Outside looking in

The Dutch have interesting habits and ideas… I’m sure many are all too familiar.

But did you know that we often leave our curtains open in the evenings? When you walk on the streets at night, you can have a peek at families eating dinner, sitting in front of TV’s and other screens, celebrating birthdays, and so on.

 It all stems from a Calvinistic past, when the citizens felt a need to show that they were leading honest, sober lives.  But even in 2014 we do it. We’re on display, you can see what we are up to. Apparently we still  want to show the outside world that we are happy, responsible people living good lives in nice homes. And we have big windows, too.

I was thinking about this in relation to hybrid events and streams. In a way organizers are inviting us all to have a look,  using a screen as the window, and showing passers-by their content and products. 

In my experience – it is by far the best way to let a wide audience experience who you  are, and might result in a future face-to-face visit. 

Inspired by the window you show. No need to keep the curtains closed!

Anyway, I am looking forward to PCMA Convening Leaders, FRESH Conference and other events that are kind enough to invite me to have a look in their homes…and even join in the conversation with the people that are there. In that respect, hybrid events are even more inviting than an open window – they are opening their doors.

A hybrid fairy tale

Once upon a time there were two neighboring countries called “Outside” and “Inside”. The border was marked by big gates and fancy welcome signs, but appeared to be the most quiet on earth. For no one living in Outside seemed interested to visit Inside, and Insiders were never seen on the streets….let alone near the border.

King Content was ruling Inside with a college of  writers , his subjects happy to exchange thoughts online and in blogs. On the other side Queen Experia and her court-engagers ruled the Outside, with lots of people in the squares engaging in conversations and laughter.

A happy lot on each side, but safe to say that tourism rates were slow. Really slow.

Years went by and even though the countries were aware of their neighboring state, the borders remained the loneliest place on earth.

That is…until one fall afternoon. It just so happened that the Outside was having its annual conference near the border, and only a brick wall separated  Outside from Inside. Spirits were high and people were busy visiting sessions and keynotes, listening and talking, enjoying networking sessions in the sun with lots of food and entertainment. ( Just too bad that the sessions were not recorded.)

The joy of meeting people was so great that the mere sound of the conference drew lots of on-site registrations. In fact one of the conference rooms was so full that its breakout session literally turned into a break out: the wall of the room, which was situated on the border, broke down.

With a huge turmoil the bricks collapsed and revealed a small room, where one person was happily tapping on his keyboard and looking at his screen.  He was in tweeting  with lots of Inside people because they, too, were having their annual online conference, with chats  and webinars connecting  lots of people.

And then? Magic happened! An Outsider almost fell on the Insider and before they knew what happened, they  shook hands. The touch of that handshake was so powerful that the Insider tweeted about it…instantly reaching all Inside delegates. And also reaching the Outside delegate, who looked in awe at the online discussion as it developed. He immediately searched for his smartphone  and joined in the conversation.  And they were not alone… in the moments that followed, both Inside and Outside people gathered at the border, engaging in face to face conversations and online talks with the people that stayed in their homes.

For the first time both countries truly connected, and in the days that followed both the physical border and online communities were really busy; all wanted to learn about their neighbor. They  decided to merge their conferences, and when the face to face event was joined with year-round online content, it grew to be one of the best events in the world. With the best of both worlds, really.

Oh and yes,  the King and Queen got in touch as well and hey, since this is a fairytale, who knows where that story will lead to…  

A day in the life……

Making a case for role-rotation. An all-day role rotation. On every platform.

For better hybrid events.

We all heard about job rotation. In a company, people from cleaning and sales, procurement and security, catering and traffic – you name it - change responsibilities for a day and get a better understanding of the challenges, perks, needs and gains of  a certain role within an organization.

How would this translate to events? Given the fact that we have organizers AND delegates in the same “company”? And, to make it even more challenging: given the fact that we have participants online?

I know that organizers participate in events as delegates and that delegates can be caterers in their day-to-day job – but that is not what I mean. I mean a deliberate change of roles for a day. For a specific new stakeholder group: the hybrid event organizers. 

Do we really know how a virtual delegate spends its “event day”? 

The thing is: we don’t see them at the event. So how can we “get” their involvement? I think that there is still a gap we need to close.

How can we close it? By stepping in the shoes of our virtual attendees. Totally. Change places. Learn about their knowledge of programs and tech. Their workload and anticipation. Their knowledge and expectations about virtual events…and invite them to step into our shoes.

So if you would participate virtually instead of organize.. realistically? Take it from someone who’s been there:

- you are working partly during the event and missing some sessions

- you often do not know beforehand which platform you will be required to have

- you will miss the first moments because of tech hick-ups – yours.

- you will not know beforehand which gaming aspect is used and what you need to do for it. ( Let alone how much time you are required to spend on it)

- you will not know beforehand who else is participating and how to get to know them

Would that change your perspective?  Working away and stopping to dowload programs, finding a way to follow a schedule that requires an all day involvement in between meetings and lunch?  Would it make you design "light" hybrids?  

I'd love to hear....

Electric dreams

We’ll always be together, however far it seems. We’ll always be together, together in electric dreams.  –   

This oldie keeps creeping into my mind lately.  Maybe a sign that I have been attending too many hybrid events as a virtual attendee? (or a sign that I have a longing for 80’s songs, plus the tons of make-up and big plastic earrings that went with them)

Actually it is wishful thinking. Even though organizers are making a lot of effort to include virtual attendees in a face to face event, we are still lacking in contact. We are not together.

2 things that I might help:

Better timing: Give us enough time to plan and prepare. Often a virtual ticket is offered at the last moment.  As an afterthought or on purpose?  I understand that you want people in real life in the real conference room, but when a virtual ticket is presented a few days  before the event, I cannot plan a day for it. Least of all connect with other (real live) attendees before the event.  It leaves me with only bits of content and a few new tweeps to follow,  and you with a lack of ROI –we both lose.

More tools: give us the chance to network, let us connect through Hangouts or Skype .… I would love to see a Hangout Corner at an event, where the f2f delegates can get to meet the virtual ones. Surely we could try something here? Add to all your learning lounges?

Just imagine: an event where ALL  delegates are visually present in the room. Looking at each other, and knowing that they are part of the same audience. No more awkward pauses after the speaker asks : “any questions from the virtual audience?” …not knowing if they are present at all.

As a virtual attendee I know how to be engaged . Now I need to be seen.  For now, it is an electric dream.