How to survive the next crisis: An e-book by Visit Flanders on the future of meetings

Thinking, now more than ever. We can safely assert that 2020 was a disaster year, with Covid-19 depriving the industry of most of its activity. But since we live in a VUCA world, we have a responsibility to ask ourselves: Will our sector survive this crisis? But mostly: Can we arm ourselves against future crises? How to make conferences future-proof, and be even better tomorrow? The current troubled times require more deep and bold thinking. That is what Visit Flanders Convention Bureau’s engaging e-book brings. In this publication experts give their views on the future of the industry. It involves many international organizations (ICCA, ESAE, IAPCO…) as well as specialists such as Rob Davidson and Remi Deve (editor-in-chief of Boardroom). The result is a source of inspiration for associations and PCO’s all over the world. 

A spoiler… We are threatened but this report tells you why our sector WILL survive this crisis, how the government can help, why innovation is the most successful vaccine, which trends will dominate the sector, why physical conferences will continue to be important, and how to make them even better.  

The big issues, explained in depth. The e-book proves the resilience, inventiveness and intense collaboration of the conference industry in Flanders. It gives examples and solutions, from describing the CERM (Covid Event Risk Model) and how to make events safe and convince delegates to join, to analyzing the new revenue models for hybrid and virtual events, or explaining how governments can help. One example is the Flanders government which stepped in to help PCOs manage financial risk in uncertain times, making it possible to hold events. It also gives a message of unity of all players to make events happen; collaborations and cross-overs helped maintain events in the crisis, with a whole ecosystem (PCO’s, local providers, business community, local government) successfully working together in a flexible way.  

Download. All this, combined with 5 key trends for the future explained by some of the industry’s leading thinkers, makes it a must-read for everyone in the sector which shapes a bright future for the most beautiful profession in the world: bringing people together to exchange knowledge by organizing conferences. You can download it here.  

These are busy times for Visit Flanders, who received the ICCA Marketing Award for their strategy during the Covid crisis, which included the creation of effective tools as well as a strong collaboration with their members to create a framework in which events could take place safely and a long-term strategy for to convert the destination into a reference for event planners.