Tools like Online Meetings (Zoom), Streaming Video Platforms, Event Augmentation Mobile Apps, Chat Threads, Slack, Facebook Live, and more, have given us a collection of disjointed starting blocks. They are our current perception of what an online event is. Though significant advancements, no one is at risk of confusing them with the experience of going to a destination event. They are still a shadow puppet version of the real thing. You can watch concert footage of Woodstock, but if you ask your uncle what it was like, he will simply say "You had to be there".

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Creating an online version of what was traditionally a destination event, starts with asking "what will it mean to be there?" The answer will and should be as different as there are different kinds of events, and different objectives for both event presenters and event attendees. Next ask "what makes it an event?" A live stream of a speakers presentation is not an event, especially if it can be replayed long after it's over. It is simply a viewing experience. An event is an engagement, as in, it engages its attendees. Engaging content is only the beginning. 

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We won't set up stage lights or buffet lines in the offices or living rooms of every online attendee, and the goal is not to recreate live events online. The goal is to pinpoint the objectives of live events and find new and real ways of accomplishing those objectives. Primary objectives are easier to identify, like "present company strategy" or "announce new product". But many objectives are secondary qualities and consequences that come along free for the ride with destination events. For their online equivalent, they need to be engineered into the event. Heres a list of just some of those secondary objectives. 

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Shared Experience

It's the difference between seeing a movie alone or with a theater full of people. There is a sense of "We" to a destination event. A group momentum. A "we discovered this together" impact that shouldn't be lost.

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Choice and Discovery

We go to destination events not only to listen, but to discover. We have choices to make based on our interest and objectives. We need to bring that into online events. 

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Networking and Community Building

We go to live events to meet people, make connections, feel a community with interest groups, make sales connections, and find potential service partners. Face to face. We want to chat with experts and tell our story.
 

Hype

Both presenters and attendees don't want to just inform or learn, we want to get excited about it. It's not hype in a phony or manipulative way, but in a true impactful way. Its production value and showmanship that create lasting impression and action. 

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Brand Impact

No mater the type of event, both attendees and organizers want brand impact. A visual and immersive dive into the thing that brought us together. A zoom meetings black grid of nameless faces is the antithesis of this.

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Story and Momentum

Events have a beginning and an end. They have a theme. They unfold. They are a story to be told. They have a launch, a series of branches, a highlight, and a conclusion that create momentum and resonance. 

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Attendee Identity

When we go to events, we bring ourselves. We get a lanyard with our name on it. We come ready to be recognized as a member and representative. We don't have a camera off or mute button. 

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Production Value

When we go to events, we bring ourselves. We get a lanyard with our name on it. We come ready to be recognized as a member and representative. We don't have a camera off or mute button. 

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These are things we take for granted when creating a destination event, but have cut from our expectations 
of online events. We do this less as a result of the limitations of technology, but more from our lack of planning and intentional design. The goal is not to produce a virtual recreation of them, but to create new conventions that accomplish the same result.