We attended our first face-to-face business event since COVID-19 disrupted (to put it mildly) the industry in March this year. To say we, the organisers and the other delegates attending in person were excited was an understatement, and it was a big step towards the recovery of business events.
We joined 100 other people attending the event in person and over 400 joined online from around the globe in November. Held at ICC Sydney, as we headed into the once busy venue in Darling Harbour, it was hard not to notice the lack of people.
What did we take away from this experience?
- People are still smiling – people in the events industry are a resilient bunch!
- Everyone is positive about the future and the future of events
- Face-to-face will NEVER be replaced
- Having speakers on the screen and in-person works really well when you use people who know how to do it
- Elbow bumps in real life are fine but we can’t wait to get back to hugs – they rock
- Conference food is still a highlight – even if the buffet is no longer a thing
- Getting out of the office/home office is the best thing to inspire the mind
- You can make deeper connections faster with people face-to-face as opposed to via a screen
- Technology has come a long way in 6-months – shout out to the AV teams doing the evolving!
- High heels on site for a day still hurt
While the delivery of events has changed, the purpose behind them hasn’t – attendees still want to be entertained, engaged, inspired and experience it all.
We look forward to attending and working at many more face-to-face and hybrid events in 2021.
