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: Cathe Gorski
Company Name: Diggers Hotline
Job Title: Meeting/Event Coordinator
Years of Experience: 4
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 think we are positioned well. We'll be using a hybrid schedule of both in-person and virtual meetings this year, and I think we'll continue to see value in a virtual option in the future.
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?
I think we will continue to provide a virtual option for our attendees. All of our safety meetings are in the dead of winter, so virtual will continue to allow for flexibility if the weather doesn't cooperate with attendee travel plans.
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?
I haven't been a part of planning or attending any hybrid meetings, but from what I've read about planning them from MPI, it sounds like a huge undertaking. I think there's a perception that you can make a meeting hybrid by adding a few cameras and maybe even a whole production crew, but the reality is that you are planning and staffing two entirely different meetings. I don't think it would work for our company with our limited staff.
In your opinion, what do you think the biggest value for your attendees is in regards to returning to live events?
I think our attendees missed the camaraderie and the chance to catch up with each other and the ritual of the whole event. Our meetings have historically been very predictable--held at the same venue at the same general time and date, so having that disrupted for a couple of years in the case of some locations was disorienting.
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?
My meetings are very straight-forward, just room rental, F&B and AV. So, I can't say my process has ever been complicated. I do hope as hotels get their staffing levels up to pre-pandemic levels, that response times to inquiries improve.
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.