With the current climate the way it is, it’s obvious this has affected the way some companies are run, particularly those who work on a global scale. Providing training opportunities, holding trade shows or conferences are becoming increasingly difficult to fund.
The solution? By doing things virtually.
According to Parks (2008 citied in Silvers, 2012: 70) “Virtual environments refer to a gathering of people who meet in an online environment at a set time to acquire info, share, network, and engage”. They give the employer the opportunity to bring together a vast amount of their company at the same time, at almost no expense. With the advances in technology, basically any event that can be done face to face can now be done over the web. The only difference is that it can be done in the comfort of your own home, or office. The annoyance of having to travel from one place to another is taking out the equation and the job can be done effectively on a quicker scale. Particularly when it comes to training opportunities, the ability to teach every employee at the same time is more efficient with everyone receiving the same information.
On a smaller scale, the internet has become a major source for marketing. To put your company online comes at practically no cost, with every company using this as a main source to advertise. Smaller companies receive the main benefits of this as its cost effective and helps promote their company on a global scale.
Tum et al (2006:87) say virtual events are
1. More efficient because they have lower costs and greater outputs.
2. There can be clear budgeting with the costs known beforehand.
3. It is flexible and relevant to unique events
However Bowdin et al (2001 as citied in Tum et al,2006:87) disagrees, explaining
1. Quality control maybe difficult s contractors provide much of the work.
2. Coordination’s of suppliers might be comprised.
Moving with the modern times it seems more practical to hold meetings online but this has a risk of becoming impersonal. I know with webcams you’re technically meeting people face to face; however this isn’t the same as actually meeting someone in the flesh. You also have to take into consideration, what happens if the system crashes just as a major meeting is about to take place. It affects everyone on a large scale and delays the whole process.
For companies that can’t decide between going virtual or keeping with the tradition of face to face contact, hybrid events are a mixture of the two. They offer the chance to hold the event in person but for people who can’t make it, maybe due to distance, they can be there over the web.
“Hybrid events favour many kinds of applications – in training, where webcast recordings can be made and shown later, or can be streamed simultaneously to various locations; in events involving large gatherings or multi-day and multi-room events.”(WorkCast,2012:Online)
Constantly meeting face to face isn’t very cost effective; it keeps close relationships but overall doesn’t help to save the company money. Virtual events help to keep costs down and bring large amounts of the company together if needed but can give the impression of being detached. Also the impracticalities of connectivity can be a major issue. Hybrid events bring the best of both worlds together, still moving with modern times while ensuring relationships aren’t kept at a distance. Giving the added ability to be able to record sessions and have them to look at, at a later time.
References
Rutherford Silvers, J. (2012). Professional event coordination. 2nd Edition. , NewJersey:WILEY.
Tum,J. Norton,P. Nevan Wright, J. (2006). Event management series: Management of event operations.,Oxford: Butterworth-Hienemann.
WorkCast. (2006). What is a hybrid event. [Online][Accessed on 2/12/2012]. http://www.workcast.co.uk/what_hybrid_event
Event Operations in Context 