As pressure mounts on the events industry, companies are desperate to keep their heads above water.

Job losses within the events industry are rife. My timeline is full of people on redundancy and some massive business names in the events world have gone into liquidation. It's a mess.

I am aware that at least some of what I say may be harsh, an uncomfortable truth perhaps.
The situation for the event's world is absolutely dire. No-one can possibly doubt this.

In previous articles I've pointed out there's a new order in town and people are going to have to adapt or die. It's now critical that people start to look at the bigger picture.

Virtual events are not easy.

I've mentioned before that they can't be just a case of boshing some cameras in front of a stage and presenting the 'show' as normal. This is NOT how you create an engaged audience.

As we near the Christmas this year we're going to see a lot of event suppliers throwing all sorts of 'virtual events' at people. Unfortunately, no matter how much you ramp up the social media posts and instagram videos, like most things in 2020, Christmas is cancelled. It's Not going to happen in a form that would be profitable for many.

Another honest, harsh truth coming up and this will upset a fair few people I expect...

Corporate entertainment acts are crap. (mostly)

They're crap when you're a guest watching them live at an event (but at least you're in a room full of drunk friends or colleagues) - but why would anyone want to see them in a virtual world?

Sticking a fire-eating-stilt-walking man dressed in silver Spandex and twirling glow in the dark hula hoops on a camera in front of a large LCD screen with graphics all over it and selling this in as an add on to your company Zoom meeting is just as bad as it was in 'real life'. It's, in all honesty garbage. What's the point? Slapping the company logo on the background?

Whoopee.

Why would you want to watch a borderline talentless and disillusioned function band singing covers on a live 'virtual' show, convinced that one day they will be playing at Madison Square Gardens?

Why would anyone want to watch a washed up act on their computer or smartphone?

In understandable desperation They're thinking about it all wrong. I get it that they're trying, but it's not going to work.

They need to think about how to engage the audience.

• How you can use the intimacy of the virtual event to get right inside people's homes?
• Why would they want to watch this half-baked corporate entertainment when they can just watch a video of something like Cirque du Soleil which is infinitely better?

I've seen requests from companies looking to get in cameras, training and so on so they can offer their 'acts' to a virtual audience. I get that times are desperate, but it's also time to innovate. Please don't set up some cameras and think this is all you need to do to bring your offering online.

It won't end well.

It's time for people to think differently.