As the COVID-19 crisis has rocked the business events industry, new business models have spring up — not as short-term workarounds, but as lasting shifts.

The pandemic’s effects were so profound and far-reaching that not changing ceased to be an option for almost everyone on the planet. But which changes will be permanent, and how will they transform events?

Perhaps we once took for granted the larger role that face-to-face events play in our society, but the past year has shown us that they are far more than economic engines. These case studies show how physical events have given fledgling industries a foot-hold and path to success.

These digital gatherings connect participants to the physical world, transporting them to real places and engaging their senses and emotions.

To make virtual trade shows and exhibit halls work, exhibitions industry practitioners have found that you have to rethink the physical experience — and embrace tech tools that entice attendees to connect with suppliers.

“Necessity” is a mild way to describe the impetus for invention brought by COVID-19. We’ve learned in 2020 that creativity is, as business strategist Natalie Nixon argues, “incredibly practical and crucial to survival” — in the business events industry especially, where the pandemic has forced us to go digital or go dark.

If we’ve just been waiting for the COVID-19 crisis to pass to go back to business as usual, we’ve missed a rare opportunity to see our lives and our work in a new light. Here are some ways our world has changed and what we hope will stick once the pandemic is behind us.

PCMA Convene’s 2020 Recovery Directory looks at several CVBs to see what they are doing to ensure they can host safe and sanitary events and give planners and attendees the confidence to meet in their destinations.

As the pandemic pushes record numbers of business event planners toward digital platforms and new ways of connecting online, it may ultimately strengthen the ability of meeting professionals to serve their audiences and to reach their business goals.

It used to be that scientific and medical conferences were highly formulaic, but planners are testing innovative session formats, presentation materials, and registration pricing, to name just a few elements.

Why event organizers are embracing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals — and how meetings are a prime medium to accelerate their success.

Today, event attendees are tourists, too. Here are a handful of rising global destinations that have the goods planners need and the attractions delegates want.

Building an authentic brand identity for destinations is complicated. Here’s how a handful of CVBs have tackled the issue — and why planners are incorporating that sense of a place’s identity in their event design.

With so many things — mostly digital, some environmental — competing for your attention, how is possible to focus on the job at hand? Put your phone aside, set your laptop to sleep mode, and let’s concentrate on solutions.

To safeguard the planet and feed a growing population, the world’s food systems will need to drastically change. The business events industry has an opportunity to lead by example, and here’s how some organizations and venues are doing just that.

Is there a solution for putting an end to fake and predatory conferences? Professors, meeting professionals, and more weigh in with their own experiences.

As cities around the world recalculate the cost of tourism to their communities, business event organizers have an outsized opportunity to make a positive difference. But that doesn’t mean that it’s business as usual.

As AI makes inroads into areas that have traditionally been the domain of humans, the question becomes: Where will people fit in, particularly when it comes to work? Let’s take a peek into the future. You might want to buckle up.

Two striking examples of how to pull off immersive events: Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked, and from a venue standpoint, the ways the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center delivers on the experiential trends identified in the PCMA Foundation/Marriott future of events study.

Here’s what an ageism activist, communications exec, and serial hospitality entrepreneur say about why a truly inclusive and diverse workforce must be multi-generational — and what that looks like and how it benefits society as a whole.

Our social ties have frayed so much that public policy and health experts have described loneliness as a worldwide epidemic. But there is a solution for our lonely planet.

If you’re looking for some insights to help make things easier for you when you work with hotels, you’ve checked in to the right place.

Respondents to this year’s survey anticipate that they will have more attendees and exhibitors at their events this year vs. in 2018. It remains to be seen whether market forces will temper expectations.

Participants’ experience at an event is shaped more by their emotions than you might think. Joyful author Ingrid Fetell Lee thinks planners have an opportunity to interject moments of joy into their event environments — and she shares easy ways to do just that.

A recent PCMA Foundation/Marriott study finds that most travelers want to explore a destination like the locals do. “Convene” looks at how that desire for an authentic experience should shape meeting design.

Business challenges are coming at us so fast and are so complex that leaders can no longer afford not to leverage the knowledge and creativity of every person within their organizations. Experts point to a different way forward: It’s called humble or servant leadership.

Finding the right partners will be a hallmark of the next round of breakthrough innovations —making business events and startups a perfect match.

Convene’s reporting on forecasts on lodging, travel, exhibitions, and more is filled with news of technological change — which doesn’t eclipse the very human art of bringing people together.

How the meetings industry is responding to homelessness.

We spotlight three global events demonstrating how it takes many villages to raise up society.

Celebrating the best of the events industry, including top venues, ideas and experiences from all across the world.

Daniel Pink looks at the world of business events through the lens of When to improve the attendee experience and their outcomes. And since business-event strategists are all about the how, he also offered up ideas organizers can easily put into practice at their next event.

Meditation is a powerful tool for increasing focus and reducing stress, but who has time to sit on a cushion at work? Leah Weiss teaches business students and organizations the skills to bring mindfulness into the fray of the workplace.

Does design thinking sound like a warm and fuzzy approach to meeting planning? Warm, yes, because it’s human-centered. But considering our handful of clear strategies, there’s nothing fuzzy about it.

Spaces in hotels and meeting venues are now being reimagined as communal areas that can accommodate a variety of people’s needs, preferences, and behaviors.

Amid stories of a drop in the participation of U.S. government–funded scientists at conferences and uncertainty over international travel to the U.S., three experts weigh in on the pressures on international scientific meetings.

The art and science of combining digital and face-to-face experiences in your meetings strategy.

The convergence of health care and technology is reaching an inflection point at a time when other pressures are putting the squeeze on medical meetings. How can they stay relevant in a shifting landscape?

Hotel nights, direct spending, tax revenue — these numbers capture just a fraction of what face-to-face gatherings mean. As the
events industry aims to articulate its true value to lawmakers and the general public, the narrative needs to include both dollars and difference-making efforts.

We’re beaming in some ringers for this year’s Meetings Industry Forecast: professional science-fiction authors whose job is to figure out how the world — not to mention the universe — might change.

Not everyone feels welcome at your meeting. And some of that could be your fault — because of your speaker lineup, marketing collateral, or something else that’s making them feel like they don’t belong there. Here’s how to open your program to your entire community.

How are proposed U.S. travel policies affecting international attendance — and projected attendance — at meetings and conferences in the U.S.? We asked event organizers what they are thinking.

Co-creating solutions has never been more important to both organizations and entire industries. And events can be a big part of that — provided they evolve from their top-down model.

Five trade shows in varied fields — healthcare, hotel design, marijuana cultivation, woodworking, and baseball coaching — share the secrets of their success.

Are meeting professionals overworked? Overstressed? Overloaded? Overwhelmed? If you’re like the rest of the workforce across the U.S. and around the world — yes, a lot of you probably are.

Virtual reality has finally arrived. And destinations and venues are getting increasingly creative about using it for 360-degree tours, high-flying site visits, and more. Grab your headset and take a look.

Is the education model being created at the University of Texas at Austin’s brand-new Dell Medical School a blueprint for your meeting’s future?

New York City’s Future of StoryTelling Summit explores how cutting-edge technology puts audiences at the center of the action. And asks the question: Isn’t that where meeting participants belong, too?

Still trending upward, but at a slower pace than last year.

Events over the last year might have you wondering if the world is coming apart. A writer who has committed himself to giving back asks: Can meetings and conventions help put it back together?