MICE Events: Meetings in a Post-Pandemic World
Predictions for Business Travel in 2022
Companies are looking forward to the future of travel in the next year. The pandemic has caused travel to permanently change, and when you travel to your next business event, you will notice these changes in both your domestic travel and international travel.
International business travel is expected to increase by as much as 34 percent in 2022, most likely to make up for some of the losses due to the pandemic.
Seasoned travelers are looking to take that long-coveted bucket list trip that they have been putting off.
Now that the coronavirus is losing momentum and restrictions are easing on corporate travel, business events are resuming around the world. The pandemic has forced many event planners to implement new procedures to help facilitate safety for MICE attendees. In this article we will tell you about the changes in event planning spurred by the pandemic, and what you can expect when you attend your next business event.
MICE Events Post-Pandemic
Risk Management Has Changed Forever
The pandemic has made risk management front and center with event planning. Risk assessments that predict, respond to, and recover from specific threats are now mandatory. Event professionals have to adapt and get specific training in this area. This includes COVID-19 restrictions and procedures that are adopted locally and globally. Planners also have to protect themselves against any financial liability if an event is impacted by COVID-19.
The Top Priorities are Safety and Security
Travelers and attendees had to use tracking and tracing during the height of the pandemic. Event professionals were challenged with the fact that in order to have their event, they needed to know the status of every attendee at all times. This tracking for safety and security will remain an event planner’s top priority going into the future of event travel.
Virtual and Hybrid Meetings Will Still Happen
At the height of the coronavirus lockdowns, virtual meetings on platforms like Zoom kept global commerce going. Everyone from event planners to travelers and business people had to switch to streaming, virtual reality, and other forms of collaboration online.
As a result, hybrid events have become popular, too. This gives planners the ability to still meet in person in smaller numbers while the majority of the attendees were online.
Corporate Event Planners Will Need To Adapt to the Unexpected
Event planners have to adapt to these multiple changes in a relatively short amount of time. An event agency will have to implement specific policies regarding virtual events and hybrid events specifically. When you have a clear policy and procedures set in place, it allows the team to know what they need to do when unexpected circumstances arise.
Effective Communication is Crucial
For any meeting or conference, effective communication is key. Event professionals should keep their attendees abreast of any changes to the schedule, or if there are any alerts or anything else they need to be aware of as soon as possible.
A Sustainable Future?
According to Danielle Ward, founder of events planning company re/ward Events, the MICE industry will not return to “normal.” Ward commented: “Nothing should go back to normal, normal wasn’t working.” The pandemic has forced event professionals in the MICE industry to rethink the sector and incorporate changes. Now the MICE sector will restart. This is a great opportunity to look into the future and ensure better and more sustainable events.
Traveler’s Q can assist you with your event travel management needs. Contact us today to get started moving forward into the future of corporate travel.
