“New skills will be needed to successfully face the future in our industry”
Q: What do you desire the most at the moment?
I miss a lot of travelling, both for personal and professional matters. And what I desire the most is the return of something in a way similar to normal. Even if we know that it will never be as it was prior COVID. At the same time, I miss planning and envisioning the future.
Q: Why do you love organising events?
I spent 30+ years in the Event Business, and I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to experience both event operation and strategy. This mix made me love this industry!
Q: Can you present the tool or app you use the most during the corona crisis?
Video conferencing tools/apps are the one mostly used during these times (Zoom, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams).
Q: How would you explain to a client why organising events is essential?
Face to face events are an essential component of the marketing mix. And you need to integrate this activity within your overall marketing strategy to achieve the desired business objective. Unfortunately, Event ROI measurement is not yet as sophisticated as it should be.
Q: Is it easier to organise digital or live events?
You cannot compare the two. Each of them has its own challenges and requires specific skills. Moreover, each of them requires a different mindset and approach to the audience.
Q: Is organising digital events cheaper than organising classic events?
It really depends on what you mean by “classic event”. It can be cheaper to organise a digital customer event compared to a F2F one for a large audience, but the ROI will be different. Hence, it is not the best idea to compare just costs without looking at potential objectives and results.
“The future of events will be greener”
Q: If the future of the meetings industry will be green, where do we start?
More and more destinations are starting to build a more sensitive approach to sustainability building an overarching strategy that is involving all local players engaged in the Industry (Hotels, Transportation, suppliers, etc.). The future of events will be greener, for sure. And the shift to hybrid events engaging a larger audience with less travel/consumption is already a good start.
Q: What will be the key trait of a great event organiser after the corona crisis?
New skills will be needed to successfully face the future in our industry. A great event organiser will need to be very knowledgeable about all sorts of communication tools and strategies, including social media, technology, data management and even ROI measurement. On top of that, a great organiser will have to have acquired skills in event operations.
Q: What is your view of the future? Where is the meetings industry headed?
F2F events will never disappear! But they will include a hybrid component that will engage a much larger audience. At the same time, more and more digital events will pop up for certain specific categories of audiences, with specific objectives.
Q: What is the most surprising fact about organising events?
Each event is different from the other, and I’ve learned that your event is never over or at least until the last attendee is back home.
EXTRA QUESTION FOR LUCA
Q: High Tech or High Touch?
HIGH TOUCH! Customer experience is and always will be key.
