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: Linda Pasquale
Company Name: Allegis Group
Job Title: Director of Meetings and Travel
Years of Experience: 25
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?
Well positioned! We have strengthened our partnerships with Global Guardian (duty of care resource) medical teams and our internal legal team. We have collaborated with our hotel partners to a level we never have before to assure all Covid protocols are in place and being executed as required.
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?
We now require our attendees to review "pre-registration" requirements that are expected of them in order to attend our meetings. (testing, masking, local polices). Currently we are testing all attendees (proctor led) prior to and post meeting. We have increased our medical and security staff on site. We have repurposed our Cvent registration tool for both internal and external clients as a information resource, so that they have the most up to date details on hotel and airline protocols.
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?
Hybrid has allowed us to reach a larger audience. When everyone cannot attend, this option provides us with the opportunity to communicate a consistent message to a broader, and the ability to see senior leadership in the organization for the first time. It's a great platform to ask questions, no matter what size audience, unlike face to face meetings.
In your opinion, what do you think the biggest value for your attendees is in regards to returning to live events?
Face to face communication and building relationships is the key foundation of our companies success. Whenever possible, in person meetings are what we hope to accomplish. The level of participation, engagement and the ability to encourage coworkers to be fully present is much stronger. People feel valued and are more willing to contribute to conversations when meeting in person.
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?
First my hope is that our hotel partners do not forget how we all, supported, collaborated, and empathize with each other during these times. True partnerships were built and I hope that they continue. I would like to see the hotels assure that "pandemic" is a constant in their contracts under force majeure and that the hotels will exercise flexibility as some people are hesitant to attend face to face meetings. If a program does need to cancel, give us a window of opportunity (in the same year) to book a group of equal or greater value. Hotels should consider anyway possible to be a differentiator from their competitors. Cleanliness and safety protocols will remain at the forefront for planners, so hotels should be willing to add a clause to ensure this happens. Medical staffing onsite should be re-evaluated at the hotels. No longer should the head of security be the "onsite medical staff". Have a medical expert on call 24/7, virtual or in person to assist with all medical questions.
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.