Hybrid and virtual events, don’t drop the online value in the rush back to in-person events

The pandemic was the catalyst for an amazing burst of innovation that transformed an industry; meetings, conferences, events and exhibitions all went virtual because they had to if they wanted to survive. Lockdown witnessed a burst of creativity and lateral thinking that gave birth to a new niche in the industry. And then, as the pandemic passed and some form of normality returned, the blossoming world of virtual events collapsed, and the industry ran headlong back to in-person events, abandoning the fledgling world of virtual.

The evidence for this sudden move is there before us: the sale of Hopin for a fraction of its previous market value, the closure of numerous companies that had come into being specialising in virtual events, and the sidelining of the virtual aspects of many exhibitions. But in this dash back to in-person exhibitions, are we in danger of missing the nugget of gold that lay at the heart of virtual?