Events with prominent figures, such as the Usedomer Literature Days, looked very tidy this year. But the situation also shows that event venues and their offers must above all become more flexible in the future.

Event organizers now have to take this into account: Differentiation, hybrid events, flexibility {trend! Study}

The future of event management: Always stay flexible

Imperial Baths Hall, Maritim Hotel Kaiserhof, Seebad Heringsdorf, September 11, 2020: Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is sitting on the podium at the front and is talking about her new, great historical novel "Die Jakobsbücher", from which we also hear excerpts. The Audience However, at this kick-off event for the Usedom Literature Days, clapping will not be close together as usual, but at a distance of a meter from each other, in accordance with the Corona regulations. A memorable event that was already sold out and now seemed so empty - and by the way the only one I've attended this year.

Due to the corona pandemic, many events this year (duplication) are likely to be similar to the Literature Days on the Baltic Sea island: They have been postponed, reorganized and relocated to larger rooms, only to be canceled completely in the end - always depending on the current infection situation . This presents organizers and event houses with very special challenges that they are not even aware of: the event market has been booming for around 30 years. Then came "Corona".

What effects is the pandemic having on the events industry?

The degefest Association of the Congress and Seminar Industry eV has initiated a current study on the effects of the pandemic and interviewed members from its own ranks who manage event venues. The study “degefest Trendanalyse – Restart 2020/21: Via Best Practice from the Crisis“ by Prof. Dr. Jerzy Jaworski from the Faculty of International Business an der University Heilbronn.

The conference venues organized in the degefest association – these are congress and event centers, educational centers and hotels in the conference hotel industry – account for around 85 percent of the members. Their handling of or experiences from the pandemic and their assessments of the Future are the focus of the study. At the top of the list is the question of how customers can be won for the face-to-face event on site if pure in the course of the pandemic Online-Events threaten the original core business of event venues. The good news: there are options. Around two-thirds of those surveyed (66,7%) see this particularly in the area of ​​new event formats and especially in participatory formats and hybrid events. Around a third (33,9%) rely on increased acquisition efforts. In a quarter (25,9%), the Optimismthat face-to-face events will increase again "soon" - be it for social reasons or that closed events will be added.

The opportunity lies in differentiation

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A large majority of the responses (70,4% or 38 out of 54) assume that the range of events will have to be more differentiated in the future. Differentiating features are, for example, the economic potential of customers, hygiene concepts or the greater focus on local companies and associations. As services, technical broadcasting in several rooms (streaming) as well as cleaning and security services would experience the greatest increase. I recently saw what that could look like, also using Garmisch-Partenkirchen as an example already described in another article.

The degefest study also shows that hybrid Solutions have their pitfalls: One in three of those surveyed noted that customers did not want to pay higher bills for increased hygiene requirements - so this costs money Money. There are also major challenges in the area of ​​gastronomy - the gastronomic revenues are an important economic factor in the event venue. Portioned food, more space/distance and less exclusivity are mentioned as possible sustainable changes. In addition, the end for large banquet events; Buffets and self-service are being questioned. Accordingly, the demand for framework and accompanying programs will also shrink, Teambuilding- and incentive offers as well as bar operations - i.e. that where it is difficult to keep your distance.

Overall assessment of hybrid events

Nevertheless, the industry lives from personal meetings at face-to-face events, to which the operation of conference and event locations is economically geared. As Alternatives Hybrid tools are available. How will the events industry deal with this in the future? Respondents to the degefest study have identified a number of positive as well as negative effects due to the increased number of hybrid events. Positive For example: expanding the number of participants beyond the room or seating capacities, generating further sales by offering additional ones ITServices, faster amortization of investments in communication technology, events that may have to be canceled can still take place - at least online - resulting in lower personnel and cleaning costs, as well as intensifying (regular) customer contacts. In addition, certain formats such as general meetings can still be implemented in hybrid form under current law. Room allocation is now also more flexible when it comes to scheduling.

This contrasts with the loss of sales in the rental business due to the lower number of participants with a parallel decline in income in the F&B area. Conversely, the financial and technical effort increases significantly, since new processes first have to be learned (e.g. through employee training) as well as high investment and support costs in the ITTechnology develop. From the special Risks the technical failure may result in a dependency on external service providers. In the case of hybrid events, business tension also arises from additional Costs, which are necessary on the part of the houses, but difficult towards the customers merchandise are. If the face-to-face event is displaced, there is a risk of losing personal customer contacts (face to face), jobs and, in the worst case, even the right to exist for the event venue. The respondents answer with a slight tendency that this will not be the case when it comes to the risk that hybrid events will be displaced by purely digital formats in the future. Over 18 percent (18,37%), on the other hand, believe in a renaissance of physical encounters.

Further results and conclusion

This is probably also due to the fact that only 16,3% of the event facility operators surveyed state that their purely digital events are profitable. Nevertheless, many see the need for their house to be upgraded in the areas of technology, Internet-Needs to "upgrade" transmission speed and staff expertise to remain competitive. Customers are often still seen as inexperienced when it comes to using hybrid tools, which requires intensive advice and support (48,1% of the answers). Almost 80 percent of those surveyed reported a sharp decline in bookings in the fourth quarter of 4 compared to the same quarter in 2020. Nevertheless, the situation as a whole has not yet had a significant negative impact on personnel policy - probably an indication that there is hope for the future of the business area . In terms of the expected effects of the Covid2019 pandemic on the destination where the event venue is located, a decline in business travelers and thus in demand for gastronomy and catering is unanimously expected. However, the attractiveness of the respective destination remains unaffected by this, since the pandemic was not the fault of the locations themselves. - Collection mode

The data for the study were collected as part of an online survey between mid-July and mid-August 2020. Managers or people working in senior positions were interviewed Features are active in German event venues and are also members of the degefest association. What they all have in common is that since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, they have been confronted with the management of various events under completely changed conditions every day. The majority of the answers came from event venues that hold an average of more than 200 events a year, more than 25 Employees full-time and whose customers are mainly from Germany. With a response rate of almost forty (38,6%) within the framework of the survey, a very high level of interest in the subject – ie dealing with the economic consequences and the approaches taken to solve the problem – can be concluded.


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