In the age of phygital, it is common for events to be hybrid, where part of the audience is physically present in the room and part is remotely connected online. But it doesn’t end there.
The other day I went to an international in-person event to attend a few masterclasses, and at one point I realized I was experiencing a paradox, perhaps a troubling one.
We were 50 people physically seated in front of a stage where a moderator was standing talking to three remotely connected guests, but 95% of us (including me) were at the same time looking at a device.
There were those who were taking notes on their computers, those who were requesting a Linkedin connection to the speakers, those who were checking the app for the next event, or writing down questions for the Q&A. There was a lady taking pictures of the slide with her tablet, and someone who was actually working on something else.
Online and offline are no longer two separate things. We are slaves to multitasking and omnichanneling. Today we can do so many things at once, that doing one at a time seems reductive, almost a waste of time.
But the one thing that gave me the most pause was that of all the masterclasses that I attended that morning, the one that stuck with the audience the most was when they made us write a post-it note and attach it to a wall to gather our opinions. Interrupting that phygitally state, bringing us back into the here and now, creating a group and real engagement.
There is food for thought.
