Many of us (myself included, twice) have written about what the next 12-18 months look like for the events industry. It’s going to be rough, there will be a lot of video conferences, and we’ll figure out what “virtual event” really means. I think we’ll see some interesting innovation, and some people and companies will be able to make a decent, if less than typical, living. Others won’t be so lucky, and I expect some production companies won’t be in a good position, and some technicians will leave the industry. I am confident, however, that our industry will come out of this and thrive. I’ve read lots of thoughts about the short term, but I haven’t read much about what our industry will look like after the events industry bounces back. What happens in the next 24 months, and beyond?
Whenever live events come back, I expect our whole world will look a little different, and that the AV and Events industries will reflect that.
Counting on video conferencing
At the lower end of the market, Zoom, Webex, and other desktop Video Conferencing platforms are commoditizing and democratizing VC. With the news that Verizon is buying BlueJeans, we can expect more and more consumer and self-service commercial VC to be the norm. Our clients and audiences have embraced desktop VC, often entirely without AV professionals.
One rental and staging executive I talked to was worried about how to keep providing value at the lower end of the market when there are so many DIY technologies. I too often worry what value I provide when supporting Zoom or other VC calls - what is the value proposition when the end users can do it themselves. “It’s so easy” I say to myself. To this point a friend reminded me that of course it’s easy for us, this is our livelihood, but for our customers it’s a business need and worth hiring help to remove pain points. My friend offered the analogy “think about how your accountant feels doing your taxes” - it’s old hat for them, but I gladly pay for the service. While the technology is more and more consumer friendly, I think we can continue to provide value in white glove VC and remote event services, in both the short- and long-term.
The small stuff will come back first
Even before conventions and sports games and concerts can happen, I expect to see smaller events happening in smaller venues, bars, and restaurants. Audiences are starved for socializing, so I expect that companies will have small meetings, small bars will have live music, and hotels will see bookings trickle in. Humans are social creatures, and I suspect we’ll gather in small groups as soon as it’s allowed and reasonably safe to leave the house. These events will have strict in-person attendance caps, and many attendees still won’t be comfortable going out. While they won’t necessarily have much production budget, many of these smaller events will have a live-streamed or video conference component. Once the service sector returns to operation, we’ll start to see bookings for these small gigs, and a niche market for value-engineered turnkey small event VC and streaming packages.
Once a vaccine is available and wider restrictions are lifted and, we will see the return of larger events. At this higher end of the market, I expect to see changes in the way events operate, and perhaps even growth in some areas.
An evolving office means evolving events
As companies have transitioned employees to remote work for the duration of this quarantine, I have heard from business executives, tech support staff, and space planning teams that many companies, across industries, are reconsidering their office layout. The open office may no longer be trendy, and frequent or permanent remote work may become the norm at many companies across industries. Businesses that are equipped for a partially or fully remote workforce will be able to get back to work before a vaccine is ready, and will be able to quickly adapt to future challenges because the infrastructure for telework will already be in place.
““I think you could see a doubling down on the (big in-person events) where they create a ‘narnia’ in real life because everyone has been living behind a device””
The big challenge for both management and remote workers is that they see less of their colleagues in person, so connection, shared vision, and team bonding can be a challenge. All-Hands meetings and team retreats will be increasingly important to building cohesive teams and to business success. With limited time for team bonding and internal networking, the ability to gather in one room for a meeting becomes critical.
With fewer desks and less expensive real estate to pay for, operating budgets may have more room for bigger, more elaborate productions, both internally and for client- or public-facing events. An added incentive - with everyone, coworkers and clients included, working from home on a laptop, the chance to go out to an event is a great change of environment. Thus event production, scenic, and lighting can be positioned to provide a welcome sense of escapism from the home office.
“I think you could see a doubling down on the (big in-person events) where they create a ‘narnia’ in real life because everyone has been living behind a device” posited Kyle Santen of PixelForge. “More money will get poured into physical events to make up for the lack of physical connection outside of the events” because everyone has been working remotely from home.
An increased interest in escapism, wow-factor, and atmosphere makes a ripe market for Media Server makers like Disguise, GreenHippo, Watchout, and Resolume. New demands for immersive experiences, polish, and effects could lead to new opportunities for augmented reality, mixed reality, and virtual reality, both in person and online.
Even in-person events are likely to have an increased focus on the online viewer; broadcast will be less of an afterthought and more of an equal (or potentially primary) audience. With larger online audiences, and more demand to stand out with eye- catching video, more of the event may be focused on the camera, which leads to more opportunities for new video technologies, 3D graphics, and mixed reality environments.
It will be a long while before we can gather in person and events can return to some semblance of normal. We’re looking at a timeline of 12-18 months to start moving back to large gatherings, and in the meantime client needs and expectations are changing. When we’re back on production, we should be ready for an evolved events market that includes more online and video-heavy productions, both big and small, and be able to provide an increasingly immersive and exciting in-person experience. We have a lot of down time, so now is a great time to re-imagine our recurring events to make them ready for a Post-COVID world. There are lots of training opportunities, and now would be a great time to share skills you have with your friends and peers in the industry. Even if we won’t see the curtain rise on a big show for a while, we can make sure now that our shows on the 24 month horizon are ready for a revamped production environment.
Tim Kerbavaz is the Technical Director of Talon Entertainment Audio Visual.
Talon Entertainment Audio Visual provides event AV production services for private, corporate, and community events across the United States. Serving a wide range of events, from political round-tables, to Silicon Valley Tech Company Conferences, to community festivals, to automotive-industry board meetings, Talon AV provides expertise and an exemplary attendee experience.
Cover Photo by Oscar Keys on Unsplash | In-Line Photo by Joshua Hanson on Unsplash