Virtual Events and Meetings in the COVID-19 Era

This assignment provides an analysis of the event industry's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a discussion of virtual events and meetings. It also includes results from a poll conducted among event industry participants, as well as links to relevant publications and surveys. The assignment appears to be focused on understanding the challenges and opportunities presented by the shift to virtual events and meetings.

HYBRID EVENTS: BREAKING THE
BORDERS
Transferring your hybrid event into an engaging and inclusive
experience for different audiences and stakeholders
LAB UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED
SCIENCES LTD
Master of Business Administration
Degree program in International Business
Development
Spring 2020
Linda Nilsson

Abstract
Author(s)
Nilsson, Linda
Type of publication
Master’s thesis
Published
Spring 2020
Number of pages
63
Title of publication
Hybrid events: Breaking the Borders
Transferring your hybrid event into an engaging and inclusive experience for different audiences and
stakeholders
Name of Degree
Master of Business Administration, Degree Program in International Business Devel-
opment
Abstract
This thesis explores hybrid events and how they can be made into an engaging expe-
rience for different audiences and stakeholders. Changes in the factors affecting
choosing of a conference location due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be reviewed
and what that will mean for the face-to-face and virtual meetings moving forward.
The main goal of this study is to produce beneficial information and recommendations
for event organizers, Messukeskus Helsinki and other conference venues on how to
plan engaging hybrid events.
The primary data sources for the empirical study was a survey where event industry
professionals answered questions regarding situation before and after COVID-19
pandemic and what it could potentially mean for the industry. Expert professionals
were interviewed after the results came in to gain insights on the research questions.
The aim of the qualitative method was to find out more about the hybrid events and
how they can be made engaging.
The findings indicated that hybrid events will be the new norm in regards event organ-
izing moving forward and for those events feel engaging, there needs to be interac-
tion between all stakeholders. This paper will only be dealing with part of the study re-
sults that are relating for the subject at hand. Further research will need to be con-
ducted to get a deeper understanding on how other industries could be helping in un-
derstanding different stakeholders.
Keywords
Event, Hybrid, Engagement, Stakeholders

CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 2
Background ........................................................................................................ 2
Purpose of the study ........................................................................................... 2
Research methology and limitations ................................................................... 4
Thesis structure .................................................................................................. 5
Source critisism .................................................................................................. 6
2 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 7
Decision making factors when choosing a conference location ........................... 7
Bidding for conferences ............................................................................... 7
Event tourism............................................................................................... 7
Virtual meetings/ events...................................................................................... 8
Description of different kind of virtual events ................................................ 8
Choosing between Virtual and face-to-face meetings/ events ...................... 9
Virtual meeting formats ...............................................................................10
Fears towards hosting event online ............................................................11
Hybrid meetings/ events ....................................................................................12
How can hybrid events include different audiences and stakeholders? ..............13
Sense of belonging .....................................................................................13
Gamification................................................................................................13
Different audiences and stakeholders .........................................................14
Event Design ..............................................................................................15
Interviews with the engagement specialists ................................................19
3 SURVEY AND EXPERT INTERVIEWS ....................................................................20
Survey ...............................................................................................................20
Interviews: Descriptions of the professionals chosen .........................................21
Research method ..............................................................................................21
Limitations of the study ......................................................................................22
Reliability of results ............................................................................................22
4 RESEARCH RESULTS ............................................................................................23
Factors affecting decision making when choosing a location .............................25
Hybrid events.....................................................................................................28
Including your different audiences when planning a hybrid event.......................31
5 FINDINGS ................................................................................................................35
Engagement ......................................................................................................37

Possibilities and limitations on virtual/hybrid events based on professional
interviews .....................................................................................................................38
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .........................................................40
Summary ...........................................................................................................40
Validity of the study ............................................................................................40
Recommendations .............................................................................................40
LIST OF REFERENCES ..................................................................................................42
APPENDICES..................................................................................................................45
Appendix 1: GMID Goes Virtual poll results 14th April 2020 ..........................................45
Appendix 3: LinkedIn post published 4th May 2020 .......................................................48
Appendix 3: Facebook post published 5th May 2020 .....................................................49
Appendix 4: Post published 5th May 2020 on MyMPI Online Forum (members only) ....49
Appendix 5: Survey ......................................................................................................50

1
ABBREVIATIONS
MPI = Meeting Professionals International
CVB = Convention and Visitor Bureau
FCB = Finland Convention Bureau
ICCA = International Congress and Convention Association
GMID = Global Meetings Industry Day
PMI = Project Management Institute
MICE = Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions
COVID-19 pandemic = ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease caused by severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
CSR = Corporate Social Responsibility
FIGURES
Figure 1: Poll results about how live events change after the crisis is over
Figure 2: Structure of this thesis
Figure 3: Choosing virtual over face-to-face
Figure 4: Options for virtual meetings
Figure 5: Event Canvas planning process
Figure 6: Event Canvas Empathy Map
Figure 7: Survey participants by location on a map
Figure 8: Survey result on attending in-person is content also online
Figure 9: Survey results on how much willing to pay for online conference
Figure 10: Importance of communication from an event
Figure 11: Years in business
Figure 12: Involvement/ role in the industry
Figure 13: Results of pre -and post pandemic choosing factor importance
Figure 14: Change in the process of choosing a location after pandemic
Figure 15: Word map on the results of change in choosing a location post-pandemic
Figure 16: What kind of events were planning
Figure 17: Survey results on if will plan hybrid events moving forward post pandemic
Figure 18: Is your company set up to start having hybrid events
Figure 19: Opinions about virtual/hybrid meetings cannibalizing the Face-to-Face
Figure 20: Cost of hybrid event compared to face-to-face
Figure 21: Ability to network in online conferences
Figure 22: Survey results about virtual/hybrid meetings cannibalizing face-to-face
Figure 23: Engagement in online events
Figure 24: Analysis of the responses on how to engage attendees online
Figure 25: Image of the sponsorship opportunities in virtual events
Figure 26: Survey results on the importance of factors effecting decision making before
and after pandemic
Figure 27: Survey results on the types of events done before and after pandemic
Figure 28: Possibilities and limitations on virtual/hybrid events

2
1 INTRODUCTION
Background
An event is a carefully crafted experience delivered to make an impact on the person in
attendance. Regardless of the type, event planning requires people who can design the
event, manage human and material resources, plan strategically, conceptualize the logis-
tics of event, manage time effectively, and forecast and budget finances. (Greenwell et al.,
2019). Events have a big role not only in networking, learning, sharing and experiencing
but they also impact the economy. Scientific and professional conferences gather profes-
sionals from different fields to share their latest knowledge, and festivals will create life
and sense of community to even smaller places. When a city gets a big event, such as an
international conference, the monetary value of that event spans all over the workforce,
restaurants, accommodation, tourism and advertising. Therefore, countries, cities and
venues are always competing for international congresses (see e.g. www.uia.be/history).
The brand and image of each location will either support or undermine its reputation as a
reliable, interesting, and professional place to organize a conference.
Path of the modern event industry has not always been smooth, and it has faced many
challenges in its short history. These include terrorist attacks, SARS, major upheaval in
the global insurance industry which has led to the industry having to adopt strategies for
managing the risks of events. As we entered the mid 2000’s, the specter of climate
change began to affect the industry as the world became increasingly aware of the threat
of global warming. Environmental sustainability became a key event management con-
cept, with green initiatives adopted to reduce the environmental impact and the carbon
footprint of events. (Allen 2012, 10)
Purpose of the study
Finland’s biggest event venue, Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Center, re-
quested research on their competitiveness in bidding for international congresses and
what are the reasons that Messukeskus (Helsinki, Finland) does or does not get chosen.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the focus and direction of this study shifted from confer-
ence bidding. As the events industry was one of the first industries directly affected by the
pandemic due to governments banning gatherings and events as well as events being
cancelled around the world, (Yle 2020) the researcher felt it to be important to look at the
future predictions as they would be relating to both face-to-face and virtual meetings and
what this would mean for the future of conferences.

3
The COVID-19 pandemic was the main driver for change and forced the events industry
to re-evaluate the way that they do events. The researcher has worked in the events in-
dustry and been part of it for over two decades, as well as has a broad understanding and
experience from both local and international perspectives. Due to the COVID-19 pan-
demic situation, there was a personal interest in the subject to try to look past it and see
how the industry itself will be able to recover from it.
In 2018 ICCA conducted a survey that showed that digitalization will continue, with tech-
nology forming a larger part of service provision and business development. This is some-
thing that ICCA members had understood and prepared for with investments, but no one
was prepared for the speed of this technology leap that needed to be taken due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The researcher took part on an online event held on the 16th April 2020 as 12,500 profes-
sionals from the event and hospitality industry gathered virtually to commemorate Global
Meeting Industry Day (GMID). There were participants from around the world (Canada,
USA, Mexico, India, Argentina, United Kingdom, Philippines, Colombia, Singapore,
Kenya, Portugal, Croatia, Malaysia, Brazil, Finland, Denmark, etc..). This event was also
an attempt to break the world record, which was not reached but also to gather the indus-
try together and show support for one another during this shocking time of the pandemic.
During this half hour online event, there were some questions asked from all the at-
tendees as a pole and it was one question that affected the direction of this study for the
researcher. It was about how will live events change after the crisis is over? From the
7086 poll respondents 62% predicted that most events will become hybrid as well as 17%
predicted a greater demand for virtual events once the crisis is over. (GMID Goes Virtual
2020)
Figure 1: Poll results about how live events change after the crisis is over (adapted from
GMID Goes Virtual 2020, appendix 1)

4
The researcher saw these results and results from a study in 2012 by Fryatt et al. (2012)
showing similar results with 70% thinking that hybrid events will be important in the future
as an important indication to look further into hybrid events. These were the reasons why
hybrid events became the focal point of the study. Further information on the results of the
poll can be found in Appendix 1 (Slido Infographics 2020). Thesis objective and research
questions
The main objective of this thesis is to study hybrid events and how they can be made into
an engaging, inclusive experience. Changes in the factors affecting choosing of a confer-
ence location due to the pandemic will be reviewed and what that will mean for the face-
to-face and virtual meetings moving forward? To find answers to these questions and to
be able to present some predictions, questions were asked from event industry profes-
sionals.
The objectives of this work are as follows:
Firstly, the knowledge base of this study will have a short introduction to different forms of
virtual events. Secondly, the hybrid event form will be focused on. Thirdly, the results will
give further insights for Messukeskus and other event organizers on how to make sure
that different stakeholders (remote and in-person) are being taken into consideration when
planning an engaging hybrid event. Based on these objectives, the following research
questions were formulated:
RQ1. How can a hybrid event be transferred into an engaging experience?
RQ2. How to include your different audiences and stakeholders?
This study will be focusing on finding answers on how to make the hybrid event into an
engaging experience as well as how to include stakeholders into them as well. For this
study, event professionals around the world were asked to answer a survey on how the
future of the event industry might look like post pandemic. The final research strategy con-
sists of qualitative survey, individual interviews from industry professionals, as well as ma-
terials from books, publications and articles. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, no face-to-face
interviews were conducted. The interviews were conducted and recorded with an online
tool called Zoom.
Research methology and limitations
Qualitative research was chosen as individuals’ perceptions of the future of the events in-
dustry were asked and to explain the results and to understand the current solutions in the
constantly changing environment. To represent the critical areas of factors affecting

5
decision making in choosing conference locations, five main areas were taken into consid-
eration in the survey and interviews. (Goundar 2012)
The research method of the study was both the survey and interview method. This was
used as the individual people’s opinions were used as the unit of analysis. Expert sam-
pling technique was chosen as the professionals responding to the survey were from the
events industry. The data was gathered from the survey and interviews using qualitative
analysis. The findings are representing conclusions from the literature review, event can-
vas tool as well as the data received from the survey and interviews. (Emerald Publishing
2020)
There were two professionals who were interviewed who were chosen in a non-random
manner based on their expertise to obtain a further understanding into the results of the
survey conducted and to get a better understanding of the research questions. The re-
search is limited due to the narrow sample of the events industry professionals due to time
constraints of data collection, but the advantage of this approach was that since experts
tend to be more familiar with the subject matter than non-experts, opinions from the sam-
ple of experts will be more credible than a sample that includes both experts and non-ex-
perts. Other industries are not included in the scope of this study.
Thesis structure
Figure 2: Structure of this thesis
Introduction
• objectives and research
questions
• methods and limitations
Literature review
• conference bidding
• different forms of events
• hybrid events
Case study
• surveys and interviews
Data analysis
• data gathering techniques
Results
• effects of pandemic
• hybrid events
• inclusion of different
stakeholders
Findings
• survey, interview and literature
review
Recommendations
• summary
• conclusions
• recommendations

6
This thesis follows a typical structure. In the introduction section, background and purpose
of the study are being explained. Thesis objectives are presented as well as research
questions. Research methodology and limitations are being introduced. Source criticism
will be discussed in this section as well. After introduction, the study moves into the litera-
ture review in which different forms of events as well as further focus on hybrid events are
being presented. Third section will be using event canvas tool to help include different au-
diences and stakeholders into your event. Section four will be discussing the data gather-
ing techniques that were used and chapter five will be presenting these results in three
categories: decision making factors when choosing a location before and post pandemic,
hybrid events and how to include different audiences and stakeholders at hybrid events.
Findings from the literature, survey as well as interviews with professionals will be pre-
sented in section six in the order of the research questions. Section seven will discuss the
conclusions as well as giving recommendations for future research as well.
Source critisism
There is only a limited amount of information and studies done on hybrid events. The re-
search data is heavily based on previous research done by Fryatt et al. (2012). The num-
ber of respondents in the survey despite being a great amount of industry leading event
professionals, does not present them worldwide as the respondents were only from North
America and Europe, but a general picture of the situation in the industry was gathered.
One of the risks of the research is the narrow sampling of the industry professionals inter-
viewed, despite their expertise on the subject. Another threat on the subject is that there
were three different parts to the study, despite them having connecting moments, this
could pose to be too much of a generalization in these subjects.

7
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Decision making factors when choosing a conference location
When choosing a conference location, multiple factors must be considered. How do event
planners choose their locations? The decision-making factors are both rational and emo-
tional and there are emotion-based expectations about the conference or event. When
considering bids, organizers identify those that are as close as possible to the goal of their
event. (Tore 2018)
Yoo & Chon (2008) developed a measurement scale for factors affecting convention par-
ticipation in decision-making which revealed five underlying dimensions of convention par-
ticipation decision-making: destination stimuli, professional and social networking opportu-
nities, educational opportunities, safety and health situation and travel ability.
Houdement (2017) researched attributes that affect the decision-making process when
choosing a destination and determined their importance and influence. Their findings con-
firmed their hypothesis that destination image is the main determining site-selection factor.
As their study revealed the need for further examination on the destination promotion and
their positioning, this study will focus more on the factors surrounding the actual bidding
process. When selecting venues to be able to host a hybrid event, you need to take into
consideration connectivity, camera view, sound and lighting (Fryatt et al., 2012).
Bidding for conferences
Excellent air connections, destination attractiveness, competitive conference venue and
hotel guest room rates are common main requirements as well as the space and the
venue layout for winning an international conference to your city. A good bidding competi-
tion document is one where you speak about your advantages, convenient logistics, the
awareness of the topic. You will also need collaboration with academic associations as
well as the support of the country, city and convention bureau and how the venues are co-
operating with the local CVB’s and hosting City officials. (Tore 2018)
Event tourism
International events are growing in popularity and are on the rise — due to globalization
and the dramatic growth or the experience, cultural and creative industries, and the rapid
increase in linkages between people, places, communities, countries and markets. One
cause for this has been the technological developments in transport, telecommunications,
internet technologies and social media. Event or festival tourism has become an

8
increasingly important feature of the tourism development strategies for countries, govern-
ments and communities. In addition, specific attendee segments have shown to exhibit
distinct types of consumer behavior, for example repeat visitors spend more money and
stay longer in location compared to first-time visitors. (Ferdinand & Kitchin 2017, 11)
The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions) industry represents one of
the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry. Yet, it is only in recent years that the
economic contribution of this industry segment has been recognized and the relationships
among the various industry players have been examined in more depth. The convention
and visitor bureau (CVB) industry has grown into a major driver of economic development
for many cities and destinations around the world. (Forda & Peeperb 2006). Finland Con-
vention Bureau (2018) has done research on the attractiveness of the country itself. Fin-
land has consistently ranked among top 20 congress destinations in the world. There
have been around 600 international meetings annually which have been about 70,000 del-
egates.
Virtual meetings/ events
Virtual meetings have made possible for potential clients across all business units to get a
consistent experience in a systematic way. Virtual meeting is when people around the
world are using video, text, and/or audio to link together despite of their physical location.
They have been designed to replace in-person meetings so that the person does not have
to travel to the actual location. Instead, you can attend it from wherever you are. (ezTalks
2020)
In any meeting, virtual or in person, you should have clear expectations, agendas,
and outcomes. Unlike in-person meetings, virtual meetings are often easily recorded
so you have a record of all proceedings. This can help your groups and teams be
more accountable, take more responsibility, and generate faster action. (Schiefel-
bein 2018)
Description of different kind of virtual events
Events can be group gatherings from the same or different companies, countries, work-
places, industries etc. In terms of conference, people usually travel from various places.
(Arndt 2011). There are multiple different tools around the world for holding virtual meet-
ings and events, but you need to consider which ones to use depending on your events
goals. Face-to-face meetings mean meetings where the attendee will be meeting other
attendees and participants in-person.

9
Choosing between Virtual and face-to-face meetings/ events
With workforce around the world these days, virtual meetings such as conference calls,
web conferencing, and video conferencing have become the popular options. Clements
(2019) states that the fact is that both virtual meetings and face-to-face communication
have their advantages. Different formats of virtual meetings will be further explained in
2.2.3. of this study.
When Fryatt et al., (2012) did their research, they found that there were certain
events/meetings that were perceived as more suitable for face-to-face or virtual environ-
ments. As seen in the Figure 3 below, internal meetings were perceived as the ones that
could be done online and networking, sensitive issues, incentives as well as celebrations
were best done face-to-face.
Figure 3: Choosing virtual over face-to-face (adapted from Fryatt et al., 2012)
According to Schiefelbein (2018) virtual meetings are not taken with the same level of se-
riousness as in-person meetings are, because attendees are behind screens and a layer

10
of technology. She feels thought, that with the right tools and tips, you can make your vir-
tual team meetings just-as, if not more, productive than your face-to-face gatherings.
Settle-Murphy (2014) was discussing on her article in regards the frustrations about the
online meetings in general due to her own experience, but gathered a point at the end of it
about creating a perfectly level playing field where all the attendees are attending the
same way. This was the case in some way, when everyone was forced to use the tools
online, but after COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is that these events will be attended by
various stakeholder groups. It is important to create a meeting environment where remote
callers feel like equal participants and that requires thought and special skills.
Virtual meeting formats
Virtual meetings require extensive planning skills with understanding and famili-
arity of online marketing and technology. In addition, the virtual meeting planning
team should have members with understanding of digital user interface, cus-
tomer service and organizing skills as well as flexibility. (Fryatt et al., 2012)
There are eight different formats, or categories, of technology for virtual meetings. Those
are: Video conference, Conference call, Online meeting, Webcast, Webinar, Virtual Trade
Show, 3D Virtual World or Hybrid meeting. You will need to review each and determine
which technology works best for your organization or your event, depending on what the
goal of your event is.
Figure 4: Options for virtual meetings (adapted from Fryatt et al., 2012)
Virtual meetings provide tools for measuring delegate behavior that face-to-face meetings
lack, because everything that happens in the platform is recorded although other

11
measurements can be taken in other ways that do not require the use of virtual tools. For
virtual meetings that are held to educate delegates, measurement can be the increase in
learning. In this case, learning can be measured by conducting a post-meeting test. Track-
ing engagement is key to knowing the event’s effectiveness. It is useful information to
know if your participants are actively or passively listening. Most virtual technologies pro-
vide these metrics automatically. Participants' satisfaction with the content and the experi-
ence of a virtual meeting can be measured with polls and surveys, for example using five-
point scales (strongly disagree to strongly agree) and statements such as “This meeting is
relevant to my current work”.
As there are multiple different ways to measure effectiveness which depend on your ob-
jectives and capabilities some measured immediately and some months later. Just as Fry-
att et al. (2012) found in their study that virtual meetings are suitable for information shar-
ing and internal training as they are measuring on the extent that the participants have
learned new information and skills, Clements (2019) stated that virtual meetings are an
ideal option when you want to save time and money on travel, managing a global team or
bringing them together from different locations around the world, hiring or if you are con-
ducting product and safety demos.
When selecting venues to be able to host a hybrid event, different things will need to be
taken into consideration such as connectivity, camera view, sound and lighting (Fryatt et
al., 2012).
Fears towards hosting event online
According to a study in 2012 by Fryatt et al. remote attendance has been positioned nega-
tively compared to face-to-face attendance, only 15% had said that it is a positive thing.
Meeting professionals employ hybrid event technologies to share content, ideas and ex-
periences with attendees across multiple geographies and time zones, but many still op-
pose the medium, citing technology failures and potential cannibalization to face-to-face
events. The data revealed there to be anxieties surrounding the degeneration of in-person
events. In addition, there was a lack of price standards for hybrid events as there are too
many vendors, with too many price points, researching a vendor takes too long, most ven-
ues are not equipped for hybrid events, and the ones that have the potential, lack the
knowhow on addressing the essential questions concerning connectivity & capacity.
Survey done in 2018 by ICCA showed that digitalization will continue, with technology
forming a larger part of service provision and business development. According to their
survey, over 60% of venues include free Wi-Fi in the price for exhibition hall rental. Venue

12
members also named several new technologies as having an influence on how they gen-
erate new business. For example, digital marketing, database, CRM and other Big Data
tools, High-speed in-house Wi-Fi, online offer system, site visits, interactive maps and so-
cial media presence. However, rather than converting into direct sales, respondents re-
ported that social media marketing is currently providing to be used most effectively to
raise awareness, share expertise and increase community engagement. Paid social me-
dia marketing is employed by over 60% of the ICCA survey respondents.
Hybrid meetings/ events
Hybrid meetings integrate technology with traditional event practices to create new types
of attendee experiences and content delivery tools. They include any meeting or event
with at least one group of face-to-face participants that digitally connects with participants
in another or multiple locations. The purpose of the hybrid event is to create unique expe-
riences for different types of participants in different places. Combining functionalities of
face-to-face events and those of virtual meetings into hybrid events enables meeting plan-
ners to have a much broader spectrum of options to engage delegates. (Fryatt et al. 2012)
Morell (2010) had been discussing on her article about the gut that face-to-face meetings
are more powerful than virtual meetings and to not view them as threats. They are here to
force us to become better, more relevant and more engaging. Similarly research done by
(Fryatt et al., 2012), hybrid events is an emerging event type that requires meeting profes-
sionals to stretch their creativity, strategizing, execution, and measurement and integrate
technology with traditional live events to create new types of experiences and content de-
livery tools. There are four main formats of hybrid events which are broadcasts to remote
delegates, connecting remote office locations to a main event, including remote speakers
into your event or connecting multiple sites to a broadcast studio.
Fryatt et al. (2012) as well as Morell (2010) found that the hybrid meeting will be able to
extend the life of a meeting. Hybrid events can also give you an opportunity to add value
by reaching more delegates (face-to-face plus virtual), providing new content delivery and
communication options. You will be able to connect multiple events occurring concurrently
or at different times or locations. Meeting professionals employ hybrid event technologies
to share content, ideas and experiences with attendees across multiple geographies and
time zones, but many still oppose the medium, citing technology failures and potential
cannibalization to face-to-face events. Your event content will not be just one off event as
you will be able to extend the reach of your message by repurposing part of your event
content and make it possible for everyone to take part, even if they are not able to travel
to the location, or would have other reasons why you would not make it.

13
Unlike face-to-face meetings, virtual events require more initial setup, but
can be replicated and scaled much more efficiently over time. The ability to
duplicate meeting environments and repurpose content adds life and ex-
tends the reach of your message. (Fryatt et al., 2012)
Planning a hybrid event is almost like planning two events, which takes extra effort. Hybrid
events are considered pricier to organize, even though they can be more cost effective.
The study done by Fryatt et al. in 2012 also revealed the need for more information about
sponsorship opportunities in these events was mentioned. Meeting professionals are also
trying to determine the right revenue models and value proposition from free to on-de-
mand.
How can hybrid events include different audiences and stakeholders?
When it comes to remotely engaging events, there is no one size that fits all. The question
that you need to be constantly answered throughout the design and production of your
event is: what I am seeking to achieve? Understanding what outcome, you want, will natu-
rally lead you to being able to create your program. To actively engage your audience,
you need to be clear on your objectives from the outset. This becomes important when
you have a remote audience. You are no longer restricted by the physical constraints of
the venue and with the ability to extend the life of your content beyond the few days of the
conference, you have an opportunity to increase the impact of your events exponentially.
(Cook & Shepherdly 2016)
Sense of belonging
For remote audiences it is important to create a sense of belonging, taking their questions
and providing them with exclusive content. Some are also using virtual emcees and facili-
tators. There is a need for training the speakers for hybrid events as they need to be even
more engaging than normal. (Cook & Shepherdly 2016)
Gamification
Gamification is one of the most often heard buzzwords now in the conference and events
industry. Attendees are wanting interaction, that is what gamification is all about. As per
Oxford Dictionary it defines gamification: The application of typical elements of game play-
ing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typ-
ically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or ser-
vice. (Cook & Shepherdly 2016).

14
Hybrid events is an emerging event type that requires meeting professionals
to stretch their creativity, strategizing, execution, and measurement and inte-
grate technology with traditional live events to create new types of experi-
ences and content delivery tools. (Fryatt et al., 2012)
Different audiences and stakeholders
As hybrid events require new means of content delivery and engagement, you must be
able to recognize the diverse audiences and their needs. Additional challenges come as
not all content from live events are good for remote, so it is important to adapt the content
from face-to-face to remote by offering shorter sessions as the attention span is shorter. It
is said that the most effective hybrids are like TV shows, which then give new tools to de-
sign and deliver content such as man-on-the-street interviews, talk shows and news desk
formats. Digital event tools can allow the collection of more in-depth data. If used effec-
tively it can facilitate more output driven metrics. (Fryatt et al., 2012). Sports event broad-
casts could be used as an example as they have professionals doing these broadcasts, all
parts have been carefully planned and this can be the case in hybrid events.
Sport is widely marketed as entertainment already, and many spectators attend for rea-
sons beyond just watching the players on the field. Major sporting events also include
fancy halftime shows, on-field contests, and promotional giveaways. Relaxation and
pleasure are common motivational factors for many tourists and some fans use sport tour-
ism to escape from under stimulation and boredom from overstimulation and stress. Sport
tourism has been described using a theatrical analogy suggesting that players represent
the actors, sport spectators are the audience members, and the stadium or arena is the
theater. (Greenwell et al., 2019)
For example, Shiao (2008) discussed how the National Football League (NFL) is an event
planning organization. The NFL runs a year-long series of events, from mini-events, to
large scale events to mega events (e.g. The Super Bowl). They do have half-time shows
on TV. He is advising that instead of a one-off event, or experience to try to extend the
lifetime of the event. NFL ecosystem relies on the partners to extend and reinforce their
brand. It can be teams, broadcast partners, press, relative content providers and mer-
chandise retailers. This can be related to conferences through the exhibitors, sponsors,
speakers, presenters, content providers and service providers. The NFL has numerous
ways to monetize its audience, in the form of ticket sales, merchandise sales and corpo-
rate sponsorships. There’s also TV commercials, the content of which has nothing to do
with football.

15
Event Design
In Poetics, Aristotle wrote: “A whole story is what has a beginning and middle and end.” In
the event world, the terms of pre-event, during and post-event are being used. First the
event needs to be defined. Event on its own is a fixed period group activity, with multiple
stakeholders, which are designed to produce a service, resulting in product. Event is tem-
porary. It has a defined beginning and an end time and for that reason a defined scope
and resources
Event Canvas model is being introduced shortly to give a guide on how to include various
stakeholders into creating a successful and engaging event. The design of these virtual
events is crucial when you want to engage audiences from around the globe or virtually in
general.
When starting an event/project, the planning is the most important part. For the purposes
of this study, EventCanvas™, an event design template launched at the 2014 MPI World
Education Congress (WEC) will be used as an example to work through a process of cre-
ating an engaging hybrid event experience. This tool is used as it investigates each stake-
holder and their interests as a whole and has been used to create engaging, award win-
ning events. The creators of Event Canvas, and the co-founders of the Event Design Col-
lective say that their Canvas is not just a useful collaborative tool, but a tool that enables
teams to look at the big picture goals they have for their event design process.
Roel Frissen and Ruud Janssen, are the inventors of #EventCanvas and the co-founders
of the Event Design Collective. Their Europe-based enterprise uses #EventCanvas for its
own clients, which include groups ranging from the International Olympic Committee to
the Global Spine Congress. They also teach the usage of the template in workshops and
certification programs around the world. The creators say their canvas is not just a useful
collaborative tool, but also enables teams to look at the big-picture goals they have for the
event design process. (Stiteler 2017)
Figure 5: Event Canvas planning process (adapted from https://edco.global/)

16
Frissen et al., 2016 stated that the best results are gathered from bringing people together
in an event, or from collaborating in the design of an event. Event canvas model is based
on empathetic approach in designing events, to take different stakeholders into considera-
tion right from the start. A key ability in being successful in Event Design is to see different
experiences and outlooks of a variety of strangers.
As this tool helps to put the entire event design into a single sheet of paper, it makes the
process more approachable for all the stakeholders, and when going over all 14 building
blocks on the canvas, they will feel as part of it. This canvas approach promotes inclusive-
ness and everyone from beginners to more experienced can come to the table -together.
When involving as many stakeholders in the process as possible, they all will bring differ-
ent perspectives that will allow the design of experiences to be more meaningful to a
broader cross section of event participants.
When involving as many stakeholders in the process as possible, they all will bring differ-
ent perspectives that will allow the design of experiences to be more meaningful to a
broader cross section of event participants. (Frissen et al., 2016)
Stakeholder analysis should always be done before starting any project to avoid forgetting
someone potentially important. The way you manage your different stakeholders could
mean the difference between these stakeholders helping you enthusiastically to make this
conference a success. Event projects require approval and guidance and engagement
from a wide range of people. If you are not able to get these stakeholders to agree with
the objectives or execution, they can become obstacles for the success of it. But if you
can receive the trust, approval and help from these stakeholders, they can help you to
succeed.
The Canvas needs to first be divided into three groups of blocks so that the interactions
within the Canvas and order will be suggested. Those being change, frame and design.
(Frissen et al., 2016,18) The change states the details before and after the event, frame is
the part that happens in between. Design is a process that is guided by a goal, a strategy,
and boundaries. It is in this stage that the constraints in which the Event Design must
meet its intended value. (Frissen et al., 2016, 55)
As hybrid events require new means of content delivery and engagement, you must be
able to recognize the diverse audiences and their needs. Additional challenges come as
not all content from live events are good for remote, so it is important to adapt the content
from face-to-face to remote by offering shorter sessions as the attention span is much
shorter. It is said that the most effective hybrids are like TV shows, which then give new
tools to design and deliver content such as man-on-the-street interviews, talk shows and

17
news desk formats. Digital event tools can allow the collection of four more in depth data
that if used effectively, can facilitate more output driven metrics. (Fryatt et al., 2012).
Figure 6: Event Canvas Empathy Map (adapted from https://edco.global/)
When starting to think about different views and needs of stakeholders, the Event Canvas
tool can be used to go through each step by step
Describing the entering behavior of the stakeholder
As it is challenging to describe the entering behavior of the stakeholder for all humans be-
ing unique, we need to generalize a bit and find commonalities. When thinking about a hy-
brid event for example, there will be the possibility to attend either in person, or virtually.
Both of our attendee are stakeholders who are interested in the subject of the conference,
looking to find new trends in their industry and to network in the hopes to meet new poten-
tial clients.
Pains
These stakeholders’ potential pains are that they are very busy in their life and do not
have time to waste.
Expectations
Expectations could be to get an experience. As explained by Frissen et al. (2016) the first
step in changing the behavior of stakeholders is to determine the patterns of behavior be-
fore the event, and the next step is to describe the desired behavior.

18
The desired behavior
The desired behavior of both attendees will be to say that they feel like they were part of
the event.
Gains
Gains for both attendees could be that the time on this event, gave them enough infor-
mation for them to walk away from this event feeling like they were part of the experience.
Satisfaction
As Frissen et al. 2016 have stated, the expectations are a crucial part of how, and with
what mind-set, someone will start his or her journey, but it is its after counterpart, satisfac-
tion, that is the result of that journey. We are of course hoping to always meet and exceed
expectations. When discussing the satisfaction in this hybrid event example, it could be
that the remote attendee would be happy on how all the technology worked, and they
were able to feel engaged throughout the event and similarly it could be that the in-person
attendee would be very pleased with the food and beverages were served at the location.
They both could have similarities in regards satisfaction for the content and speakers.
Commitment
Commitment could be the time that they are spending to attend this event, the money that
this has cost them. This part is explaining the sacrifice that they are making.
Return
As stakeholders, they have something at stake and have made the commitment for this
event. What is their ROI (Return-On-Investment)?
Cost
Cost could be money that they have paid to participate, or time they are away from their
work or families.
Revenue
As important as it is to view the costs there is the other side, in which there is potential for
revenue that they will be able to get.
Jobs to be done
Their jobs to be done could be directly related to increase sales, but due to intense com-
petition in the field, or they need to find new ways to do business and differ from their
competitors.
Promise

19
This promise is the answer to their pains, increasing their gains and helping to accomplish
their jobs to be done.
In the design stage is where the team will start to talk about the event itself.
“A successful event consists of both an emotional experience and a logical instruc-
tion. “(Frissen et al., 2016)
The experience journey
The experience journey is cumulative moments of interaction that a Stakeholder experi-
ences in the event -listening, reading, watching, debating, mingling, speaking -that build
the experience for them. Different stakeholders have different journeys. (Frissen et al.,
2016, 70)
Instructional design
Instructional design covers what needs to be learned and how that is best done. In this
part, the designing team will consider which methods, formats, and interactions will be the
most effective for each stakeholder to retain the key learnings. It is combined with the ex-
perience journey to determine the array of interactions that a stakeholder has with the
event environment. It interconnects with the physical environment, down to invitation
fonts, time of day, keynote speaker etc. For this example, remote attendee, this would
mean how the invitation to them would be, how the broadcast etc. would look like, to make
them feel the way that we are hoping for the outcome to be. (Frissen et al., 2016)
When you think about all your stakeholders from their perspectives and what their needs
are, you can design an event that will be successful and catering to your stakeholders
need and expectations.
Interviews with the engagement specialists
There were two one-on-one interviews conducted to be able to ask the view of the profes-
sionals in regards the results that came from the survey. These interviews are primary
data as well as the survey, as the professionals chosen were asked to reflect on the re-
sults of the survey done and further analyze the responses received through their own
professional opinions and knowledge and to get their input on them to be able build a bet-
ter understanding on the research questions.
Another aspect of this research was to get information on how to make these virtual/hybrid
events engaging as you will have to be engaging different stakeholders. For that reason,
both interviewed professionals were chosen due to their expertise in event engagement.
Both the survey and the interviews were used as primary data.

20
3 SURVEY AND EXPERT INTERVIEWS
One of the reasons for this research was to find information on how factors when choos-
ing a conference location have changed since the pandemic and what that would mean
for the face-to-face and virtual meetings moving forward. Therefore, event professionals
around the world were asked to answer a survey on how the future of the event industry
might look like post pandemic.
Survey
The survey questions were formed to reflect the previously mentioned research done by
Yoo & Chon (2008) on developing a measurement scale on factors affecting convention
participation and the five underlying dimensions that were destination stimuli, professional
and social networking opportunities, educational opportunities, safety and health situation
and travel ability. Questions in regards the opposing of this medium due to technology fail-
ures and potential cannibalization to face-to-face events were also asked that had arisen
from the research done in 2012 by Fryatt et al. As they had also researched hybrid events
at that time and how to engage people in these virtual events and meetings, questions re-
garding this were also presented to see if the view on them has changed in the last few
years or due to the pandemic.
Survey had multiple choice questions combined with few open-ended questions. Data col-
lection was carried out once for the survey, with the option for further in-depth interviews.
The survey was conducted in the beginning of May 2020 using virtual technology by an
online form from Google Forms. The link was shared to only event industry professionals
in LinkedIn, a specific group in Facebook as well as Meeting Professionals International
Forum, which is only visible to members. All participants were advised that their re-
sponses were anonymous, but should they want, they could leave their contact infor-
mation for questions on the subject. Results of the survey were also promised to be
shared on these same platforms as a thank you as well to help the industry in general.
The survey contained six different sections all together. Consisting of 20-23 questions de-
pending on your industry affiliations. First section was asked from all participants and
questions were to find out some main demographics as well as industry involvement in
years. In this section, the importance of communication from an event, as well as if they
had attended conferences in the past. If yes, they would be able to respond to questions
in section 2. Section two had questions relating about attending conferences and their
pricing points. Section three looked more into their industry involvement, as that would

21
affect the questions that would be asked from the participants moving forward on the sur-
vey.
Section four was intended for planners, as this group would have the information on how
they are choosing their locations for their events and what factors they are taking into con-
sideration when doing so. This section was also comparing the effects that the pandemic
had for their responses. Effects of CSR in decision making was asked due to
Messukeskus’ heavy investment on sustainability in the last few years. A direct question if
the pandemic changed their process on how to choose location was presented. Due to re-
sults from the GMID poll (appendix 1), the increase of hybrid events was predicted. After
this section, the planner participants were skipping section 5 and going directly to section
6. Section five had one question in which it was reflecting those same results from the
GMID polls (appendix 1) to find out if the suppliers companies were set up in a way that
they would be able to start doing them moving forward. Section six was intended for the
event engagement questions and all the participants opinions on networking.
Interviews: Descriptions of the professionals chosen
This study aimed to look further into hybrid events as well as how to make sure that these
events will be engaging. Therefore, it was important to discuss the findings of the survey
with professionals in the field. In terms of Hybrid events, Paul Cook was interviewed, as
he is the author of books about” Remotely engaging” and” Risk It!”. In which area he has
already been working for the past 10 years. In regards engagement at these events,
Cyriel Kortleven, TEDx talker, author of books such as” The Change Mindset”,” Yes and...
Your Business” was asked to reflect on the results as well. With Ruud Janssen the re-
searcher was not able to get an interview time set up due to availability, but had received
materials from Janssen on the subject as he had been part of the industry wide survey re-
search group in 2012 (Fryatt et al. 2012) as well as the creator of the Event Canvas
model. Both Cyriel and Paul were interviewed via Zoom online meeting tool.
Research method
Qualitative research was chosen as individuals’ perceptions of the future of the events in-
dustry were asked and to explain the results and to understand the current solutions in the
constantly changing environment. To represent the critical areas of factors affecting deci-
sion making in choosing conference locations research done by Houdement et al. (2017)
was used as guidance.

22
The survey method was used as it has individual people as the unit of analysis. This sci-
entific method operates primarily at the empirical level of research, i.e., how to make ob-
servations and analyze these observations. There was a risk of having a too narrow of a
selection but social media where the survey was posted on industry groups, enabled the
possibility to make sure that the participants would be qualified participants. Due to the
links being open, it was open for potential wrongdoing by people not within the industry.
Limitations of the study
Due to the qualitative research method of in-depth interviews as well as survey chosen as
the main way to gather data, there is always the chance that some of the data could be
affected by the researchers own views and experience gained in the event industry
throughout the years and something that is clear for the researcher, might be overseen for
that reason. There has been a lack of studies on hybrid events, and what is out there, a lot
of generalizations need to be done, and until further research on the subject, many of the
suggestions and recommendations can only be that. As the research data collected for
this study is heavily based on Fryatt et al. (2012) three different articles as well as the ma-
terial that Ruud Janssen shared with the researcher, could be too much from one point of
view, even if the survey data for their study was a big amount within the events industry,
compared to the amount that was able to be gathered for this study. The geographic limi-
tations were present, as the survey respondents as well as the interviewed industry pro-
fessionals were only from Europe and North America. The findings represent a combina-
tion of the conclusions from the literature review, the data received from the survey and
interviews with the professional.
Reliability of results
As discussed in the section 1.5 of this study discussing the sources, the previous research
about hybrid events and engagement in them, was very limited. At the current stage, fur-
ther research and results will surely come due to the increase need for them and the ef-
fects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of respondents in the survey despite being
a great amount of industry leading event professionals, does not represent the whole
world. One of the risks of the research is the narrow sampling of the industry professionals
interviewed, despite their expertise on the subject. Another threat on the subject is that
there were three different parts to the study, despite them connecting, could pose to be
too much of a generalization. One subject could have been chosen to be researched fur-
ther and in more detail.

23
4 RESEARCH RESULTS
This chapter focuses on understanding the results of both the survey as well as the inter-
views conducted by the researcher with the event professionals. These results will be ex-
plained through the three focus parts of this study: factors affecting decision making when
choosing a conference location, hybrid/virtual events as well as how to include different
audiences and stakeholders.
Figure 7: Survey participants by location on a map
Most of the survey responses were from event professionals in North America with 57,8%
and Mexico with 2,2%. The rest of the responses were from around Europe. 86,7% of the
participants were female.
Figure 8: Survey result on attending in-person is content also online
If the content from conferences attended by the participants before the pandemic would
have been available online the participants were asked if they would have attended them
in person if the content from them would have also been available online. Over half of the
attendees would have gone to the conference in person and taken advantage of the
online material as well. Only 8,9% from participants would not have gone, if the same

24
content would have been available to them online. For 24,4% of the participants re-
sponded that the material being online would not have made the difference, they would
have gone to the event, as per usual.
Figure 9: survey results on how much willing to pay for online conference
These participants were asked to think about these past conferences to see if they would
be willing to pay something for the online content. Just as they would be for an event, they
have paid the entry fee for, from the participants only 11,1% would not be willing to pay
anything as they feel online content should be free. Almost half (48,9%) would be willing
to pay half of the price and 37,8% would be willing to pay quarter of the price of face-to-
face event.
Figure 10: importance of communication from an event
Participants were asked about the importance of communication from the event itself, re-
sults showed that pre-event communication was found to be the very important by 88,9%,
communication during event was very important to 71.1% of the participants and post-
event communication was felt to be very important by 57,8%. Post event communication
was the least important by 8,8% of the respondents, where the pre-event communication
was important or very important by 97,8% leaving no responses for not important.

25
Figure 11: Years in business
Participants of the survey were event professionals. 44,4% of them had been in the indus-
try for 10-20 years and 26,7% had been in the industry for over 20 years. The third biggest
group was professionals of 5-10 years. Due to years of experience in the industry, the re-
sults of the survey as well as their answers would be very trustworthy source for the views
of the industry and its future.
Figure 12: Involvement/ role in the industry
Factors affecting decision making when choosing a location
When participants were asked about the decision making factors when choosing the loca-
tion, Yoo & Chon (2008) factors were taken into consideration when forming the questions
but were also reflected into the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 spring, in order to help the
industry. The following factors were asked from the participants to scale them from 1-5,
with 5 being very important. These were reflected both pre and post pandemic to see if
there were any changes.

26
When looking at the very important (5) and important (4) scores given by the participants,
the following results were received:
Before pandemic (5/4) After pandemic (5/4)
Location 59,5%/ 32,4%=91,9% 64,9%/ 18,9%=83,8%
Air travel routes 18,9%/ 37,8%=56,7% 27,0%/ 29,7%=56,7%
Amount of people
that a location can fit 51,4%/ 32,4%=83,8% 62,2%/ 18,9%=81,1%
Hotel beds at the location 27,0%/ 37,8%=64,8% 29,7%/ 29,7%=59,4%
City and what it has
to offer 10,8%/ 62,2%=73% 10,8%/ 48,6%=59,4%

27
Technology 29,7%/ 43,2%=72,9% 54,1%/ 35,1%=89,2%
Figure 13: results of pre -and post pandemic choosing factor importance
When comparing the two, the location is perceived as less important factor when choosing
a location with almost 10% in overall, but very important has increased by 5% from before
pandemic. Air travel routes the around the same importance overall, but when comparing
very important, there is a slight increase. Amount of people that a location can fit saw a
slight decrease overall but increased in the very important section.
Hotel beds in location decrease in overall, but slight increase was seen in the very im-
portant section. City and what it has to offer has decreased in overall, stayed the same in
the low number when comparing the importance of choosing a location before and after
the pandemic. Importance of technology had a clear difference in regards of the im-
portance on when choosing a location with the overall increase of almost 20% as well as
when comparing very important before and after. There is a clear indication that the
change has happened compared to before the pandemic.
Figure 14: change in the process of choosing a location after pandemic
The next question in which the participants responded if their process on how to choose a
location has changed. 43,2% responded yes, and when asked to clarify as to why, the

28
main concern seemed to clearly be the social distancing, and the need for space in doing
so. Different sorts of safety and sanitation procedures were of clear concern. How food
and beverage will be handled moving forward (for example not having a buffet table) and
how that will be taken into consideration in the new situation.
Figure 15: word map on the results of change in choosing a location post-pandemic
Messukeskus has put a lot of investments in Corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Therefore, it was important point of view to be asked from the planners – that is, its
importance on decision making factors when choosing a location for the next conference.
37,8% found it to be important factor and only 16,2% found it to be very important factor
before the pandemic, totalling to only 54% of the respondents. These numbers increased
after pandemic, as 35,1% found it to be very important and 35,1% found it important,
equalling to 70,2% of all the votes. This shows an increase of 16,2% after pandemic.
Hybrid events
Planners
As this study aims to give help to venues like Messukeskus in the industry to be able to
get a glimpse of the direction that the industry will be taking after the pandemic, the em-
phasis was on the planners side and what factors they are taking into consideration when
choosing a location. 62,2% from the survey participants were planners.

29
Figure 16: What kind of events were planning
Pre-pandemic and its effects on the decision making were researched. Out of the plan-
ners, 81,1% were planning only face-to-face meetings and 13,5% were planning both
face-to-face meetings as well as virtual and only 5,4% were planning hybrid events.
Figure 17: Survey results on if will plan hybrid events moving forward post pandemic
When asked if they were going to start planning hybrid events moving forward 59,5% said
yes, and 35,1% Maybe. This shows that the interest to plan hybrid events has gone up,
and from the planner’s point of view, what has only been a 5,4% market share in the past,
has now increased 89,2% into totaling 94,6%. It also shows that 5,4% of the respondents
will not be doing hybrid events in the future, equaling to the same amount that had men-
tioned in the past to be doing hybrid events. In other words, face-to-face and hybrid
events have switched their spots.
Suppliers

30
The supplier participants of this survey were asked similar question in regards hybrid
events, but from the point of view that if they were ready to start organizing hybrid events,
in case future will require them to do so.
Figure 18: Is your company set up to start having hybrid events
Out of the supplier respondents 75% advised that they were equipped to do so, with both
maybe and no receiving 12,5% of the responses. If the demand in the future for hybrid
events is 94,6% based on the planners’ responses, 87,5% (yes and maybe combined)
that suppliers are prepared for, might not be enough. This is something for the venues to
take into consideration when moving forward.
One of the focal points of the research is to see what the perception in regards virtual/hy-
brid events is and to see how they are compared Face-to-Face meetings. For that reason,
the opinion of the participants in the subject was asked if they think, that virtual/hybrid
events will cannibalize the face-to-face meetings?
Figure 19: opinions about virtual/hybrid meetings cannibalizing the Face-to-Face meetings

31
64,4% of the respondents responded that no, they do not think that. Only 6,7% felt that
they will and 11,1% thought maybe. The 17,8% of the responses did not comment either
or.
For the purposes of this study, to help understand the view on how these hybrid events
are being seen, the participants were asked if they perceive these hybrid events to cost
more or be cheaper to organize than face-to-face meetings. Results were almost half to
half, with 51,1% perceiving these to cost more.
Figure 20: Cost of hybrid event compared to face-to-face
Including your different audiences when planning a hybrid event
Engaging online
Figure 21: ability to network in online conferences
When respondents were asked if they believed that networking online was possible, only
11,1% said no. Maybe and yes both received 44,4% of the responses.
When asked about impact of networking at virtual meetings, 42,2% felt it to be just aver-
age. Only 11,1% felt that the impact was extremely high. Same question was asked about
face-to-face meetings, and 84,4% felt that the impact of networking at these live events
was extremely high.

32
One of the pains of the participants on the survey found that when comparing the impact
of networking between the in person and online events there was a 73,3% difference with
offline events being clearly considered more impactful in terms of networking. When dis-
cussing these results with Cook (2020) he feels that virtual events could be better for both
networking and education but sees that some people are not very good in remote talking,
and this could potentially make this more challenging.
Figure 22: Survey results about virtual/hybrid meetings cannibalizing face-to-face
The results of the survey on networking and its hardness in online events was also dis-
cussed with Kortleven (2020) who gave his thoughts in regarding virtual events cannibaliz-
ing the face-to-face meetings. He suggested that the eleven percent thinking they would
cannibalize could be explained due to people not knowing on how to do these virtual
events.
Figure 23: engagement in online events
When participants of the survey were asked if they feel that online events can be engag-
ing, 60% believe that to be the case. There were 33,3% of participants who thought
maybe, and only 6,7% thought that they cannot.

33
Figure 24: analysis of the responses on how to engage attendees online
When participants were asked to provide some examples of ways to engage attendees
online, the top 5 based on their responses were: polls, breakout rooms, active participa-
tion, camera and gamification. Analysis view was done with Quirkos visual analyzing tool.
Figure 25: Image of the sponsorship opportunities in virtual events

34
The participants were also asked about sponsorship opportunities in virtual/hybrid meet-
ings with an open-ended question. When summarizing the responses from the open-
ended question asked: sponsored speaker or sessions were mentioned the most as well
as different kinds of forms of branding, like banners etc. Sponsor videos between ses-
sions were mentioned quite often. Results also showed that there were many people who
had no experience about sponsorship in online events and were not able to give a re-
sponse.

35
5 FINDINGS
Houdement et al. (2017) had researched attributes that affect the decision-making pro-
cess when choosing a destination and their findings showed that the destination image
was the main determining site-selection factor as discussed in section 2.1. of this study.
As this study was looking into the effects of the pandemic, the results from this research
showed that location as well as city and what it has to offer were indeed very important
decision making factors when choosing a location before the pandemic but this saw a de-
cline when looking at the situation after. Location went down from 91,9% to 83,8% and
City and what it has to offer went down from 73% to 59,4% as the results show in the fig-
ure below. Importance of technology increased in the importance after pandemic. CSR
was considered more important as well. Air travel routes importance was the only one
staying the same.
FACTORSCONSIDERED IMPORTANT IN
DECISION MAKING WHEN CHOOSING A
LOCATION BASED ON SURVEY RESULTS
BEFORE AND AFTER
PANDEMIC
Location 91,9% > 83,8%
Air travel routes 56,7% = 56,7%
Amount of people that location can fit 83,8% > 81,5%
Hotel beds at the location 64,8% > 59,4%
City and what it has to offer 73% > 59,4%
Technology 72,9% < 89,2%
CSR 54% < 70,2%
Figure 26: Survey results on the importance of factors effecting decision making before
and after pandemic
Importance of technology when choosing a location increased overall almost 20% when
compared with before and after pandemic data, which is something that the venues and
planners of future events will have to take into consideration. This was also supported by
the information conducted from the ICCA (2018) results where the venues had already in-
vested in new technology as well as bandwidth in locations. It will remain to be seen, if
those investments have been enough as suppliers who responded to the survey that the
researcher conducted, advising that 75% of them were equipped to be hosting hybrid

36
events. When selecting venues that will be able to host a hybrid events, you need to take
into consideration the connectivity, camera view, sound and lighting as per study by Fryatt
et al. (2012).
In the context of global intercity competition, cities' major goal is to increase their competi-
tiveness, in which the positioning and attractiveness of a city have a critical function. Em-
phasis will be increasingly on less costly and more synergistic city marketing, which uti-
lizes city branding and “city profiling” that aim at attracting high value‐adding services or
high‐tech firms. (Anttiroiko, 2014). International events contribute specific economic out-
comes that can be quantified, not only by visitors spending in the area concerned, but also
through assessment of the number of business start-ups, as well as jobs created and re-
tained through stimulation of a visitor economy (Ferdinand & Kitchin 2017, 18-19).
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is something that Messukeskus has put a lot of in-
vestments in and thus was important point of view to ask from the planners in regards its
effects on decision making factors when choosing a location for the next conference.
37,8% found it to be important factor and only 16,2% found it to be very important factor
before the pandemic, totaling to only 54% of the respondents. These numbers increased
after pandemic, as 35,1% found it to be very important and 35,1% found it important,
equaling to 70,2%. This shows an increase of 16,2% after pandemic.
When Fryatt et al. (2012) did their research, as previously discussed in section 2.2.2.1
they found out that there were certain events/meetings that were perceived to be more
suitable for face-to-face environments and certain events to be more suitable for virtual.
Internal meetings were perceived as the ones that could be done online and networking,
sensitive issues, incentives as well as celebrations were best done face-to-face as per
their results.
Figure 27: Survey results on the types of events done before and after pandemic
0
50
100
Before After
Percentage % of the type of events
that planners have done before and
are planning to do after pandemic
Face to face Virtual/Hybrid

37
As GMID Goes Virtual (2020) poll showed, as well as a study done in 2012 by Fryatt et al.
(2012), there was a clear indication that hybrid events will be important in the future. This
was also seen from the results of this study, when 5,4% of planners had organized virtual
(13,5%)/hybrid events (5,4%) before the pandemic, showed now an increase of 75,7%
with planners planning to do hybrid events after pandemic as can be seen from the figure
above. From the planners 35,1% responded maybe for planning hybrid events moving for-
ward. This information is important for venues like Messukeskus to be able to take this
into consideration for future events and make sure that their events will be equipped to
handle this event type.
In 2012 this study done by Fryatt et al. (2012) revealed a lack of sponsorship opportunities
for which the participants were asked to give some thoughts on how this could be done
online. Many of the respondents did not have any experience on this as they had not or-
ganized or attended that many virtual events, some ideas came as sponsored speaker or
sessions as well as different kind of forms of branding, like banners etc.
Sponsorship can be one of the most powerful ways for a company or brand to increase
their exposure to a target audience. Your precisely defined membership represents a pre-
qualified audience for a company wishing to reach your industry or sector. Putting your
conference sessions online; in other words, taking the presentations out of the confines of
the congress center and making the knowledge available after the event (sometimes for a
considerable period of time) enables the creation of sponsorship opportunities of signifi-
cantly greater value and duration than the packages to which sponsors have all become
accustomed. And it is always good to have something fresh and new to offer sponsors.
(Cook & Shepherdly 2016)
Engagement
As hybrid events can have many different forms, we can try to find examples from other
events such as sporting events broadcasts in the need to engage both in-person and re-
mote attendees, which was mentioned by Fryatt et al, as well as in the survey responses
discussed in section four (Figure 25). Engagement requires a different mindset and differ-
ent approach from the speakers, moderators and the event organizers. Preparing well in
advance is the key. (Kortleven 2020)
To make sure that the remote audience will feel engaged, few tips arose from participants
responding to the survey done by the researcher as well as the professionals interviewed
for this study. One was to have your camera on, having smaller groups discussing sub-
jects together, for example, Zoom’s breakout rooms were mentioned. Importance of hiring

38
a moderator or making sure that the speaker knows how to speak to an audience seemed
to be one of the most important factors for engagement as well. Smoothness and testing
of the technology in advance were a crucial part for the remote audience especially with
good sound and image quality. Interactive tools such as polls, quizzes, chat boxes, games
etc. were mentioned as well. Most importantly, to remember to include the remote at-
tendees into your event one way or another.
When asked to provide some examples of ways to engage attendees, the top 5 based on
the quotes in their responses were: polls, breakout rooms, active participation, camera
and gamification.
Possibilities and limitations on virtual/hybrid events based on professional in-
terviews
Figure 28: possibilities and limitations on virtual/hybrid events based on professional inter-
views
One pain for the stakeholders which Cook (2020) mentioned was that in the future the in-
securities around hygiene and sanitation will be playing a big part. Venues and organizers
will also need to understand that people will not necessarily want to come and attend
these events in person unless they can demonstrate that they have put enough safety
measures in place. Hygiene and security were not as part of the survey questions. Gains
as per discussion with Cook (2020) was that you are not asking anyone to travel or spend
more time in that event than they absolutely must. This in turn will be helping with the
•not asking anyone to travel or spend more
time at an event than absolutely have to
•helping with carbon footprint
•focused education
•ability to reach more people
•more scalability and can be replicated
•travel or other mobility limitations are being
taken away, anyone can attend
•enabling to share content, ideas and
experiences across multiple geographies and
time zones
•event can be repurposed and shared with
others
•require more initial set up (like planning two
events)
•technical difficulties

39
carbon footprint. He also sees focused education and knowledge to be gains for virtual
events.
Costs for the stakeholders were discussed with both Kortleven (2020) as well as Cook
(2020). Part of the survey participants had stated that the online content should be free, to
which both seemed to disagree due to the time and effort involved when planning the con-
tent, just as it would be for a live event. As events are experiences, the experience jour-
ney of the different stakeholders is important and for that reason people need to feel in-
cluded. Cook (2020) also advised that you need to be clear in what you are asking people
to do. For that reason, clear instructions as well as instructional design are very important
for a successful event as mentioned in Event Canvas (Frissen et al., 2016).
As discussed previously in this study, hybrid events give you an opportunity to add value
by being able to reach more people (face-to-face plus virtual) and for that reason you
need to be able to cater to both these audiences. Planning a hybrid event is almost like
planning two events (Fryatt et al., 2012). What might work for in-person audience, might
not be working for the remote audience. As discussed earlier in this study, virtual events
might require more initial setup but can be replicated and scaled much more efficiently
over time. Not all forms are good for virtual meetings and vice versa.
You can try to copy and paste your face-to-face meeting into a virtual
or hybrid event, but it does not work. (Cook 2020)
As we have seen through the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid and virtual events have been
able to take away limitations such as travel restrictions, country borders etc. And people
around the world have been able to attend conferences and events that they might not
have done in the past or had the opportunity to do so. This new situation has forced us to
use new technologies which in turn have enabled us to be able to share content, ideas
and experiences across multiple geographies and time zones.
Due to the nature of hybrid events the event content will not just be a one off event, but
can now be repurposed and shared with others, and no matter what kind of limitations
there would be for travel, you would be able to connect with these people.

40
6 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
This thesis explored hybrid events and how they can be made into an engaging experi-
ence for different audiences and stakeholders. Changes in the factors affecting choosing
of a conference location due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be reviewed and what that
will mean for the face-to-face and virtual meetings moving forward.
The main goal of this study was to produce beneficial information and recommendations
for event organizers, Messukeskus Helsinki and other conference venues on how to plan
engaging hybrid events. The main research question on how a hybrid event can be trans-
ferred into an engaging experience were discussed through the results of the survey as
well as interviews with professionals. Second research question was presented through
the steps of event canvas on how to include your different audiences and stakeholders
into the process.
Validity of the study
Although the research of the study was conducted with a small sample some interesting
insights can be made from the results. For example, contrary to previous opinions regard-
ing online events and how they would not be participated as easily as tangible events, the
pandemic changed the current consensus to pro-online. In addition, the survey confirmed
that the industry professionals will be looking into the future to organize more hybrid
events and the engagement on these events will be important to take into consideration
when thinking about different stakeholders.
Recommendations
This thesis confronted multiple obstacles on the way. The first and biggest of them being
COVID-19. However, the pandemic also raised an interesting question on how online or
hybrid events would evolve. As the pandemic progressed and people were stuck at their
homes due to restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, the world online revealed its pos-
sibilities. The event industry suffered enormously of the cancellations of mass events and
suddenly, event organizers had no more work. Companies started to move their proce-
dures online and the same happened to events. When there is no other option, more peo-
ple will find the alternative. Thus, this study shifted its focus from looking at conference lo-
cation choosing to examining the hybrid events and their future possibilities.

41
This study had a limited sample of responses. With more systematic and broad approach,
more valid conclusion can be made. However, this study will give ideas how to further re-
search on the topic. As there probably will be more research done on various topics re-
garding the time before and after COVID-19, in the field of hybrid events some interesting
directions could be such as how to help the tourism and travel industry when venues, ho-
tels, meeting spaces and flights are not booked. A program has already been launched at
Messukeskus that aims to ensure a safe start-up of events when Covid-19 restrictions are
dismantled. (Gordienco 2020)
The findings indicated that hybrid events will be the new norm in regards event organizing
moving forward and for those events feel engaging, there needs to be interaction between
all stakeholders. This paper will only be dealing with part of the study results that are relat-
ing for the subject at hand. Further research will need to be conducted to get a deeper un-
derstanding on how other industries could be helping in understanding different stakehold-
ers.
This study discovered that choosing the location for a conference and the factors affecting
them have changed from the time before the pandemic, and for that reason, it will be very
important for the venues and other event professionals to keep in mind the new limitations
in meeting, traveling etc. and fears that people might have.
Various sources (see e.g. Fryatt et al., 2012; GMID poll [appendix 1]) have suggested that
hybrid events will be the new norm. This has been confirmed with this study as well.
Event venues such as Messukeskus will need to take this into consideration moving for-
ward. Promoting a hybrid event does not necessarily mean less people will attending your
event, as explained in section four of this study.
For that reason it is advised to take the time to discuss your event with all different stake-
holders and as suggested in this study, tools such as event canvas can be helpful to take
different stakeholders and their pains and gains into consideration thus making sure that
everyone is involved, including attendees will feel like they have gotten
Sponsorship in these virtual spaces is a new area and should be researched further, we
do have great examples of these sponsored features on sporting event broadcasts that
can be looked further as an example as well. Respondents of this study were able to give
some ideas such as preferred speaker series, just like in offline events. Short videos of
sponsors before, during and after the meetings, visibility at the virtual studio, sponsored
keynote sessions or sponsored speakers et. Virtual and mailed in advance goodie bags
were also mentioned. Advertising in different places like during a break, website, as well
as marketing pre- and post-event.

42
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: GMID Goes Virtual poll results 14th April 2020
Event industry participants on the call on 14th April 2020 sent 46 794 votes in 8 polls
https://infographics.sli.do/?i=OTAwNjNkMzYtZjk2OS00N2ZiLWJlZmQtOT-
BjY2ZlYjZkYzhm
as follows:
Q1:
Q2:
Q3:

46
Q4:
Q5:
Q6:

47
Q7:

48
Appendix 3: LinkedIn post published 4th May 2020
It was posted on the 4th May 2020, asked to be responded by 7th May 2020, but the time
was extended to 10th May 2020 to be able to get few more additional responses.
Another post published the day after (5th May 2020)

49
Appendix 3: Facebook post published 5th May 2020
Facebook post -Meetings Mean Community Closed Facebook Group
Appendix 4: Post published 5th May 2020 on MyMPI Online Forum (members only)

50
Appendix 5: Survey

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59