Kegiatan MICE secara virtual terkesan murah dan mudah dikerjakan, padahal tidak sepenuhnya demikian. Organizer pun mesti putar otak pasang harga yang pas sembari mencari keseimbangan harga baru.
Selama pandemi kita tentu akrab dengan kegiatan MICE secara virtual. Cara ini menjadi opsi di tengah kebijakan pembatasan mobilitas dan kerumunan manusia sebagaimana identik dengan kegiatan MICE.
Di satu sisi, kegiatan MICE secara virtual menjadi solusi di masa pandemi, tapi di sisi lain, karena mengandalkan teknologi dan platform video telekonferensi, semua orang menjadi bisa menguasainya dan mengerjakaannya sendiri tanpa bantuan organizer kegiatan MICE profesional.
Padahal menurut pakar branding, Silih Agung Wasesa, core kegiatan MICE bukan soal penggunaan teknologi untuk mengadakan kegiatan MICE, kegiatan MICE secara virtual hanya menawarkan pengalaman berinteraksi dengan platform, sedangkan esensi kegiatan MICE interaksi antar manusia.
Dalam perbincangan Podcast di kanal YouTube MICE Indonesia, Silih mengatakan, “Karena digital seolah mudah, beberapa brand membuat digital event sendiri. Tapi karena core-nya mereka bukan disitu ya jadinya hanya menjalankan teknis saja. Biar bagaimanapun kan mereka bukan orang MICE. MICE tetap butuh hibrid, tinggal bagaimana percaya dirinya sponsor.â€
Silih berpendapat, saat ini kegiatan MICE, khususnya virtual, sedang mencari keseimbangan harga baru. Ia membandingkan, sebelum pandemi misalnya, harga seminar offline bisa mencapai Rp1 jutaan per hari, sementara di masa pandemi, seminar virtual harganya ada yang Rp70.000 sehari, kalaupun lebih mahal durasi seminarnya bisa berbulan-bulan.
“Memang sekarang sedang mencari keseimbangan harga, tapi nanti siapa yang bisa merekrut market paling banyak ya biasanya akan jadi penentu harga. Biasanya yang jadi pioneer bisa menjadi price setter, hanya saja sekarang belum ada,†jelasnya.
Kesan ‘murah’ pada kegiatan MICE virtual mau tidak mau berdampak pula pada nilai sponsorship. Menurut Founder Indonesia Outdoor Festival (Outfest), TJ Anggara, saat ini sponsor menilai sebuah event bukan lagi dari sisi awareness yang tercipta, tapi dari biaya produksi kegiatan virtual.
“Kalau kegiatan offline, angka sponsor bisa turun 10-20 persen, tapi saat online bahkan pernah ada sponsor minta turun harganya sampai 80 persen,†jelasnya.
Akhirnya, menurut Anggara, branding yang diperoleh dari kegiatan pameran tidak lagi dianggap. Ini karena event virtual belum ada standarnya dan masih mencari patokan harganya. Kalau kegiatan offline jelas angkanya, jumlah pengunjung, jumlah transaksi, dan lainnya. Sementara online, jumlah viewers masih dianggap belum ‘real’ oleh pihak sponsor.
“Soal biaya produksi yang kami sampaikan ke pihak sponsor sebenarnya dimengerti, tapi value dari event digital itu yang belum ketemu,†pungkas Anggara.
English
Finding the Equilibrium Price of Virtual MICE
Virtual MICE events may seem cheap and easy to organize, but the truth isn’t always like that. Organizers must rack their brains to set a good price while looking for a new equilibrium.
During the pandemic, we have become familiar with virtual MICE. This is the only option given the mobility and crowd restriction regulation despite the fact that MICE events are synonymous with these two aspects.
On one hand, virtual MICE events can serve as a solution during the pandemic. On the other hand, because of the use of technology and video conferencing platforms, many people can organize their own events without the help from professional MICE organizers.
However, according to a branding expert, Silih Agung Wasesa, the core of MICE events isn’t in technology use. Virtual MICE can only offer an interactive experience with the platform, but the essence of MICE lies in interaction with other human beings.
In our podcast on MICE Indonesia’s YouTube channel, Silih said that, “Because digital [events] seem easy, several brands choose to organize their own digital events. But since the core isn’t there, they’ve only been running the technicalities. After all, they’re not MICE people. MICE still requires hybrid [implementation], it’s just how confident the sponsors are.â€
Silih believes these days that MICE events, especially the virtual ones, are still looking for the new equilibrium price. He compares the pre-pandemic pricing that can reach up to Rp1 million per day with virtual events during the pandemic that can be as low as Rp70,000 per day. A higher price is available for longer seminars that can last months.
“Indeed, [they are] now still looking for the equilibrium price, but whoever can recruit the most market gets to determine the price. Usually, the pioneer becomes the price setter, but currently there is none,†he explained.
Kesan ‘murah’ pada kegiatan MICE virtual mau tidak mau berdampak pula pada nilai sponsorship. Menurut Founder Indonesia Outdoor Festival (Outfest), TJ Anggara, saat ini sponsor menilai sebuah event bukan lagi dari sisi awareness yang tercipta, tapi dari biaya produksi kegiatan virtual.
The sense of ‘cheapness’ of virtual MICE events will inescapably affect the sponsorship value. According to the Founder of Indonesia Outdoor Festival (Outfest), TJ Anggara, sponsors no longer judge the value of an event from the extent of awareness it creates. They have started to pay attention to the production cost of virtual events.
“In offline events, sponsorship pricing could decrease up to 10-20 per cent, but during online events, many sponsors request a decrease up to 80 per cent,†he said.
As a result, according to Anggara, they no longer consider the branding created by the event. This is because virtual events haven’t found their standards and are still benchmarking their price. Offline events have got their standards for the price, number of visitors and transactions, etc. But for online events, the number of viewers is still not ‘real’ to sponsors.
“The production costs that we mention to sponsors are actually still understandable, but the value of digital events is yet to be found,†concluded Anggara.
