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Making Virtual and Hybrid Events Pay

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Making Virtual and Hybrid Events Pay:
How To Price, How To Sell

An SIIA & PCMA Webinar

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the primary basis of interactions move online, and while many businesses were quick to adjust their plans in the short term, looking ahead is proving increasingly more difficult. The hope that live events would return in the fall is increasingly being replaced with the realization that most events in the U.S. will continue to be virtual or hybrids of online and in-person for the remainder of 2020.

As we are confronted with months of uncertainty, many SIIA members are wondering what the future of events will look like, and how companies whose business strategy has relied upon in-person convenings can survive and thrive in a world where people are interacting virtually?

To answer these questions, SIIA teamed up with PCMA, the world’s largest platform for business events strategists, to discuss how to effectively organize, execute and monetize digital events.

On June 23, Meg Fasy, an internationally recognized expert in event strategy and audience engagement and the Principal at sponsorship marketing agency FazeFWD, and PCMA’s Education Manager and event design specialist, Leslie Bailey, joined SIIA CEO Jeff Joseph for a one-hour webinar to share best practices, discuss digital event resources and answer SIIA member questions about taking events digital in light of COVID-19.

Some key lessons from this interactive discussion include:

  • Set expectations for yourself and participants – treat moving online as creating a brand new event, it will not be the exact same experience as a physical event
  • Look critically at your planned agenda through early 2021 – evaluate the content and goals of each event to identify what aspects can be delivered online
  • Transform your team - consider the roles and skillsets of your current team to identify how those fit for a digital event delivery (i.e. social media manager à chat moderator)
  • Digital analytics (banner click rates, page dwell time, etc.) are valuable information to offer sponsors that is not possible in physical event
  • Create unique and engaging opportunities for community building by offering experiential sponsorships that bridge online and offline (such as lunch delivery, gift boxes and game rooms)
  • No standard base for pricing – consider your resource expenditure and ultimate goals (revenue or audience) to adjust accordingly


Speakers

Meg Fasy Meg Fasy
Principal, FazeFWD

Meg has worked for (or with) some of the biggest brands you know. Her career spans several markets including hotel, CVB, industry associations, event technology and strategic partnerships, where she has been both a buyer and seller. Meg is best known for motivating sales and marketing teams, driving strategy and connecting people. She started FazeFWD, a sponsorship management company, because she saw the need to elevate the conversations between organizers and brand partners for the mutual goal of increasing attendee engagement.

Meg is a well-known speaker who has been a featured expert at many of the major industry meetings and events as well as featured in numerous industry publications.

When she’s not focused on creating the next big thing in the meeting and event industry, you’ll often find Meg on the water as a world champion dragon boater—she was a member of the gold medal-winning team at the International Dragon Boat Championships in Italy in 2016 and Hungary in 2018.

Leslie Bailey Leslie Bailey
Education Manager, PCMA

Leslie is an Education Manager with PCMA and is a part of the strategic planning and production team that live streams the PCMA CL and EC face-to-face events. She is also responsible for the content creation of the DEI webinars, as well as being the facilitator of the Digital Event Strategist online course. Leslie has over 10 years of digital event experience from both the planner and producer sides, giving her insights into all aspects of planning and producing a digital event.

As a global network of events professionals, PCMA knows that the ability to plan and launch a digital event has never been more important to our industry. The Digital Event Strategist (DES) course can elevate your expertise on your schedule. It also lays the groundwork for the full DES certification — a designation that will help you stand out as an authority in an increasingly crowded field. 

Do you need to create a seamless digital event as soon as possible? PCMA has developed the Digital Event Fast Track, a collection of core lessons from our DES course, to help you meet your accelerated deadline. Use code SIIA when you register, and visit the PCMA Digital Experience Institute to learn more about the DES certification, the Digital Event Fast Track and solutions like coaching and consulting.

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