Sarah Evans is an incredible businesswoman, a total powerhouse in the world of business and PR. She’s the type of person you’d want to track down at a conference to chat with and bounce ideas off of. But how does all that change in this new world we’re living in?
I know it’s annoying to hear things like, “look on the brightside!” and “the glass is half full”, because just about everything about this pandemic blows. BUT, it does open up some interesting new ways we can reshape the conference world and make changes to improve the overall experience.
One of which is offering new opportunities to collaborate and share ideas. In the past, most conferences were planned behind closed doors on a committee, completely private from the public. But now, there are more opportunities to ask the attendees what they would like to see through things like surveys and voting. It gets people involved in new ways and will make their experience more enjoyable in the long run.
Another change we are approaching is figuring out which conferences should be free and which should be paid. You have to think about what people would really want to pay for.
Sarah outlines her feelings on this by saying, “I know what I would pay for. Number one, I would pay for sheer access to someone that I actually get to interact with. So if like someone like, I mean Gary Vee you know we just talked about him so we can mention him you know everyone wants to ask him a question get his insight and maybe it’s not just access asking a question but much like if you’re going to a step and repeat and getting your photos side by side, maybe there’s a 20 minute, you know, virtual side by side photo opportunity”. It will definitely be interesting to see what new opportunities come from access to free conferences and “talks”.
There is also a new opportunity to repurpose speakers content after they have given presentations at conferences. A whole new market has opened of cutting up those videos and reuploading them as a way to promote future conferences and also to bring an even wider audience to the things the speakers had to say!
Since most of our life is online, especially now, it is difficult to stand out when all people get to see is your face through a crappy zoom camera. It loses a lot of the personality and the quirkiness you would see through in person body language and connection.
But there ARE ways to stand out. Sarah gives the advice of trying to switch things up every episode. New colors, a different fun background, anything that grabs the audience and makes them constantly engaged in your videos.
Overall, it will be interesting to see how the conference world adapts to these new changes, but the one thing we know is the people who would speak at said conferences haven’t gone anywhere. So maybe use this time to follow the people you were waiting to get to know at a conference, and see what online opportunities they have for connection. Or maybe start developing the world’s best online conference server and take the world by storm! Up to you.
Sarah works with companies from all over the world to improve their digital and social media strategies. She has mastered all things PR, branding, marketing, AND advertising. What can’t she do? You can check out more about her company here: https://www.sevanspr.com/
