by Richard Albrecht
At PCMA in January, Rose, Jason, and Rich attended a fascinating session entitled “What’s Next for the Business Events Industry”, moderated by Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, with Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton, Ben Erwin, Pres & CEO of Encore, and Matthew Slaughter, Dean of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth on the panel. Reflecting on the last few years, each offered their view of 2023 travel trends, live events, and the impacts of technology and inflation on the industry.
According to Nassetta, while many experts thought that everything was going to be dramatically different coming out of the pandemic, in reality nothing has changed all that much. Leisure business is stronger than ever and business travel is back. What has shifted, in his view, are work patterns and the concept of “bleisure” travel. The result of hybrid work arrangements, Hilton is seeing increased business travel in the form of combined business/leisure trips. People aren’t necessarily tied to a geographic location and that flexibility allows the “office” to travel with them.
Inflation is impacting labor costs in a big way – not only for event organizers but also for people attending those events. A concern was raised that, when looking to cut costs, event-goers might view attending an in-person event as elective and perhaps decide not to go. So, the mission for planners is to have a clear value proposition, making sure the event’s purpose and mission are clear so that they reinforce the importance of coming together. Planners have to give participants a compelling reason to make the financial investment to attend – “pent up demand” to travel will only last for so long.
When asked about how technology impacts a live event, the consensus was that technology supports, but does not replace, being together in person. It’s true that technology can enable worldwide participation in an event but it is by no means a substitute for being there in person. In Slaughter’s words, while the flow of people stopped during the pandemic, the flow of information and ideas never did. Over the last 100 years, many proclaimed that inventions like the radio, telephone, and internet (and even the metaverse) all signaled the end of people needing or wanting to come together in person. Well, they didn’t, and neither has the pandemic. Information and ideas will always flow and Slaughter concluded with this notion: “…we bring people together for that serendipitous discovery, the building of relational human capital. And that’s what business events do in many different ways.” So in other words, and as we’re already seeing, live events are back!
