About 10 y. ago I was playing a game called The Moment of Silence. It was about a society completely connected online. In the end the hero cut all the virtual connections and people start to feel the real human experience.

The pandemic has offered the testing of virtual events, meetings, and realities that would probably have taken few years to achieve.

It reset the ways of interactions.

It reminded us of how much we value live interaction.I miss going to industry events. I’ve participated to a lot of MICE events organized by M&I or to IMEX event. I am a very gregarious person and I enjoy walking in the big hall and say hi.

Virtual events will never give me that. 

Virtual events with large amounts of attendees, need a television-style production delivery. The connection element is not even considered.

I was speaking to a fellow buyer at an MICE event in France and he told me that he could not miss every event because everyone that mattered was there. 

This is what will matter in the next event paradigm.

Thinking that virtual events are just passing by is ludacris.

Virtual events will replace all those events that didn’t need to be in person or bad/ wasteful events.