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Attendance at business conferences has become increasingly sparse over the last decade, due primarily to the changing economics of conference attendance. After all, conference attendance includes significant costs – whether they represent tangible or opportunity costs. And as for the benefits of conference attendance, they are diminishing as virtual conferences and webcasts have become increasingly viable substitutes. Moreover, even in-person networking, once a prime reason to attend business or industry conferences, has become more democratized with the rise of social networks (e.g., LinkedIn). All this to say, the nascent outbreak of COVID-19 might prove too significant a hurdle for many of the smaller, less profitable in-person conferences.
Many of the largest conferences occurring into the early summer have already opted to postpone or cancel their events in order to forestall further outbreak – with a number of the cancelled conferences planning to repurpose conference sessions in order to host the conference virtually. This disruption represents a fascinating opportunity for the business conference industry and virtual attendees to pilot the next frontier of conferences. For both conference hosts and attendees, virtual conferences simplify event economics. Where in-person conferences are encumbered with steep fixed costs, virtual conferences have significantly stronger margins. As it pertains to attendees the value proposition of virtual conferences is similarly strong; they don’t have to travel to the conference and their schedules are relatively preserved.
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