Have larger
companies have been slower to return to company-wide strategy events post-Covid
– lagging behind their more nimble, smaller counterparts? Cat Bird, national sales manager at Center Parcs
Conferences & Events, explains the current trend and explores how things might develop across the year...
In
2022, businesses had yet to return to the same level of corporate event
activity as pre-pandemic, and we expect this difference to continue into 2023.
Most
noticeable is the difference in pace of returning to in-person events between
smaller businesses of, say, 40 employees and national businesses of 400+
employees.
Post-pandemic, smaller businesses in
general have found it easier to get employees together – fewer diaries to
align, perhaps more willingness to get back together after years of remote
working; in general they’ve been more nimble. In Q4 2022, we experienced a high
volume of smaller, more intimate bookings, which have acted purely as
‘gratitude getaways’ to reward staff for their hard work and reconnect with
colleagues.
However, after a period of more relaxed
and immersive team building away days, these businesses are now moving onto to
organising bigger conferences and events with an emphasis on brand strategy and
training. Yes, they are still adding on activities, recognising the importance
of maintaining a balance of ‘work and play’, but the core purpose of their
events is shifting in 2023.
Meanwhile, larger businesses, for which the
logistics of a company-wide event are far more complex, have taken longer to
return to face-to-face events, and this is often because it can take six to
nine-months to plan.
These
businesses have been a few steps behind their smaller counterparts, and in
2023 their focus is largely on bringing teams together for the first time
again, with the confidence and aspiration to arrange bigger events of 450+ set
to become more evident further down the line.
By the end of the year, we
anticipate larger businesses matching smaller businesses in their regularity of
events, having rewarded staff with a gratuity getaway, and getting back to
business.
