What is Your COI These Next 4 Months?
September 7, 2020
I’ve been asking dozens of meeting planners and executives these past few weeks what their plans are for their 2021 events. The one answer I hear most often is, “if only I had a crystal ball I could tell you." What they're saying is, "I don't have enough information and I don't really know."
And while none of us can predict the future, we can plan for the most likely scenarios. Doing nothing, waiting for more information or expecting someone else to decide are all bad options.
We all have about 4 months until January 2021 and the COI gets higher every single day.
What is COI?
COI is the cost of inaction. And unlike ROI which can be calculated by knowing your investment and your return, your COI is often hidden.
The cost of inaction in waiting to plan for your 2021 annual event or trade show reveals itself in two important ways. First, your exhibitors and sponsors will make investments in other events whose organizers are willing to put a stake in the ground and define their plans. Even if these plans change, at least there is a direction that your partners can plan for.
The second cost of inaction is the diminished final product resulting from the delay in planning and designing. Building an event in 2021 that will be mostly virtual, perhaps with some in-person elements, requires much closer attention to experience design as the bar for virtual rises. The typical virtual event of 2020 will no longer hold you audience's attention.
Don’t let the COI over these next 4 months put you in a difficult and expensive position next year.
At 360 Live Media we have designed and executed dozens of virtual events and are planning for the new blended environment in 2021 right now.
We aren’t relying on a crystal ball. We believe the best way to predict the future is to design it.
Email us, we can help.
Don Neal
Founder & CEO
360 Live Media
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