Digital and physical accessibility: an effective MICE strategy

Reimagining event engagement and event accessibility were among the topics discussed at a recent webinar looking at effective strategies for MICE business in 2024. Planners are seeking improved visual content and digital and physical accessibility.

The importance of visuals

Visual and interactive content is also having an impact. Pant referenced a Google survey showing that 56% of people on business, and 35% of those travelling for leisure purposes interacted at some point with hospitality-related videos.

“Video matters a lot, especially in the hotel business where visuals have a powerful impact on the guest experience,” said Konrad Pant, regional sales director, hospitality cloud at Cvent. “We put this question to planners and 46% said that images and videos are among the three most influential features that they consider when sourcing venues, with 37% of them saying the same about floor plans and diagrams.”

AI application of visual content

Josh Davis, principal product manager at Cvent explored how AI is impacting the hospitality industry and stressed the need to learn from other industries.

“(Planners) need to look at AI throughout their entire user journey, that of their attendees, and their own internal operations. From a hotel's perspective, it's about taking a step back and looking at all the different parts of the business and how AI can have an impact. Get best practice from across other industries and bring it back to yours. If Microsoft is doing this, how can we leverage that? Google has now introduced this new feature, how can we do it as well?”

Davis added that future uses of AI within events will include automating diagrams and digital renderings of venues, enhancing existing visual content.

Accessibility

According to Cvent data, planners want to see an improvement in the digital and physical accessibility of meetings and events. This not only includes elements such as ramps, wider doorways and parking near the venue, but also elements such as closed captioning, sign language interpreters, multilingual signage and appropriate lighting.

“Accessibility is a critical part of the event design and I would add a low sensory room on site to enable people to get away from the hustle and bustle,” said Victoria Akinsowon, team lead, content marketing at Cvent. “For venues it’s about having a proactive and collaborative approach - there isn't necessarily a standardised set of questions that a planner can fill out to be able to assess whether your venue is accessible or not.”