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: Chelsea Hubbell
Company Name: New York Life Investments
Job Title: 10+
Years of Experience: Director of Global Event Management
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?
Our business partners are excited to start meeting and hosting in person. We have been able to utilize different technologies to offer hybrid options as well as working with companies that provide COVID-19 protocols and procedures to ensure our attendees are safe.
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?
As government mandates continue to evolve, so have our meeting policies. We currently require testing pre-event negative testing but allow masks as optional.
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?
While our teams are excited to meet in person, the pandemic has offered us the opportunity to look at hybrid meetings as the new normal. Rather than requiring travel for speakers or attendees from afar, we can offer a virtual or hybrid option to increase our reach and save on travel expenses. I think hybrid engagements will become the new standard.
In your opinion, what do you think the biggest value for your attendees is in regards to returning to live events?
Networking! People really miss that in-person interaction so giving them more opportunities to breakout, to connect on site will be a focus for us.
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?
As demand increases, I foresee the RFP process to become more competitive. I hope that we can keep our costs on-par with previous years while still offering a world-class experience.
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.
