Zoom fatigue is real, and planners who ignore this do so at their own peril.
A just-released study from Bizzabo, the Virtual Attendee Experience Report, analyzed survey responses from 700 attendees and data from 967 events over a 12-month period. What it found is that Zoom fatigue—as the exhaustion from virtual meetings has become known—was pervasive among respondents and many of the experiences were far from positive.
Here are a few highlights from the findings:
• Attendees skip most of the event sessions, in all event types (most attendees go to 20% of the sessions)
• More attendees report failing to network online (20% increase in failing to network as expected)
• Attendees struggle to ignite spontaneous conversations in online events (13% decrease in initiating natural conversation)
• Attendees reported having less fun on online events (26% more attendees stated last event was not fun)
• Attendees mostly remember the social aspects of events they attend.
• People are attending more online events than what they used to attend in-person (34% increase in attending 10+ events yearly online)
The survey led Bizzabo to develop attendee personas that illustrate the way different types of attendees experience virtual events, in the hope that planners can avoid Zoom fatigue and adjust their strategies for better outcomes. The most popular persona was the “Solo Learner,” who makes up the largest segment (32%) of online event attendee and registers for multiple free or inexpensive events every week (sometimes up to two events per day) but doesn’t always show up. He or she is very focused on learning and likes virtual events because he could never afford to attend in-person.
You can download the full report here.
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