By Julie Leggatt, Head of Events, White Label

When the first COVID-19 lockdown came into force, White Label’s events division joined the rest of the industry in facing an uncertain future as restrictions effectively cancelled the 150 live fixtures on our calendar.

But as working from home quickly become a new normal for all of us, virtual events became the new normal for our events team. And as we hopefully emerge from the pandemic, hybrid events will become the next ‘new normal’.

A year ago, online events were a small part of our business but now, in a third lockdown, we are proud to have pivoted successfully and established ourselves as a leading virtual events company.

New technology and opportunities emerged throughout 2020 to diversify and expand our business. By autumn, as we entered the second lockdown, we’d delivered more than 300 virtual events – from AGMs to full week-long conferences, round table debates, virtual investor tours and live awards ceremonies.

And we discovered that while collaborative and networking sessions may not be quite the same online, moving our events into cyberspace brought benefits too. Geographical boundaries ceased to exist and our events stretched beyond London and the South East, enabling us to take on new clients from across the UK.

Many of our clients and delegates found a well-run virtual experience more inclusive – the use of chat rooms, Q&As, break-out rooms and the levelling of identities in a virtual world increased diversity and encouraged greater participation.

We were privileged to have been – and continue to be – at the heart of debate and ideas on economic recovery from COVID-19, promoting key issues to business and public leaders up and down the country, that we were able to bring together.

Major conferences were successfully moved online. Real Estate Live UK, a key project born out of lockdown, included speakers from all four UK nations. We were delighted to partner with Belfast City Council on a ground-breaking ‘hybrid’ session for the project, where live speakers sat socially distanced in a studio and interacted with the web-based audience. The studio looked amazing and I really think this hybrid platform is here to stay. It means participants don’t have to travel long, expensive and carbon-costly distances – increasing engagement by removing barriers.

Our popular and longstanding Develop Croydon Conference was successfully web-based for the first time and new opportunities included our facilitation of Transport for the South East’s annual summit, Opportunity Hertfordshire on behalf of Hertfordshire Innovation Quarter and West London Business’ Blue Skies Conference, kickstarting the process for West London to recover and prosper in a post-COVID, carbon-responsible world.

Running through the heart of these business-led events were two key themes: sustainability and employee skills.

Plenty of upskilling and reskilling took place along the way for us too. Content proved to be key to attracting and retaining online audiences who seem to have a shorter attention span than in-person audiences. Strong communication was particularly vital when it came to the programme and joining instructions, not to mention some of the technical skills we had to learn.

I believe our success was partly down to our willingness to take risks. We were told we were mad to host our Bexley and Southwark Business Excellence Awards evenings live, but after the events – with finalists dressed in black tie and toasted from their homes – we were praised for the anticipation and excitement during each evening.

And while we’re looking forward to hosting in-person events again, particularly the Awards due to the energy and thrill of a live audience when announcing winners, we’re excited to see what 2021 will bring for our web-based events and indeed, to the future, when the potential for live events returns.

The big strategic question for our industry as we emerge from the third lockdown, is how will our industry pivot again? Can it manage to restore the benefits of both the physical environment while keeping the increased engagement, diversity and reach of the new format?

I hope COVID-19’s ability to bring communities together across the UK in a shared endeavour to support those most affected by the pandemic will also translate into more collaborative and diverse events. What are the possibilities for bring people together to lead the recovery from the pandemic? Whatever the answer, we’ll be leading the way as White Label continues to make it happen.

If you’d like to get in touch with White Label to discuss an upcoming event, email jleggatt@wlcreative.org.uk