The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) recently published findings from a study into organizations’ corporate meetings and events strategy as a result of the pandemic, and found that the number of hybrid meetings is set to double by the end of 2021.
The year 2020 will likely be remembered for virtual meetings among other things (masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing etc.), but into 2021 the trend moves toward hybrid meetings. Before the pandemic, approximately seven in 10 respondents (71 per cent) didn’t hold any hybrid meetings.
The survey also found that three in five (60 per cent) respondents expect their company will hold at least one hybrid meeting in 2021. Two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents are interested in holding more hybrid meetings as a result of the pandemic.
Approximately half (52 per cent) of respondents expect the number of in-person simple meetings (50 attendees or fewer) held by their company to return to the pre-pandemic level within a year.
A large majority of respondents are “interested” or “very interested” in adding technology components to virtual meetings to deliver a more engaging and immersive online event. These include virtual conferencing (79 per cent), online registration (76 per cent), post-event attendee surveys (74 per cent), attendee tracking/lead tracking (70 per cent), live polling (70 per cent), and mobile event apps (66 per cent).
“The pandemic has had a significant impact on how organizations plan and manage their corporate meetings and events,” said Cvent CMO, Patrick Smith. “A smart mix of virtual,
in-person, and hybrid events is the future. These three event delivery models will enable companies to reach and engage bigger audiences and gain deeper insight into attendee interests. The use of technology will help lead the way in this new environment where we expect events to be more numerous and more impactful than ever.”
