This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where HopSkip spotlight's planners across the industry to bring awareness of how they adapted to COVID-19, communicating and lessons learned and sharing how they are viewing the meetings and events industry in a post-pandemic world.
Name: Michael Ferenc
Company Name: Freeman
Job Title: SVP, Client Relations
Years of Experience: 19
How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?
Obviously face to face, live events were tremendously impacted overnight by COVID. Although live events represented the vast majority of our business, we were able to help customers plan and produce virtual events as well as services like strategy, digital and creative. There was also a lot of planning for the future which was unknown at the time.
As a planner, what was the number one thing you learned over the past year?
Don't take anything for granted. Our industry is not bullet proof. We have fortunately been able to develop even deeper relationships with many of our customers through the pandemic and are excited to see events, both live and hybrid coming back.
Is there anything you are changing in your planning process moving forward as a result of the pandemic?
I think we continue to evolve in how we talk to our customers about meeting their objectives. Listen first, understand their business and then help create a solution together. Virtual, Hybrid, or Live. Logistics, Strategy, Creative, Digital and Event Technology are all the tools we have in our arsenal to help create the experience and reach objectives.
This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where HopSkip spotlight's planners across the industry to bring awareness of how they adapted to COVID-19, communicating and lessons learned and sharing how they are viewing the meetings and events industry in a post-pandemic world.