Planner Resilience: International Brain Injury Association
Learn how association/non profit meeting and event planners pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic to stay successful.
How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?
Margaret Roberts, Executive Director of the International Brain Injury Association
COVID-19 basically wiped out our live events calendar not only for 2020 but now for 2021. Pivot is the most overused word in the events industry in 2020, yet we all pivoted. Zoom fatigue, testing our attention spans and chasing programming in new and uncharted ways define our path forward.
We introduced free online learning opportunities and then slowly added in continuing education for a small fee. People responded positively and the effort continues to grow. Luckily, our hotel and convention center partners worked with us to reschedule and we look forward to face to face/hybrid meeting models in 2022.
We depend on research and academia for content and attendance and they depend on us to respond to world events such as this pandemic. We are all partners in uncharted waters. Fingers crossed for a new normal that resembles something of our old normal.