Although some business economic sectors have been allowed to reopen in Red Zone states under Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO), physical face-to-face business events are still not allowed.
As such, venue operators have been making preparations for the return of events, albeit in hybrid and virtual formats.
For instance, Setia City Convention Centre in Setia Alam, Selangor, has partnered with DOREMi Services & Rental to develop virtual and hybrid studios which it rolled out at the end of January.
The difference between the two is the hybrid studio allows for both onsite and online participation, whereas the virtual studio is more geared towards online business presentations and training.
Similarly over in Penang, head of convention centres of Setia City and Setia SPICE, Francis Teo, shared that its hybrid and virtual studios will be rolled out within this first quarter.
Teo added that as they don’t know when the ban on face-to-face meetings will be lifted, the studio recordings and virtual events that will take place will be a “new revenue stream” for them.
Both Setia convention centres have also recently boosted their bandwidth capability to 10GB to better serve hybrid and virtual events.
Meanwhile in the capital, the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s general manager, Alan Pryor, shared that the Centre now offers brand new studios fitted with production-grade audio and visual equipment combined with 400 Mbps of Internet bandwidth, two separate power supplies, a dedicated network, and a qualified team of technical experts to help out.
Pryor noted that event organisers are now looking for venues that have pivoted to virtual and hybrid, and can offer expertise and guidance on the execution of such events.
He added that hybrid and virtual events will continue gaining traction this year and “remain a primary choice”, due to the uncertainties related to surrounding regional and international travel and the reopening of borders.
