology offers something different. It can beam speakers, presentations and entertainment directly to where they are. Can’t travel to see a celebrity like Bill Gates or Barack Obama speaking at the industry-wide conference that might have been held this year? How about you sit at your kitchen table and watch them walking and talking around your flat?

The most immediately accessible but pricey option for this type of experience is Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, a souped-up set of clear goggles that projects holograms (of people but also designs, presentations, art and visual effects) on the world around you. At £3,349 per goggle set, it’s definitely in the white-glove category of event extras to send to high-value attendees – but with the right investment it could give brands a spectacular virtual events platform to develop. And with the ongoing development of open-source hologram technology such as the HoloGen initiative, it could become easier for a wider range of attendees to generate virtual 3D effects at home.

As in-person events make their way cautiously back onto marketing calendars, hologram technology could help them tap into one of the key advantages of virtual – doing away with the need for high-profile speakers to travel. The company Hologen (not to be confused with the open-source HoloGen initiative) uses an array of image-generating fans to project 3D holograms into the middle of physical spaces. This can give an in-person gathering the same dream line-up of speakers that a virtual event can access. It could be an ideal bridging solution for hybrid events. Your speakers appear on-screen for those watching at home – and projected onto a stage for those present in-person.

Virtual world tie-ups

Brands don’t have to invest in creating bespoke content (or distributing expensive headsets) to give virtual events more of a wow factor. Partnering with an existing virtual world could provide a simpler way to integrate new types of experience. From Fortnite to Minecraft, Roblox and Animal Crossing, virtual worlds originally created for gaming are increasingly being co-opted for other purposes. Since the start of the pandemic, Fortnite has played host to a concert for the rapper Travis Scott, while Animal Crossing has provided the setting for a virtual wedding – and the University of California has moved its speeches onto Minecraft and Roblox. Could your event be next?

Accessibility innovations

Adding greater excitement to virtual events is one priority for event marketers. Ensuring the accessibility of the events they’re already putting on is another. As virtual technologies evolve, awareness of audience members’ diverse needs will become increasingly important. Those with dyslexia, visual and hearing impairments or attention deficit disorders could be shut out by some innovations – but others could offer far better opportunities for them to engage. Immediate measures that event marketers can take include easy-to-access options for shutting down pop-ups or other intrusive aspects of the event experience, providing warnings of visual effects that could cause problems – and integrating sign language interpreters.

Brands that are prioritise accessibility as they develop virtual event platforms will be able to both expand their audience and send an important signal about their values. The rise of virtual technologies should be an opportunity to make events more accessible to more people. The way that we apply innovation should ensure that’s what happens.

You’ll find more insights and ideas for planning your virtual events strategy in our new LinkedIn Virtual Events Pocketbook