Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Mark W. | Delivered June 11, 2020

Alternatives to Face-to-Face Conference Meetings

Goals

To analyze new meaningful and appropriate alternatives to face-to-face conference meetings during and post-pandemic from a B2B event o conference marketer perspective.

Early Findings

Almost every industry and individual from most countries in the world have been affected by the current pandemic. Hundreds of major conferences have been postponed or canceled and many more are likely to follow in the current pandemic focuses. 
The United Nations have estimated that the coronavirus pandemic will cost US$ 2 trillion in economic loss.
Despite the uncertain horizon, opportunities are still out there. Besides adding some health and safety precautions, companies can still offer some digital alternatives to onsite corporate events such as email, webinars, e-learning courses, webcasts, virtual meetings, and live video conferences.
Other alternatives include cancellation, postponement, relocation, focusing on account-based marketing, replacing business, or totally going digital.
In 2019, the global video conferencing market size was valued at US$ 3.85 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.9% from 2020 to 2027.
 Collaborative activities are often a fundamental component of virtual events, with 73% of conferences, and 50% of trade shows integrating workshops into their programs.
The advantages of virtual meetings include: a) financial benefits; b) increased attendance; c) measurability; d) easy transition; e) the possibility of include streaming instead of real-time to prevent technical issues and ensure a more pleasant experience; f) sharing fresh valuable content to reinforce the purpose behind the event; g) easy and empowering participation; h) self-scheduling; i) unlimited networking; j) faster decision-making; k) eliminates travel time and associated costs; k) reduce operational and management costs and improving productivity.
In recent surveys, 79% declared they use video as part of their B2B marketing strategy. 66% of event planners are using video as part of their marketing strategy. 62% rate video as an effective tactic for their B2B marketing strategy. 
In recent surveys, 50% of marketers claimed they have attended a virtual or hybrid event. Those that have attended a virtual event are 51% more likely to attend another one. 85% said they preferred in-person events and 92% believed they would receive more leads at a physical conference. Only 33% of marketers surveyed say their company has hosted a virtual event. 70% of marketers who had already hosted virtual events said they plan to host more.
 Key virtual meeting/conference players include companies such as Axis Communications AB, Robert Bosch LLC, Sony Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., and Microsoft Corporation.