Over the last few decades, the entertainment industry witnessed several changes when it comes to technology and audience demands. Like movies, tourism, and games, the event space witnessed its fair share of progress as well. The technologies used to conduct events today are much more advanced than those from earlier times. The last two decades saw several marvelous developments happen across the world that both amused us and made our lives easier, just until the pandemic arrived.
With that said, professionals in these industries have been longing for a change of scope for several reasons. Although the pandemic was an unwelcome guest, many felt that it created a change they needed for a long time. In the event management space, companies got the opportunity to shift their focus toward virtual events. Today, a virtual event management company can offer you exceptional services.
What Sped Up This Digital Transformation
So what sped up this digital transformation? Why was the industry longing for a change? What we mentioned about the developments in the entertainment industry over the last two decades is true. But it’s also human nature to get used to something quickly. The developments more or less improved the way things were executed, rather than offering drastic changes in experiences. It was working well until 2015-16 when things started to get overly saturated.
Audiences had reached a point where they couldn’t recognize what’s special and what’s not. Out-of-the-box ideas weren’t that out of the box anymore. For instance, the way most people used to enjoy movies and television shows have almost completely changed in the last two decades.
People in countries such as India watched movies the way they did for decades until 2016. Before, many didn’t even know what Netflix was. Today, every household has at least one online streaming service subscription. While powerful companies with endless resources profited from this, other businesses, such as event management companies, struggled to push through with declining demand for in-person events.
As we mentioned earlier, post-2020 offered the opportunity to directly deploy service methods that would have been otherwise in the testing phase. According to a Forbes report, the demand for virtual events went up by 1000% during and after the pandemic.
How Design Thinking Helped
As we talk about the changes over the last two decades, one might wonder how it happened or who’s behind it. Of course, big brains work day and night on these advancements, but the main aspect that fuels these innovations is a specific approach known as design thinking.
While design thinking can be perceived as many things, it is mainly a problem-solving process that prioritizes consumer needs. To develop creative and innovative solutions, you need to be a good observer, empathize, and understand how people react to certain environments. As much as a business professional would see this as a tool to develop transforming business ideas, it basically lists the qualities of a good artist.
Like all other processes or techniques, design thinking has its own set of principles that guide you through whatever you’re trying to achieve using this approach. There are four major rules of design thinking. These four principles will allow you to channel your ideations with virtual events. They will provide you with a better understanding that will help you match the event’s purpose with audience expectations.
These principles were originally defined by Christoph Meinel, a German computer scientist affiliated with the Hasso Plattner Institute, and Larry Leifer, a renowned author and researcher based at Stanford University. Let’s dive in.
- Human Rule: This rule pertains to the obvious. An event is supposed to be designed with the audience in mind. It must cater to what they expect and want from the overall experience.
- Ambiguity Rule: No matter how well planned something is, unexpected circumstances are inevitable. Once you accept this fact, you can expand your knowledge to guide yourself to work in favor of the event, regardless of the ambiguity. It will help you see things in a different light.
- Redesign Rule The redesign rule promotes change and innovation, and the above two rules support it. A healthy balance between these principles will provide solutions for the same needs in a new and evolved form.
- Tangibility Rule: Now that you are ready with the idea and plan, its execution time. Great ideas are good but it won’t matter much if you can’t execute them. The ultimate goal of design thinking is to devise workable ideas.
Summary
As we discussed before, unforeseen circumstances in the last couple of years forced event companies to shift focus to virtual events. Fast transformative measures like these disrupt regular business operations and flow. The four rules of design thinking will help you plan creative, workable, and audience-centric solutions. This is especially important during major shifts in a specific industry, such as virtual events. While planning is key, a design-based approach will ensure the event’s purpose matches audience expectations.