Business as “un”usual: Running an events business in the COVID-19 era
COVID19 is going to change the way many sectors operate – but what does it mean for those who are in the business of meeting people face-to-face? Cievents Global General Manager Natalie Simmons shares her thoughts on how the events industry will be forced to evolve – and how marketers can respond to the unprecedented pressures of a pandemic.
Natalie Simmons, General Manager, cievents
In January, we started seeing the first impact coming out of China and our Asian markets. We realized that this would have a serious effect and were preparing ourselves – but the domestic piece hit much faster than we expected. So while we started preparing six weeks ago, we’re still seeing significant shifts by the hour.
Events are always the first area to see an impact. There are significant movements, big spends and many people and stakeholders involved. It’s an easy part of the strategy piece to look at and think “is this business-critical?” With meetings and conferences, there’s a certain level of need in the business – with events there’s time to be flexible and the distance for people to rationalise.
I’ve been with cievents for going on 21 years. In that time we’ve seen some major external disruptors: we’ve weathered recessions, we saw SAARS. And there has been technological pressure as well – I was around when video conferences came out, and there were questions about whether that would fundamentally shift the events industry.
