Skeuomorph This!

I recently caught an article on LinkedIn about events going virtual which as a 3D visualization specialist got my professional dander up. It suggested that for the sake of form follows function virtual events should abandon skeuomorphisms (graphical user interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts in how they appear and/or how the user can interact with them). It supported this argument by stating that the average user should feel comfortable navigating a graphical interface for an event without being engaged by familiar event imagery such as convention center halls, exhibit structures and meeting room setups, and that these elements are expensive to create and overburden bandwidth resources. While this may be true, who is to say that a particular client might not choose to include these in their online program to make their participants feel more at home virtually and their sponsors feel like they are supporting an activity more connected to a traditional live event? Not to mention the possibility that such an online activity might be running concurrently to a downscaled live event counterpart! For years, many associations were perfectly content with events adopting the theme of the city in which they were located until some clever pundit came along and suggested this was not enough and that they should let their agencies dig deeper into their marketing bag of tricks to craft the perfect marketing concept. Hence the art form was elevated.

My point is that why should we limit ourselves? The talent is out there to support and the basic platforms already exist for beautiful graphical interfaces that can suit every level of aesthetic and conceptual demand. Many associations have paid a high price some extremely clever and engaging themes that go well beyond the four walls of a convention center into other worlds, and the technology mavens of VR and AR are just beginning to explore the possibilities of these at their clients’ delight, Dreamforce being a perfect example. True, we do not always need to replicate traditional event architecture online to engage participants, but when there is a need to bring activities back down to earth as a point of reference for performing tasks, what is wrong with emphasizing that link? Face-to-face engagement will not be going away just because the necessity to quarantine has set a precedent this year. The future of the live events industry will be rich with innovation for generations to come, and there is no doubt the look and feel of that will be very different from today, which is a good thing. Think about the evolution of the movie industry. When sound was first introduced in the late 1920’s, many films were still sporting title cards to describe the action, even though spoken dialogue had already been synchronized. For some reason the moguls thought that audiences still needed a narrative point of reference even though the actors were more than capable of conveying the story audibly, albeit with some level of distortion. A comparison to today’s Blu Ray discs and streaming content with all their interactive bells and whistles tells us how far our minds and technology can go over the span of time. For now, let's allow our live event 3D creatives to continue to earn a decent living!