For the second time, Lviv hosted an educational workshop for event industry  experts – Conventa Trend Bar 2021. This time online. Lviv Convention Bureau shared  experience how to adapt conference events to new reality.

The director of the bureau Andriy Pavliv spoke about:

  • implementation of the Conference Industry Support Package for national and international conferences, which in 2021 will receive additional funding totaling 1 million UAH;
  • offline studio opportunities for online and hybrid events;
  • partial resumption of live events in Lviv;
  • protocols for holding safe conference events;
  • ways of communication with the local community;
  • reorientation to the national market;
  • launch of an updated site with a database of conference locations and city services.

Denis Lvivsky, Commercial Director of Arena Lviv, spoke about the Event Industry Forum. In 2021, the number of live event participants has halved. Many participants watched the forum’s discussions online. Denis mentioned that 2020 was the worst year for inventors. Companies lost their employees, reorganized, and revenues fell by 80%. Despite all the difficulties, the event organizers are still ready to work. They understand that everyone is tired of ZOOM-faces and ready to participate in events. Now the focus is on how to make them as safe as possible.

The initiator of Conventa Trend Bar Gorazd Cad in his webinar  «Marketing strategies to overcome the coronavirus crisis» spoke about:

  • examples of organizing events in 2020 by European agencies;
  • marketing cases, how to stay in the field of view of customers and the information sphere;
  • high-tech virtual event studios using 5G, live streaming, holograms, virtual reality and 3D presentations;
  • online event monetization tools. For example, site partnerships, online gamification, chat bots, branding on social media, sponsorship surveys, virtual gives, online stores, video advertising.

Gorazd conducted a survey among his colleagues about the most effective sales models. 40% believe that personal contacts sell best. Due to the coronavirus crisis, social networks came in second. The leader is Linkedin.

After the presentations, the workshop participants shared their thoughts on the development of upcoming events. They are set to return to the usual rhythm. Gorazd Cad plans to hold a hybrid format for the autumn Conventa Trade Show, Denis Rynsky hopes to resume the season in the summer, and representatives of the company from Dubai announce new exhibitions and conferences this spring.