02/01/2021
Happy New Year.
Exactly 12 months ago, we sat down and put together our plans for 2020. Who knew then how different the year ahead was going to be but even if we did, would we have done things any different? Maybe, but that's the nature of business.
When in-person events ground to a halt literally overnight in March 2020, Most of us saw it as a minor inconvenience that we expected to resolve itself very quickly. But after a few weeks, it became very clear that things wouldn’t be returning to normal as soon as we’d hoped. As a business, that’s when we looked at what services we had been providing and how we could deliver alternative services to a rapidly changing market. A lot of businesses didn’t take the opportunity and many others did – whisky distilleries who suddenly had no outlet for their spirits – with all the pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels closed, changed to producing hand sanitizer which was in great need and short supply. You could say they were profiteering in a time of crisis, but in reality all they did was adapt to a changing market. The definition of a business is an organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities to produce and to sell goods and services for profit, so what they actually did was find a way to continue to conduct business, and they did so by filling a need in the marketplace at that time.
There’s an old saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. It doesn’t matter who actually said it, but the meaning behind it is simple. If you want something different out of life or indeed business, then you have to put something different into it.
If you've been holding off organising your next conference or event because, "It'll all go back to normal soon", it's time to change your thinking. Whilst there does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and although we're fairly sure the light isn't that of the oncoming train (but don't hold me to that!), things won't just return to normal as quickly as they stopped. Pretty much every wedding that had been planned for 2020 will need to be re-arranged, and that's on top of all the weddings, parties and celebration that were already planned for 2021. We expect to see a shortage of venues being able to accommodate the extra bookings, and the same will be true for corporate events - "We just don't have room at the inn". So with the beginning of a New Year, it's now time to look at virtual and hybrid events as an alternative to the traditional conference or event you've been waiting for.
GRT have a range of solutions to get your staff and clients meeting again in engaging and enjoyable ways that are as close to actually being at an event as possible.
