In the past few years, teams have had to rethink events of all types—conferences, award shows, concerts—to virtual or hybrid formats, innovating to keep attendees and audiences safe as well as engaged. We discuss this with:

Nadja Burkhardt, supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, European Broadcasting Union, Geneva: She discusses how her team handles constant change to plan and execute the annual Eurovision Song Contest, how the event adapted during the pandemic, and how her team manages and collaborates with stakeholders across countries.

Akseli Aho, CEO, Junction, Helsinki: He discusses his team’s experience hosting in-person, virtual and hybrid hackathons, how they decide which format works best for each event, and the challenge of encouraging people to return to in-person events.

Key themes

[02:24] New venues, new teams, new cultures: Managing constant change on the Eurovision Song Contest

[03:38] Adapting the Eurovision Song Contest during COVID-19

[06:19] Collaborating with partners and managing stakeholders across countries 

[11:04] Junction’s lessons learned from pivoting to virtual, hybrid hackathons

[15:53] How Junction chooses between different event formats

[19:34] The challenge ahead: Encouraging people to attend in-person events again