More than half of the meeting planners who responded to the most-recent COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard plan to launch entirely new digital events — not based on any previous face-to-face event — with goals ranging from reaching new audiences to marketing new products.

Project Management Institute has been hosting monthly, half-day events that bring the sense of being together in person to the screen. Organizers break down what that entails.

Hybrid events are here to stay, and although there is no one-size-fits-all solution to incorporating integrated models, some best practices can help event planners deliver more holistic, omni-channel engagement — and new revenue streams.

For the latest COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard survey, we asked planners and suppliers: ‘What best describes how you’re feeling right now?’ Most said they were doing their best to get by and were anxious about the future. Even so, responses to other questions demonstrate the industry’s collective resiliency and creativity.

When the industry was forced to go completely virtual this year the existing tax regulations around hybrid events stayed firmly in place. Attorney Paula Goedert will break down the current IRS regulation UBIT (unrelated business income tax) and how it applies to forced virtualization of exhibits and whether sponsorship rules offer a path forward to tax exempt revenue.

A lifelong learner, Berenice Lai decided to pursue Digital Event Strategist (DES) certification since COVID-19 forced her and her organization pivot to virtual in March 2020. We checked in with her to see how she’s applying key learnings from the DES course in producing successful virtual events for her organization.

In the PlanetIMEX virtual event session, “Digital Sponsorship Opportunities,” sponsorship consultant Meg Fasy showed how to capitalize on the opportunities the digital event environment offers supplier partners.

When the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions invited meeting professionals to an online event, they were hoping to provide a little bit of disconnection — in a good way.

A group of Georgia Tech students, and the event technology company they founded, have created a platform that allows for flexible, self-selected conversations in the digital space.

SHOT Show organizers are making plans to host the annual trade show in the new exhibit hall at Caesar’s Forum and the Sands Expo and Convention Center — providing the state lifts its current ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

Great news: The number of registrants to your upcoming online event has surpassed expectations. But, how many can you expect to actually attend? And how long will they stick with your program? Several members of the PCMA Catalyst Community shared their experiences.

Now that experience designers have discovered the power of digital to assemble large audiences, engineering personal connection is next, says Storycraft Lab’s Naomi Clare, who has experimented with two formats to accomplish that.