Hybrid events: The best of both worlds

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many meeting planners are having to choose between postponing events or quickly pivoting to an online format. As we all adapt to the new norm, events as we know them will never be the same. And that’s a good thing!

Hybrid events, where participants attend in-person and/or participate online, can offer the best of both worlds, if done properly and safely. Digital meeting platforms can’t replace the power of face-to-face networking, but do offer a vast array of interactive capabilities that can enhance a participant’s event experience.

While this sounds great conceptually, it’s important that your chosen venue offer the infrastructure and technology to maximize a hybrid event experience. In addition to finding that perfect venue that has appropriate safety measures in place, we can help you avoid surprise expenses and lock in associated costs prior to signing a hotel contract.

We’ve done the research on the best venues for hybrid events.

When it comes to finding the ideal venue for a hybrid event, let my team at Meeting Your Needs do the leg work for you — at zero cost to you! We make it our business to know which venues are well poised to combine a safe in-person with a quality digital experience.

Attrition: No longer what it used to be

As a meeting planner, one of the most challenging aspects to securing a location has always been the fine balance of booking enough hotel rooms to benefit from a great rate while mitigating the risk of attrition (performance) penalties. And it has been an anxiety-filled waiting game until that committed room block was met. Until now.

This year, the rapid outbreak and spread of COVID-19 had many meeting planners and hotel representatives scrambling to find viable solutions for booked conferences, meetings and events that needed to be canceled or postponed. The same viable solutions need to be properly addressed for new bookings as well.

Just as COVID-19 is changing the way the general business world operates, it too is forever changing how the hospitality industry is managing conferences, meetings and events going forward. Contract policies surrounding attrition and cancellation no longer hold the same weight in many cases due to COVID-related government restrictions and WHO/CDC safety guidelines taking precedence.

Today’s meeting planners want more flexibility and less risk in hotel contracts in order to successfully host safe events in an environment that is highly unpredictable and continually evolving. Hospitality brands, with their low occupancies and revenues, are very willing to address what planners need now and in the future.

Although many standard agreements now include language to address issues like what we have faced this year, it’s more critical than ever before to ensure that said language is mutually-beneficial. Meeting planners need great deals to keep event costs down and hospitality brands need to make money.

The fine balance is where Meeting Your Needs comes in. With our extensive experience in both hospitality and meeting planning, we can ensure that event contracts protect meeting planners and deliver on what events need, while ensuring that hoteliers can continue to do what they do best. Who wouldn’t want a solid win-win-win?