Measuring the impact of transitioning from physical to virtual events for Finnish companies & organizations

During the recent year, ever since the Covid-19 outbreak, many events and happenings are switching from physical to online version. Surely this pandemic changed lots companies and organizations across all industries in many ways. The purpose of this thesis is to measure the impact of transitioning from physical events to virtual events for Finnish companies & organizations. Despite the Covid-19 potentially being just a booster for transitioning from physical events towards more digital format in the event industry globally. The author conducted research regarding the impact on Finnish companies and organizations from the technological, sociological and economic factors. The thesis is conducted in a tradtional way, which including literature review as studying foundation on the event industry from the past, current and future. Qualitative research is the chosen thesis study method. Focused interviews with eight Finnish companies and organizations were conducted via face to face, online and phone call formats. The study found out that the impact of transitioning from phsical event to virtual event does indeed manifest itself. For more than half of the companies and organizations studied the economic situation was adversely affected. Some are forced to seek out new business revenue stream. People’s overall attitudes and feelings are conflicting between preferring virtual formats of events and happenings, yet they tend to miss being in physical contact with others for meetings. It is true that the usage of technology is increasing and becoming more in demand. In conclusion, the author believes that hybrid events are a major part of the future as they provide both alternatives of medium, which are physical and virtual. This is very much still dependent on the content and goal of the events, as well as other event characteristics. However, the online/virtual alternatives proved to be more sustainable for the organizations as opposed to their counterparts and resulted in greater outreach to audiences