Disruption Starts with the Letter P

In this picture, participants were encouraged to add their wishes to this tree (Jan 2020). If you were standing there today, what would you wish for? 

In 2017 I wrote about disruption and its impact on our industry.  When “unpredictable” was the new buzzword for the economy, and everyone in the meetings and events industry was a little nervous. At that time, our industry had managed through cutbacks, recessions, governance and regulation changes, and threats from economic downturns to Mother Nature to acts of terrorism. But nothing has challenged our ability to create events, manage travel experiences and deliver hospitality to our guests in the way our clients expect like Covid-19. With inconsistent and sometimes confusing government responses to a pandemic we were unprepared for it is difficult to know when we will return to events again – and what they will look like. When we do it will be with a new set of protocols, widely variable by geography, origin and government; and being implemented to varying degrees based on multiple factors (from existing space to tools / technology available, team and training).

Travel disrupted. As humans we desire travel, meeting family and friends, collaborating live with colleagues and attending events from graduations to trade shows. Personally, we crave the opportunity to be celebrating our milestones – with people! Professionally, we know more gets done – more decisions, more innovations, more collaborations – when we are together live in formal meetings. Just as important are the serendipitous spaces between formal events at conferences and trade shows, and even festivals where we have the most amazing conversations – that simply don’t happen in digital environments. As I write this we see reopenings (and some associated viral spikes in some areas) so remain unsure when airline travel, hotel stays and meetings will become truly viable again; and with that when the business we are all part of becomes viable again.

Pandemics. Protests. Disruption has never been more real. As human beings, we have been innovating since the beginning of time, and we have never needed our skills of creativity, empathy and imagination more than now, as we look to a future that will require all of this in spades. We have our greatest opportunities ahead of us. We understand more about the values our participants hold, and more about human response to changing environments, expectations and experiences than we ever have, and can use all of this knowledge to elevate experiences, making them more relevant, memorable, and useful than ever before. Even as we navigate meetings in masks, hugless and handshakeless, and enforcing physical distances – we will overcome our post-pandemic, pre-vaccine world.

What we can’t do is expect that anything will stay the same.

It won’t.

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson