How our industry could change post-Covid

Cancellation conditions and flexibility. There is no consensus here: some agencies think that providers will tighten cancellation conditions with the idea of ​​avoiding any risk at this moment of fragility. Others, that flexibility will be so important in the decisions of companies, in a VUCA / agile world that suppliers will have to follow and be flexible, allowing changes in date or size of events until a date closer to the event. Our bet? More flexibility, especially in the short term, because suppliers will have to adapt to a reduced demand and flexibility will become an important criterion of choice.

Financial strength as the key. The crisis will leave many companies financially fragile. In this context, paying a deposit will become a difficult decision if it involves advancing money to a structure at risk of bankruptcy. This concern that had disappeared in times of good economy could return through the front door. Any company in this sector has to take this factor into account; it is not enough to say “don’t worry”, it will be necessary to reassure about the financial solidity of your company in a tangible way, offering solutions that ensure that there is no financial risk. We will prepare another article for you on this topic … but a little empathy will make you understand that you have to face this problem.

Last minute (yes, yes, it can get even worse!). This will not be a big problem, in a market which is more agile and adaptable than a chameleon. But in a world that is very VUCA and that will necessarily think in a somewhat tactical way, prepare yourself for even more minute decisions than before this madness, and events to be organized with record times.

Stay out of the price war? This is not a prediction that you make, but rather a purpose, not to go back to drops in prices, a phenomenon of almost inevitable adaptation to a situation of low activity but which is still costly in terms of quality, capacity for innovation, investment. We hear many saying no to drops in prices like an alcoholic says they will not drink again… A noble wish, but that requires a willpower and finantial resources that not all players have. But there may be a positive scenario, it is the possibility that the return of the events will be done relatively quickly if companies have many delayed events to organize and therefore there is no supply-demand imbalance caused by this dreaded price drop. .

Pretty quick recovery, with companies hungry for face-to-face communication? Some see a fast rebound with venues overbooked after summer, while others remain more cautious. It is true that the last minute will have positive aspects, for example that as soon as possible (at the regulatory and psychological levels), companies will organize events quickly. Because gathering your people or your clients after these months of confinement will taste even better. Of course, if there are doubts or psychological brakes, few companies will dare to seem careless with their people or guests. Don’t forget that companies hate the risk of being seen as careless or appearing in newspapers in a contagion-related article.

Events with sanitary measures. Spaces, hotels, catering, do not know what the rules will be tomorrow, but many begin to think of events with less capacity, fewer buffets, distances and other sanitary measures. And many are investigating in this regard, something that seems difficult without any clear health standard yet defined. Many of you see this type of event in the future, so perhaps we will have to adapt formats, sizes, activities to a new reality that we do not yet know today?

With distance, really? On this concept of event with distance, think about it (this is our opinion): an event in which you are afraid of other attendees, you cannot touch them, you have to eat more than a meter from the other and leave two seats between you and your neighbor . It that an event? Would you organize it? As an attendee, would you go? Doesn’t it stop having any impact of motivation, community building, dialogue, closeness…, in addition to the fact that applying rules in an environment as free, fluid, mobile as an event will be very complicated. It seems to me that this format would be little more than a luxury webinar. I want events to come back as much as you do, and I know they will. But come back well, please!

Online as an extension of larger events, and replacement of small meetings. No one sees a large substitution of physical events, but many want to put more digital dimension in their events. An extension of the content by videos recorded during the event and broadcast afterwards, the possibility of participating remotely in a physical event, etc. Here we can effectively have more broadcast of events, more webinars … but 1. The physical event will return as strong as ever (or more). 2. The hybrid event, which we have been discussing for a decade as a logical development, is still unclear: the one who is not physically in the event is emotionally out as well, is “out of the party” and rarely has a strong role beyond just watching the talks. No matter how many chat questions you can ask, the one at a distance is little more than a spectator. We would have to stop talking about hybrid event and talk about event with online broadcast. Of course, you all see a certain cannibalization of the meeting of 5 people if it can be done online, and that will affect business travel more than events.

Small and local event first. Most of you think that small events will come back before big ones. And it seems likely. I don’t know if it’s completely logical (I don’t know if an event of 1,000 is more dangerous than 10 of 100 people), but it is what many of you foresee. Anyway, it was a trend in our industry already: small is beautiful and many brands invite 30 clients for quality moments and dialogue, even though the large event, the wow! moment of a brand or the gathering of a whole industry, was also very strong and will remain so.

Value-oriented events. We will be in an economic crisis, we will be coming out of a pandemic with the trauma it entails, and it seems difficult to think that what will be more successful then will be events with lots of decoration, wow! Technical elements, luxury. Rather, we can expect that the current trend of events with values ​​(have you read our market study?), of very human events oriented to dialogue, to authentic experiences, perhaps with a CSR component, will continue. Although, as always, any trend does not mean that events are made according to the particular objectives of each brand rather than according to any trend.

But don’t forget: no one knows what will happen exactly, and your greatest strength will be adaptability!