The impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns and social distancing caused a complete rethink in the way companies manage their IR communications. Research by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) found that 75 percent of companies transitioned to virtual shareholder meetings in response to the pandemic.
The same research also discovered 93 percent of companies used them more than prior to the virus outbreak, while 88 percent had used virtual meetings to engage with investors during the past two years. This rapid pivot toward virtual engagement has presented both opportunities and challenges for many online event platforms.
According to the American Express meeting and events global forecast, it is predicted that only 48 percent of European events will return to an in-person format during 2022. Rapidly changing travel regulations and participants’ concerns around safety continue to create a level of uncertainty among many attendees. This requires event organizers to be flexible with their approach to event planning. One clear outcome has been the evolution of online event platforms that integrate more deeply within an organization’s marketing technology stack and deliver more measurable value to the wider marketing strategy.
As companies retool how they plan events, a hybrid approach is likely to be the norm – 61 percent of respondents to the LSE research said they expected this to be their main approach within two years.
A degree of flexibility should therefore be baked into every event plan, including key best practices that communications teams need to consider when executing events.
Due to Covid-19, there is still a considerable level of caution demonstrated by event attendees, particularly if an event also involves long-distance travel. For businesses to be able to pivot and ensure an event goes ahead in the face of any unforeseen circumstances, it is essential to offer a hybrid format that accommodates the preferences of attendees, including providing a virtual option.
Using high-quality virtual event platforms such as SparkLive not only mitigates the risk, but also protects the reputation of event organizers and sponsors by allowing them to deliver the event online.
But hybrid event formats and heavier reliance on technology to deliver the event experience are not without risk. The increased chance of technical issues and failures exists both on the event side and at the point of entry for virtual attendees, as participants’ tech set-up and level of comfort with online platforms is out of the control of organizers.
The key to mitigating these potential risks is to ensure you are working with a robust events platform that can carefully manage the surge of participants logging on at the same time, or the high volume of content being broadcast. Plus, ensuring that participants have a clear and user-friendly set of instructions on how to access the online event – as well as help for technical issues – is crucial.
Virtual events, by their very nature, increase inclusivity and accessibility by allowing attendees to participate in an environment that is optimal for their own circumstances. This removes the barriers that exist in physical locations and opens up any event to a global audience. Nevertheless, virtual events and the use of technology give rise to their own inclusivity and accessibility challenges.
It is necessary to have a clear understanding of the capacity of your audience to manage participation virtually, making it as easy as possible for people to access the event. This can start at the registration process by asking attendees about access requirements.
For a digital event, this includes having closed captions on presentations, using accessible design and colors as part of the online platform to display the content and make it usable by screen readers, building in breaks, mixing up formats for longer events and offering opportunities to participate in the more interactive elements via both speech and text. Post-event, providing access to event content, presentations and transcripts helps those who find it more challenging to closely follow a live event.
Running an online event provides the opportunity to capture data at every point of interaction – from identifying the source of potential attendees and converting them in the registration process right through to engagement on the event platform and post-event interaction with content.
This makes data-management strategies and policies an increasing priority for event managers and investor relations specialists to ensure GDPR compliance and security. Compliance further includes ensuring that third-party suppliers clearly understand their obligations. Gaining consent at each data-collection touch point and being transparent about how this data will be stored and used will give participants the confidence that their data will not be compromised.
The increasingly sophisticated level of data that can be captured through online events can be the driver of smart and strategic post-event communications to investors, delivering real value to the wider marketing strategy.
To maximize this opportunity, it is essential that any data is integrated within CRM and lead-generation platforms and that a post-event communications strategy is carefully planned as part of the event execution. Smart data capture and comms planning can significantly contribute to an event’s ROI performance, making data management and strategy a high priority.
As the LSE research found, larger companies tend to feel better equipped to meet the changing IR environment. The biggest area of concern, however, is whether companies will have the skills and tools to deliver digitally across a broad range of channels.
Building in these key best practices to any event plan is crucial in delivering a seamless, accessible event and ensuring company messages have maximum impact with their audience.
Regardless of whether the issuer is a start-up or a company on a major world index, SparkLive, the LSE’s webcasting platform, provides companies with the opportunity to increase their investor reach by live-streaming and hosting on-demand presentations and communications.
SparkLive combines leading technology and capital markets expertise to offer clients a white-glove service across their entire IR program, with functionality and in-built interactivity to drive increased event engagement.
SparkLive is the LSE’s fully integrated online events platform. Help enhance your interaction with the investor community with results, AGMs, capital markets days, ESG reports or equity/debt deal roadshows with SparkLive. Forge stronger relationships with the worldwide investment community, with real-time views of your participants’ engagement and by making your events available on demand. Benefit from the LSE’s powerful distribution network to enhance your retail and institutional investor reach.
