To pivot or not to pivot?

Peter Gray, an independent Motivation Consultant, presents a regular Business Events News feature on current issues in the Conference and Incentive industries.

IF ANY word in the Oxford or Macquarie Dictionaries has ever been overworked, it’s PIVOT. I don’t know who is responsible for first using it in the context of the pandemic, but I wish they hadn’t. Now, almost every email, every newsletter I receive uses the word in abundance; often in the wrong context. It’s become a ‘style word’ that is required use even when it’s not really relevant.

Webinars too have become ‘the thing to do’ and, no doubt, Zoom, Go To Meeting, Skift and the many similar products have been raking in dollars by the million as a result.

It’s not webinars I have a problem with - they’re a great way of communicating with a widely dispersed audience - but with many of the organisations that use them. If we are to believe the doomsayers in our midst, webinars or virtual meetings are the way of the future. I’ve already made my thoughts known on this in a previous column so I won’t repeat them here. However, substitute the word ‘event’ for webinar and it’s immediately apparent what the problem is. When has an event organiser sent out invitations to their or, more probably their client’s event twenty-four hours (or less) in advance? And yet this seems to be the norm for webinars during the last few months.

It is getting better, I must admit, but not by much. The assumption is that the audience has nothing better to do than wait for an invitation and then jump on the laptop or tablet immediately. Event managers - and most webinars seem to be organised by everyone but event managers - know that this isn’t the way to attract an audience. Time zones are also a problem. I wish the USA would realise that it’s not the centre of the universe and that Australia is fourteen hours ahead of their east coast.

And finally, content. So many webinars are about as entertaining as watching paint dry; teacher/pupil stuff. Would we really expect a live audience to sit through some of the unimaginative presentations that webinar participants deliver? Death-by-Power-Point is not the thing of the past I had hoped it to be.

There are event managers, AV companies and others who could raise the standard of webinar content - but if the people responsible don’t ask they won’t learn. If you want to know who I’d recommend, send me an email (peter.gray@motivatingpeople.net).