In light of the Covid-19 impact on business events in the US and across the globe, PCMA recently released an update to Business Events Compass, a sort of a guiding model for meetings professionals and all stakeholders involved. As full recovery seems to be as far away as the second half of 2022 for a big part of the globe, all eyes turn to Asia Pacific (APAC) as a leader in recovery.
PCMA president and CEO Sherrif Karamat, CAE, says: “PCMA is holding the inaugural Convening Asia Pacific: The Global Recovery Forum next month to identify compelling insights and best practices for managing face-to-face and digital events that apply to business events stakeholders everywhere.”
Compass is an assembly of global data and perspectives, including six PCMA Think Tanks with over 130 global business event leaders, business sentiment surveys from thousands of PCMA members and global stakeholders, surveys of frequent business event participants, surveys with chief human resource officers, and interviews with global brand and association leaders supplemented with best-in-class examples of business event experimentation, new business models, and reskilling.
Findings include a slow demand for face-to-face business events through 2021, with 39% of survey respondents expecting a 50% or greater decline in their 2021 face-to-face business event participation compared to 2019 levels. On the other hand, digital events seem to offer positive results for most, such as varying event length, global reach, customized participants’ experience and engaging broadcast.