I recently read an article on Zeit Online about the revitalization of city centers. Due to Corona, the trend of ordering online has accelerated rapidly, as each of us can probably confirm from our own experience. For city centers, this is, of course, a danger. The desolation of our so-called pedestrian zones is progressing rapidly. But innovative municipal politicians, entrepreneurs, urban developers, and other creative minds have long been working on new concepts for revitalizing the inner-city strolling, meeting, and, of course, shopping culture.
Just consider for yourself what would need to happen for you to want to visit the city center for shopping on a free afternoon or Saturday in the post-Corona era. Monstrous shopping centers or the same old chain stores probably won’t lure you off the sofa. So, the entrepreneurs of the new shopping culture are working on emotionalizing shopping and everything associated with it. It’s about exploring, trying out, inspiring, entertaining, emotionalizing. A shopping and experience culture that creates closeness and encounters, and provides us with a sensory experience that we fondly remember days later and look forward to our next visit.
Seminar rooms in the post-Corona era
Why am I telling you this? After all, I am not involved in retail, but in the world of learning. This article made me think about in-person training. Most hotels are currently closed. Seminar rooms or entire convention centers are in a similarly sad twilight state as the pedestrian zones in many small German towns. The question is: Will they look the same as before in the post-Corona era? I don’t think so. And our in-person events should also look different.
We have long pursued a concept where learning spaces are designed to encourage interaction, creation, experimentation, discovery, and thus learning. Seminar rooms say a lot about the learning culture, and the learning culture in a company is ultimately a reflection of the corporate culture. In-person seminars in uninspired rooms, where an expert stands at the front and presents content that is then, at best, discussed, are no longer truly needed. This was already the case before Corona. But since we have all learned that such events also work well as live online seminars or training sessions, these events in the post-Corona era have a similar charm to buying standard products in a generic shop with moderately friendly staff in an uninspiring, car-optimized city center.
Just like retailers, all stakeholders in the field of in-person seminars, training, and events need new concepts.
Eventification will advance.
My thesis: Eventification will advance. For us, this is not a threat, but a welcome development that I have long advocated. And for me, of course, this means: We too must now step up our game and develop new event concepts. We must provide reasons why companies and our participants should undertake the extra effort that an in-person event entails.
In the first phase after Corona, everyone will probably be glad that in-person interaction is finally possible again. But after some time, it will no longer be enough to simply say: How nice that we can finally see and meet each other again. Then, in-person presence must truly deliver added value.
Let’s co-create
I invite you to discuss and develop ideas on how in-person presence should be re-experienced and redesigned post-Corona. This discussion should involve everyone who is engaged in planning and conducting in-person events, including, of course, hotels, event experts, designers, etc. Perhaps some hotels will make their empty seminar rooms available as pop-up stores for post-Corona learning events. Anyone who wishes to participate, has ideas, good links, articles, etc., can let loose in the comments.
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