The pandemic has profoundly reshuffled the deck for BtoB events. While physical events are getting ready to resume, the post-confinement period will see the arrival of new, more engaging practices for greater impact.

Last year we saw in-person events flip online. In 2021 we’re beginning to see more focus on the hybrid conference as organisers look to keep the best of online and integrate it into an in-person event.

As hybrid develops there is a growing focus on longer engagement with the community that attends. This isn’t just about the occasional webinar before the event. Last year everyone rushed to the webinar, which became in a few weeks a synonym of digital event.

However, the webinar is far from being a convincing event format. It is a short meeting, often one or two hours, with possibly a chat to try to generate reactions from the participants. At the end of the session, the possibilities of exchange between participants are limited, and the event ends there.

The new way is being driven by a richer digital experience, which attracts and retains people to the community. This type of digital event allows organisers to create a 100% customised environment, where participants can attend a rich program of multiple live or pre-recorded sessions, and where they have increased possibilities of interactivity.

The design of events and community content is being reinvented. We must acknowledge that online attitudes, behaviours and expectations of participants are not the same as in-person.  Copying and pasting a physical event into a digital version simply doesn't work. It is very difficult, for example, to keep the attention of an online audience for a whole day.

You need to design your event differently, with shorter formats, more dynamic pacing, and a common thread that guides the participant at the end of each session. And you have to accept the idea that it will be more difficult to keep the interest of your audience throughout the event. Online, people are quick to register and quick to leave.

One benefit of online events, like the VivaTech Tour we have just completed, is they are less expensive and can therefore be more frequent. They can be prepared more quickly, over cycles of a few weeks. The organiser can therefore take more risks, especially since the no-show rate online has no negative impact in terms of image or cost.

We can even consider events made up of a main event and satellite events linked in a hub and spoke network. Participants and speakers could gather at the same time in different physical locations, perhaps distributed over different continents. A pioneer in this field, VivaTech is preparing to offer "satellites" around its main event in Paris.

These will be held in South-East Asia, North America and Africa, to multiply its impact on an international scale. This approach helps to bring people together locally for the networking element of an event. It also means a wider audience can be reached by speakers who do not have to travel to different physical locations.

These important arguments mean that digital events should take a prominent place in BtoB event strategies and the way organisations maintain their communities. They should complement flagship events and will serve to engage the audience throughout the year, on a continuous basis.

The physical event has many years of experience; the digital event has only lived through its first year. The event of the future, the hybrid event, is being born. Face-to-face events are irreplaceable because we need the serendipity of in-person meetings and exchanges.

But this does not prevent us from remaining in contact with our communities throughout the year, providing regular local and niche content, which acts as a curtain raiser for the in-person event.

Digital technologies already exist and will continue to improve. A new era is opening up for BtoB events and community building: we are still at the beginning.

François Floribert, CEO, inwink.