THE RISE OF VIRTUAL EVENTS: A REALITY OR A FAD?

Abstract

Virtual events have been speculated as an upcoming trend in the event industry for the past decade. However, actual implementation has not been as widespread as the speculations, especially in the Asian region. This paper aims to investigate if virtual events are a reality or simply an optimistic assumption for the progression of events. Four main hypotheses guide the research to find out the level of awareness of virtual events among the public, the possibility that certain demographic groups are more receptive towards virtual events, the possibility of a hybrid event as a better alternative to a solely physical event or a solely virtual event and the plausibility that virtual events will take off in the next five years given the technology available. A two-pronged approach is taken to collect data, namely through interviews with event organizers and a survey amongst the public to investigate the two sides of the coin. It is found that these two sets of stakeholders shared the same notion that a fusion of both physical and virtual events in the form of a hybrid event is more desirable to bring the event experience to new heights compared to the total replacement of a physical event with its virtual counterpart. While the survey respondents were confident of virtual events trending in the next five years, the event organizers were more reserved in their predictions.