The pandemic has been devastating for many people and industries but none more devastated than the hospitality and events industry. The mission of the events industry is to create, manage, stage, and facilitate events all over the world. These events encompass hundreds to thousands of attendees at a meeting, special event or conference. How has event planning changed? It has changed in numerous ways and impacted the meetings and events industry globally. Let us look at some of the…
Q&A with Jean-François Tourigny, Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Bit by bit, Canada’s meetings and events community is getting back to business. And while no one can say for sure what will come of pandemic restrictions, venues like the Le Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel are cautiously optimistic that the days of robust, in-person events are getting closer. For a glimpse of what the future of meetings holds, we spoke with Jean-François Tourigny, Director of Event Planning at Le Centre Sheraton…
Hybrid events – where in-person audiences are mixed with audiences attending virtually – are the next step in the world getting back to business, including the events and meetings sector. Though, to be honest, that definition is a bit too simplistic perhaps. The Events Industry Council provides this definition: “A meeting that combines face-to-face and virtual aspects.” But what that combination means exactly is up to event planners, it seems. Many events will go this route to ease into getting back into…
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…
