“When the mask mandate came down it was all about getting the word out to people, that they knew and were prepared and we had masks onsite,” he said. Patrick Smith, senior vice president and marketing officer for Cvent, said safety was the top priority for the in-person activities, while allowing for attendees to make choices they were comfortable with. Cvent had already planned to implement duty of care protocols including a daily health screening, increased signage, lanyard indicators to allow attendees to indicate their comfort level, onsite COVID screens, plexiglass and socially distanced seating.Īdjustments were made at evening events to allow for use of outdoor space for example, at the closing celebration at Drai’s Beachclub & Nightclub, the DJ was moved outside to allow attendees to go maskless if they wanted. Masks were mandatory for in-person attendees inside CAESARS FORUM. While masks were optional at those events, the recent flareup due to the COVID variants resulted in Nevada in late July adopting the latest CDC guidance related to mask requirements, recommending that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask in public indoor settings. But a slew of industry events including MPI’s World Education Congress and the annual Destinations International conference and others have created clear momentum for the return of face-to-face business meetings and events. The pandemic brought this critical industry to a halt.
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Read Reggie Aggarwal’s full keynote address.Ĭvent CONNECT certainly reinforced the importance of face-to-face meetings, delivering three days of engaging education and networking for an industry hungry to recover its global footprint, one that contributed US$1.03 trillion in direct spend according to the Global Economic Significance of Business Events. The pandemic has been a catalyst for innovation that I believe will literally change the face of our industry.” Cvent CONNECT 2021. But I feel now that that’s true more than ever, that we’re going to be entering a time where event programs are among the most important marketing tactic, a time where more events are being organized, a time where more attendees are being engaged, a time where events become an even more critical part of the business landscape. I know at the time, a lot of people found it hard to believe. I said we had done something that I called the golden age of events. He recalled at last year’s CONNECT, an all-digital event, saying that even with so many unknowns and challenges, “we never lost hope. “Who would have thought that just 18 months later we would have a technology and the expertise so that now we can deliver events that can reach and engage more people than we had before the pandemic even started.”
None of us were feeling very optimistic about our industry. “COVID is like a freight train and practically overnight the entire world shut down, and in the early days of the pandemic, in-person events were practically non-existent. “I want you to try to remember back what you were thinking in March of 2020,” Aggarwal said during his opening keynote address. More than 1,500 in-person attendees participated in the three-day conference that concluded on Wednesday at CAESARS FORUM in Las Vegas, adhering to new mask mandates and safety protocols.
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In fact, the CEO and founder of Cvent believes the industry has embarked on a golden age.Īggarwal welcomed more than 13,500 attendees to the hybrid Cvent CONNECT 2021-the annual gathering of the meetings, events and hospitality technology and software provider-with a powerful message of optimism and his vision of how business meetings will engage for future events. Reggie Aggarwal sees more than a silver living for business meetings and events in the post COVID-19 pandemic landscape.