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Planners Moving Forward Series- Allison Pieter, Cassis Productions

Written by Luke Whalin | Feb 23, 2022 8:55:45 PM

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: Allison Pieter

Company Name: Cassis Productions

Job Title: Founder and President

Years of Experience: 20+

How do you think you are positioned, after months of persevering with the pandemic, to take advantage of our new and disrupted meetings/events landscape?
 
I believe I am well-positioned to take advantage of the new events landscape. The past two years have shown me there's always a solution to each challenge, even if it first feels out of reach. We have so many talented collaborators and partners in our industry, I love bringing everyone together to find the best option forward. 
 
As our community moves forward with planning in person meetings, what new technologies or processes are you implementing that you may have not looked at before?
 
Real-time communications via messaging applications have been tremendously helpful and reduced the number of unnecessary emails. 
 
As we see virtual meetings transition back to face to face, hybrid meetings are beginning to be the vehicle to return to normalcy. What are your thoughts on hybrid meetings versus traditional fully in person meetings?
 
Adding a virtual component to an in-person event invites entirely new audiences to participate. The key is to ensure virtual attendees have a similarly robust and interactive experience, and are not simply viewing content on a platform. 
 
In your opinion, what do you think the biggest value for your attendees is in regards to returning to live events?
 
The energy in an event space, and the connection attendees make while interacting with each other on-site, are the the biggest value for in-person events. Both have proven difficult to replicate virtually.
 
As the pandemic fades away and we return to face-to-face events what do you hope changes, either for planners or hoteliers, in the traditional RFP and proposal process as a result of all of the learnings from the last 20+ months?
 
I want everyone to remember we need each other to create a great event. We are not on different sides competing for success; together, we can achieve smoother experiences and better results for our clients.
 

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.