The pandemic has taught us all a lot, not only in the workplace but in life in general. We’ve all made efforts to improve ourselves during the last year, whether that has meant listening more to others, developing efficiencies in our day-to-day routines, or exploring and learning a new skill. This is also true in the event world. Not unlike many in the space, we at Bluewater used the time to refine our skills, listen to our customers, launch new offerings, and redefine who we are while clinging tight to what we have always done best as well.
With this being said, here’s some of what we’ve learned and how we aim to deploy it:
Live Events Are Truly a Blend of Art & Science
All of us have always been hyper design focused. Making sure everything from stage design to brand identity is of the utmost quality has been and will be vital going forward. We’re never going to let that piece be sacrificed, whether it be interacting with a brand’s agency in a design collaboration, or whether we are managing the design fully ourselves it is a key component to a successful live event.
What we have found is that there is also a true science to live events now. Whether that be lead generation, brand recognition, or any other KPI, ROI is becoming more and more important. As increasing numbers of marketing staff help make events based decisions in the future, data will become even more important. These individuals are used to living in spreadsheets and having data to back up every decision they make and it is important to them that event analytics are at the forefront going forward. There is also fatigue in the market in that people have proven they can survive in a highly virtual world. Justifying spend and showing ROI on events is going to be increasingly important.
We Can Now fully Accommodate In-Person & Virtual Events as well as Hybrid Events
With platforms such as Parallel being built by event pros, we now not only have the functionality and technology to offer a virtual component; but rather run an entirely virtual event. Parallel for instance is built by event professionals to serve event savvy clients with things like virtual breakout rooms, stages, remote studios to broadcast,, and more. We envision an event world where many events with have a virtual component going forward even if it is to just expand the audience size and further distribute a message the brand or agency otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.
Technology Is Vital but People Still Are #1
We all clamored to pivot, or develop the next best thing, but at the end of the day our clients, and our staff proved to be the most important piece of a successful virtual or live event. Going the extra mile to make sure that a client is fully heard, or that a potential issue doesn’t become a large scale problem is what wins the day. We’ve all learned during the pandemic that we likely need to care for those around us much more than we have in the past and we aim to apply that lesson to the live event industry and our clients. We’re more client centric now as a company and as an industry. We must employ the most customer focused staff possible and offer transparent solutions that drive ROI and client success in the manner in which they desire.
We’re More Holistic
We’re able to do more things. For us here at Bluewater that might mean launching a themed entertainment division that creates outdoor experiences for general consumers, to offer something safe and fun that the entire family can enjoy. (Check out Glenlore Trails Here). Or, it might mean doing more brand activations in the wake of fewer general sessions until the market returns. Whatever that means, we know we are more ready for it today than we were 12-15 months ago.
