Business Forum | A new reality for business events?

Some will say that the pandemic has a broad back. Others believe that it changed everything. Breaking supply chains, labor shortages, refusing to show up for work full time. And the list goes on. In the sector of business events, such as meetings and congresses, new challenges arise for the organizers.

In the business tourism industry, no less than 5,800 events have been postponed or canceled since the announcement of the closure of the Quebec economy on March 13, 2020. But the spring of 2022 marked the comeback of events in presence with little or no health constraints. These thousands of events have thus been relocated from last April and the order book of a majority of hoteliers is full at least until the second quarter of 2023.

Marked increase in the total cost of a business event

Inflation affects the entire design chain of a business event. For example, compared to 2019, the price of food services jumped 30%, mainly due to food cost inflation. But two aggravating factors are added: the shortage of labour, which generates an increase in the average salary, and the ruptures in the supply chains, which also create inflation.

Given the impossibility of solving the problem of worker scarcity in the short term and of curbing galloping inflation, the price of foodstuffs is not about to return to normal. The organizers cannot do otherwise than pass on the invoice to the participants.

Increase in last minute bookings

Before the pandemic, we were already seeing a trend, that of last-minute bookings. Today, hoteliers receive an increasing number of requests for the rental of rooms just a few days or a few weeks before the event. The postponement of the events of the last two years explains the strengthening of this trend and testifies to the need for companies to bring their employees together in places with a high reception capacity, which the employer’s establishment often does not allow. not.

For example, I recently organized an event in Lévis that brought together about 180 participants and has been held annually for nearly 20 years. Before the pandemic, we were able to confirm the presence of our participants approximately 21 days before the event. This year, the majority of confirmations were received in the week preceding the event and up to two days before it took place. Imagine the impact of this new phenomenon on logistics. How many meals should you plan? Since we have to confirm the final quantities several days before the event so that the caterer can order the necessary food, we are forced to “overorder”, which leads to waste. We have to admit that event organizers will have to learn to deal with this trend, which, we hope, will not register as a new reality.

In a context of sustainable and responsible development, the organizers will have to raise awareness among their participants in order to eliminate food waste.

More and more absences

But we also observe the accentuation of another phenomenon, which we call the no show in our jargon, that is to say a person duly registered for an event, but who does not show up. Before the pandemic, the absence rate could vary globally between 5% and 20% depending on the type of event, whereas today, some events record the colossal proportion of 40% absence (especially among free events ). How to explain this phenomenon ? Tourisme d’affaires Québec conducted a survey that revealed that participants say they are overwhelmed at work and that the lack of manpower in their own sector of activity prevents them from being able to take time off work. Will we attend more and more evening events?

The hybrid event: what future?

Hybrid meetings, which are partly face-to-face and partly remote, have flourished during the pandemic because seating capacity was tight and many attendees did not feel comfortable gathering together. These meetings are very expensive (often double the price of an in-person event) and require many more hours of work. During a workshop organized by Tourisme d’affaires Québec on June 14, the participants revealed to us that organizing a hybrid event actually consisted in managing two events. So, can we think that hybrid events have a future? For my part, I think that the events will polarize either towards a 100% in-person version or towards an entirely virtual version, given the issues set out here.

The legacy of the pandemic

The pandemic is creating more pressure on the organizers. Added to the logistical challenges is the need to provide participants with an extraordinary experience in order to attract them. They will have to constantly find new ideas to create value and dazzle their guests.

Organizers who master the creative process will be the ones who get the best results.