Will More Conventions Move Completely Online Even After Coronavirus Pandemic?

With individual movement restricted amid social distancing programs aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, fans around the world have found some of their favorite conventions cancelled or delayed. Some conventions have instead opted to move content online, while other groups have launched entirely new online convention experiences unrelated to a specific existing show. Opportunities to buy exclusive merchandise are accompanied by virtual panels as well as, in some cases, 1-on-1 meet and greets with star creators via Skype or Zoom. It is not quite the same personal experience that going to a convention and standing in the room is, but it has benefits.

The first, and most obvious, is that you can do a virtual convention during a pandemic without the risk of contracting an extremely contagious respiratory virus. That isn’t all, though, and some of the other benefits might give the virtual conventions a life beyond the pandemic.

First, it allows guests to “attend” from home. That means fewer scheduling conflicts, and a greater flexibility to add people at the last minute, or to have genuine surprise guests that nobody happens to notice conveniently at the airport taxi stand.

Attending from home also as a perk of allowing the guest to choose how they want to be seen — in their home office, in the yard, in the living room, whatever. it personalizes the meet and greet experience a little more and both puts the celebrity at ease but also gives fans an insight into their lives.

A virtual convention also has the benefit of making it possible for exhibitors who live in smaller markets to be competitive with bigger conventions, since they can draw crowds from outside of their home city. It also democratizes the process a little because people with less money can focus that money and energy on attracting the best guests and organizing the best events, rather than on hotel rooms and travel.

While certain items — convention exclusives and 1-on-1 experiences come to mind — will still be pretty limited and likely pretty expensive, the idea of a virtual convention also opens up things like panels to a much broader potential audience, allowing fans to feel more involved even if they can’t afford to drop a couple of hundred bucks minimum on a show.

Virtual experiences like this have been available, to one extent or another, for a while. Whether it’s online convention storefronts, services like Cameo, or shows that put their panels online, it has been possible to, to one extent or another, participate in a kind of remote convention for a long time. Assembling all of those pieces to make something that’s special enough that people would pay for it, though, is a different animal, and one of the things that makes it possible that fans will be more willing to engage with it, and pay for it, in the years to come than they have been up to now is simple: the novel coronavirus pandemic has changed the way a lot of people live for a while now. There will be some hangover after this, and it’s very possible that a willingness, or even a desire, to get more entertainment at home will be a very real possibility.