Northstar Meetings Group is conducting a weekly pulse survey to ascertain how meeting and event planners have been managing the crisis.
The big question concerns the future of meetings and events in the COVID 19 pandemic.
Every week, Northstar Meetings Group will have a new pulse survey to take a temperature reading of planners and their perceptions on the events industry. Questions asked include when face-to-face meetings will take place again. And when they do, what they will look like.
Feedback from event planners and organisers is urgently sought so the industry can share the findings.
To take part, please complete this short survey. It is completely anonymous. To receive a copy of the results before they are published, click here for the Coronavirus and Meetings microsite, providing your email address at the end of the questionnaire. The results will be sent as soon as they have been compiled.
Please take part in the pulse survey to add your thoughts and opinions. Take the survey here.
The survey aims to find out from event planners the future of the industry.
PREVIOUS RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Week 5: 31 March 2020
- No major changes were seen in the distribution of cancellations, postponements and virtual event alternatives. This week there's a slight shift to cancellations from postponements, as more meetings have been cancelled outright, with an increased interest in virtual meetings as an alternative to a live event.
- As more planners have cancelled and/or are cancelling their events, fewer planners are experiencing difficulties doing so as the crisis persists.
- A similar favorable shift can be seen as planners postpone/reschedule their events. Last week, 64 per cent of the respondents reported their experience was easy to neutral, while more than 71 per cent reported their experience rescheduling/postponing as easy to neutral this week.
- Like last week, well over 75 per cent of all planners reported their rescheduling has not impacted their contract terms, across all key considerations (attrition, space, costs and concessions).
- As time passes, more planners have rescheduled or intend to reschedule their postponed meetings to later in the year. Last week, 53 per cent of respondents reported rescheduling their events to September, Q4 '20 and Q1 2021. This week, more than 57 per cent reported doing so.
These verbatim comments show what some of the respondents are experiencing these days.
- "As for working with hotels, all but one were easy and compromises were met on both sides," said one planner.
- Another said finding dates was easy, but renegotiating was hard: "Our hotels don't want to reduce liability for reschedules. We have scheduling conflicts with attendees and we anticipate a drop in attendance. There is also the fear factor of people not wanting to travel, or firms restricting business travel."
- One planner already had an event in place for next year, so rescheduling wasn't an option: "It took extreme circumstances for the hotel to agree to allow us to cancel without penalty."
- "Our biggest challenge is determining when we are comfortable hosting events in the future," said another planner.
- The contract held firm for another planner. "We had to cancel outright with force majeure being enacted and accepted with no liability," they said.
- And every experience is different. "It's been dependent on the property. Trying to postpone our May event, one hotel would require us to pay all the losses they would incur. We will keep trying to reason with them. On the other hand, for an event scheduled for July, our hotel is happy to work with us for a win-win," said another planner.
- Going online continues to be an option: "We're not looking to postpone or reschedule. We're doing a condensed virtual format over the same dates that the live event was to happen."
