The pandemic has led to cancellation of conferences, silenced many performing and touring musicians and turned popular venues into abandoned places.

Most parts of the Creative Industries community were less than prepared - or willing - to move their business routines into the digital realm. While being literally forced to adapt - in this case mostly due to the shutdown of our „traditional avenues” to connect - is less than ideal to truly further and successfully implement innovation, maybe - for many - it has opened doors and opportunities that they didn’t know existed or could apply to their business.

Virtual events and online conferences have proven invaluable, and for many businesses allowed them to seize the opportunity of the lockdown rulings but as we return to some level of normality, new event formats, which combine the in-person and virtual experience, might become a very beneficial solution, making sure that all audiences are catered for.

This two-part interactive session - hosted by MusicTech Germany - exchanged ideas on how to move forward and co-create how we will connect and collaborate in the future. It highlighted some approaches on how to go hybrid with live events, conferences, or festivals. During the first part of the session, two best-practice examples of hybrid events were explored in short lightning talks by Philipp Grefer, founder and CEO of WISE - The Future Festival & Think Tank and Oskar Strajn, booker at ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag), Europe’s largest live music industry event.

Following the lightning talks, participants were invited to join the speakers in an "Ask-Me-Anything" session to exchange knowledge and discuss the use cases and examples presented by Hoeme, who are actively working on innovative solutions to change the festival industry for the better. Participants shared their own experiences and concepts of other use cases as well and openly discussed ideas for future hybrid live event formats.