I’ve been creating events for 25 years and been working with tech companies as an investor, advisor and mentor for over 10. I think I understand both events and the digital world.

Over the last few months, we’ve seen a flood of events businesses ‘pivot’ to digital. I understand why: they often have significant revenues committed to a pre-existing event and need to try and retain that income. But I don’t think it’s the right solution.

People go to conferences for content and connections. Bringing everyone together in one place at one point in time makes a lot of sense. But I don’t see the same rationale online.

Do people really want to spend 2 days sitting at their desk watching videos of speakers? Is the best way of connecting them with their peers an onslaught of random meetings?

And there’s the fact that there’s some x-factor we can’t rationally explain about meeting in person. I suspect it’s to do with body language, eye contact and trust – something it’s hard to create in short interactions online,

If you were a product manager in an events business (this is hypothetical as they generally don’t have them) and you spoke to your audience about what they wanted and the best way to deliver that to them, the chance that the product you’d end up with would be a 2-day virtual event has to be slim to zero.

That’s why we’re launching a subscription community for founders and exec teams in growth-stage businesses: we’ll publish regular content of different formats: short and punchy videos that are easy to consume (< 10 minutes) and longer deep-dive interviews and practical guides.

We’ll also enable people to build their network through regular connections with other members: either through forum discussions, on-line meetups and, in time, in-person events.

We all know from social media that it’s easier to spark a conversation with someone if you have been digitally connected with them for some time.

I believe that this will deliver the value you get from events, but in a way that is easier to consume, and actually builds better connections.

Come and find out more: https://community.velocitysq.com/

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