Note: I originally intended to call this post “Be Exclusive.” That brought up a number of issues for me about how this post might be interpreted. While the world needs to be more inclusive, that is actually the point of this post. By opening up the aperture on location and invitation beyond georgraphy and time, even exclusive events can be more inclusive. Confused? Read on.
Political milestones aside, our weeks and months have blended in a blur of Zoom calls, events and webinars, solo fitness efforts, Netflix binging and infinite social media feed scrolling and trolling. What is missing from those experiences is the feeling that one is doing something truly special or unique.
What is missing? FOMO. Because everything is available meaning that nothing feels special.
When I was living in Boston and my radar was tuned to events in New York City — concerts, parties, dinners, conferences — they required a financial commitment to attend, which made curating my trips an important exercise. I missed a lot, especially the serendipity of bumping into friends in unexpected places. Now that we can meet with friends, colleagues and others without a geographical constraint, I have noticed that I sign up for a lot of things that I don’t wind up attending. Why? Its not exclusive or special. There is no serendipity. The replay is as valuable as the live stream.
Be Unique.
Exclusivity comes in many forms: the location of an event, an invitation to attend, the price of a ticket, word of mouth. It also comes from knowing that you might miss out if you don’t visit/log on/sit through one of these events. Here are some examples of how to bring special events to more people:
Going to the show. The movie business had been based on releases and exclusive showings “in select theaters only” until we became locked down in front of half a dozen streaming services. Film Festivals like this one offered limited-time streaming tickets to ensure a special event and its film-making creators would not lose a year of momentum. And premieres like “The Forty-Year-Old Version” and season 2 of “The Mandalorian” moved from exclusive celebrity sightings to virtual red carpets, drive-in launches or shared-viewing parties. For those who never thought they could watch the red carpet, gawking has gone remote and open to everyone.
Video games teach media how to build community. Hunter Walk, an oft-quoted VC, said of lessons learned from the high-growth video game industry: "I’m of the belief that ‘Come for the Content, Stay for the Community’ will be one of the dominating themes for media this decade." This will come in the form of subscription tiers based on access to events, community spaces and chats. The ability to join an exclusive group in more welcoming ways (but still with a cost of entry) creates a valuable and vibrant community, but in a way that might have been physically inaccessible in the past. The experience far surpasses sitting through a streamed chat with a talking head when you can engage with other attendees throughout the event. Kudos to “minor media” platforms like The Information and The Profile for making highly interactive virtual events a new norm.
Pay-per-view experiences that rival stadium/arena events. Billie Eilish, one of Spotify’s most-streamed female artists of 2020 did a pay-per-view livestream, Where Do We Go? which grossed as much as $15 million in revenue. More importantly, it included interactive rooms for virtual concertgoers such as an exclusive swag shop and a voting room hosted by non-partisan organization HeadCount where she encouraged fans to hit the polls. She’s got her own documentary coming to Apple TV+ and theaters in February 2021. She’s taking the pandemic on to show that being 2-D may be a form-factor, but it is not a limiting factor.
Be Boy George (and others).
A few years ago, we were tempted to go to a one-time-only concert at Royal Albert Hall in London. The extravagance of flying across the pond, staying in a hotel, and paying for exorbitant tickets was actually a consideration. When calmer wallets prevailed we didn’t go, and sadly the artist died soon after.
We did, however, see Boy George twice in 2018 (the one with Culture Club was way better than the joint tour with Cyndi Lauper). He’s on tour with the band again in 2020, and while he can’t be live and in-person, he is selling tickets to his live performance, streamed from Royal Albert Hall just before Thanksgiving.
These “live but not in-person” events extend access to anyone with internet access and the ticket money, without the cost of travel, drinks, and food. I’ll miss those who view the show through the lens of their phones blocking my view, but also the excitement of the crowd and the intensity of the speakers. Still, it’s a special event. Live Nation and others are promoting events like these across genres, albeit with a wide range of hits and misses for the audience and the artist.
Be intimate.
The key to success in creating or attending these special events — now and when we get back to in-person — is that they need to feel more intimate and special, not just an opportunity to raise prices for the limited performance. What we are learning from music to marketing events is that:
Connecting people to each other is critical. More than ever, social extroverts are struggling with limited opportunities to interact with or meet new people. Breakout rooms, like those managed through Zoom, HouseParty or Icebreaker, offer ways to meet people 1:1 or 1: few. The serendipity of a conversation with someone you sort of know, or don’t know at all, is the antidote for a lot of mental health struggles brought on by staying at home. I sat in an all day conference recently, and started looking forward to the twice-daily “Serendipity Sessions” where small groups of attendees connected socially on the screen to discuss the event or whatever was on their minds.
Being more open than usual. Artists and speakers are not used to the silence of one-way delivery. The energy of the audience is what gets performers and professionals to deliver an engaging act. On both sides of the screen, it’s more important than ever to ask questions, send small bits of feedback, and find ways to make the event a two-way street than an in-person event would ever deliver.
Make memories. Sure, you didn’t post pics of the stage, the traffic or the cutie in the row in front of you. But you can still make the moment Instagram-able with screen shots and selfies. While it may not seem like it now, in a few years you’ll want to have “remember 2020” reposts of things you saw and did during some unusal times. And that’s what will make it special.