09/17/2021

Meeting Planners Stressed Due to Delta

They continue to struggle with hybrid

Ever since COVID-19 forced schools and businesses to shutter and limit gatherings, meeting planners have been challenged to come up with ways to meet virtually. With vaccination, the meetings outlook was brighter in June, but after the Delta variant caused an upswing in cases, it’s led to more uncertainty about holding events, according to a new survey of meeting planners from PCMA.

The group’s latest COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard found that meeting planners were thrown for a loop by Delta, sucking the optimism from June away. When polled about their feelings, planners—who could pick multiple options—said they were anxious about the future (47 percent), doing their best to get by (38 percent), and exhausted and burned out (31 percent). Even fewer felt hopeful (27 percent) or inspired and creative (7 percent).

“What we were seeing was just this sense that COVID cases were rising in different parts of the country and around the world, and it didn’t seem prudent to plan an in-person event based on what they were thinking back in June,” said Michelle Russell, editor-in-chief at PCMA. “They recognized that things were very different than in June when it looked like we had the coronavirus more under control.”

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