How and When the Event & Meeting Industry will recover without a clear plan? 

Will we go back to normal or will we discover a new normal?

“How and When” are just a few of the most pressing questions every event professional is anxious to know. In this article, we analyse all the key points that will make the ideal situation for meetings to be back.

Even in the absence of clear answers, how we adapt to change is the first main solution to this situation.

The World Health Organisation published new guidelines on the 29th of May, which clearly state that mass gatherings are still a cause of the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, they also recognise the importance of our event industry in politics, culture, society, and economy.

From WHO’s new guidelines it is also clear that outdoors events will have priority as considered safer.

So for the meeting and event industry to be back on track, as we mentioned in other blog articles and videos, is that the future of events will be hybrid, which means partially live and partially virtual. Especially for international gatherings, it is likely the new scenario will be local face-to-face meetings combined with a big hybrid event.

Bigger venues should invest in technology and smaller locations should differentiate on the exclusivity and privacy they can provide.

To activate so many changes we should be ready to change many aspects of our businesses, including operational systems, decisional processes and investments.

In a rush? Check our video summary of this post:

How and When meetings can be back? By adopting these 3 key skills:

To get ready for all these changes, we think the best skills to develop during our industry downtime are the following:

• adaptability to the new situation, accepting things won’t be back to how they used to be, and this is not necessarily a bad thing as every industry naturally evolves with time, although this happened suddenly
• empathy with clients and your staff. We are all in this together, let’s help each other by understanding others and how everyone goes through challenges in a different way
• being open to new opportunities, as all these changes brought to us a new way of working

How Hospitality Plays a Very Important Role in the Event Industry:

We all know how hotels and restaurants are fundamental to meetings, therefore it’s important to have a look at what strategies they are adopting to stay informed.

For example, The Hilton Hotel Chain will set a “welcome back” program for their staff to train them on the new guidelines in place, and they will offer a “travel and go” breakfast in addition to room service, in addition to distancing signage.

When will people feel safe to travel to Events?

Many countries like the US and Canada among others are placing tax incentives for business that choose to stay in their country. This surely doesn’t help international meetings. So another industry that plays a vital role for gatherings and exhibitions in the Tourism Industry, which can create packages to attract more people to the meeting location and make them feel safer to travel for either business or leisure. Surely, that’s not all up to the Tourism Industry or the Hospitality Industry as mentioned above. We all have to work as a team, hoping governments will take the best decisions for Meetings to be back.

IN CONCLUSION

If all these aspects will be put in place, we believe the event industry will be back on track

It surely won’t be easy but teamwork and perseverance are what makes event professionals legendary and with a good dose of resilience we will come out of it stronger than before.

If you found this article useful or if you know anyone that may benefit from it, please share it with them. Remember, we are all in this together. Take care.