07/28/2021

Leading Pandemic-inspired Meeting Trends to Maintain

Many positives came out of COVID protocols

As a sector defined by mass gatherings, handshakes and cross-country travel, the meetings industry was one of the first to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the last to rebound. After spending the last year and a half in front of our screens—business on the top, party on the bottom—the shutdown validated that what we do is important and truly matters in the lives of our attendees.

Now that we’re rebuilding our wardrobes and clamoring to return to in-person events, there are a few new, important practices that we should consider keeping around.

Don’t overlook the power of hybrid meetings. Though virtual meetings aren’t for everyone, the option to connect digitally makes meetings more accessible to a wider audience. Whether attendees who choose virtual over in-person options are those who can’t get time off from work, don’t have the budget to travel or are simply more introverted and prefer the education to the networking, these are all people who were being left out in the past. Meeting professionals are now skilled in developing virtual events, so consider keeping a hybrid option to grow registration and engagement. Look for destinations with Digital Event Specialists (DES) or convention centers with in-house AV partners to make this process easy.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.