Safety of attendees and compliance are paramount in post-pandemic M&E programmes. Photo Credit:gettyimages/weerapatkiatdumrong
Cost efficiency used to be the driver of many meetings and events
(M&E) programmes in the past. With the pandemic, planners must
prioritise duty of care more than ever – if they have not already done
so.
Fulfilling the criteria for duty of care requires planners to have
their hands on relevant attendee data that helps them understand their
attendees’ profiles and draw conclusions on where the accountability of
liabilities lie.
When meetings and events return and rebound strongly from the
pandemic disruption, they will be based on even more robust and
stringent meetings and events (M&E) programmes. C-suites signing off
on M&E programmes want strong affirmation on their ROO and ROI from
planners, according to the BCD Meeting Trends Report 2022.
These two criteria will be the key focal points for M&E moving
forward, and planners are required to take heed. It is worthwhile noting
that the definition of “duty of care” is not just about traveller
safety anymore. Employee health and well-being have become topics of
priority on the boardroom agenda, forming the overall umbrella for the
more holistic definition of “the culture of safety”.
According to a 2021 research article by IHG Hotels & Resorts on
the renewed optimism for human connection among global travellers, 45%
of business travellers reported that their trips improved their moods
and raised their level of motivation. Titled “Is togetherness the next
destination for travel?”, the article also highlighted that 40% missed
face-to-face interactions with clients, while 50% missed the meaningful
relationships built through these cross-border interactions. For
planners, these findings provide food for thought as they work on
developing their M&E programmes.
With events being cancelled, planners have had to go back to the
drawing board in getting reorganised and in redoing budgets and
proposals. Those who were well prepared would have the data on hand to
determine what budgetary risks were involved and to plan their
contingencies. On the other hand, those who did not have an overview of
meetings and events in their organisations would have found difficulty
in assessing risks and liabilities. Both scenarios illustrated the need
to have a robust M&E programme in place.
Many organisations would have implemented new meeting protocols by
now and have re-written the playbooks on regulations and requirements to
ensure they are in compliance with government regulations and safety
protocols. Clear and measurable M&E goals are crucial in
establishing the value of balancing duty of care versus ROO and ROI
yardsticks.
Overall, “companies are seeking consistency in spend categories
across APAC markets, with M&E a perfect example of this. Meeting
programmes are increasingly being launched into multiple markets to
drive bigger returns and impact”, according to the BCD report.