A recent
conference session included information from research carried out for MPI a
couple of years ago. When asked to identify the most effective elements of a
hybrid meeting, planners chose online chats, rebroadcast recorded sessions,
online Q&A with speakers and virtual breakout rooms.
Attendees, on
the other hand, put compelling content as easily the most important factor.
In itself this
difference of opinion may not matter were it not for the fact that, if the MPI
figures are right, content was put in a clear first place by attendees while planners
reckoned it a poor seventh.
Why was this?
Do planners want to boast about having the latest gizmos at their events or
have suppliers’ sales people convinced them they can’t survive without this or
that technology?
Whatever the
reason, planners need to understand that the answer to the question, ‘how do
you engage the attendees?’ isn’t ‘use the latest tech’ it’s ‘get the content
right’.
Because if the
content isn’t right, the sexiest technology in the world isn’t going to save the conference. The attendees will all be sitting with
their heads bent over their mobile devices and they won’t be sending tweets
about what a great conference they’re at.
Originally published in Conference News
