Nearly at the middle of the year, things are starting to clear out in terms of the state and future of the event industry worldwide. As a venue manager or event organizer, here is what you can expect in the next few months according to three of the most credible industry reports.

A quick note: we’d love to talk to you! Every event organizer is a potential partner of ours and as such can benefit through LayAlt’s Affiliate Program, so drop us a line and we’ll tell you more!

Confidence to attend in-person events will recover in Q3 and Q4 of 2021 according to the report ‘The Road Ahead: Event Industry Landscape in 2021’ by Howard Givner. That, however, doesn’t mean business will be booming. One of the largest hotel chains in the world – Marriott – is quoted in the aforementioned report to state that ‘business won’t return to 2019 levels for 3 years’.

‘We do not expect face-to-face meetings and events to begin until the second half of 2021’, is also the conclusion of Ana Paula Hernandez – VP of Latam Airlines – quoted in another industry document: ‘BCD M&E 2021 Trends Report’. According to the report in question, most of the surveyed experts foresee return of face-to-face meetings in Q2 of 2021 (34%), which means it is already happening. The participants pointed ‘social distancing while traveling and onsite at events’ as a main challenge to recovery. This answer was given by 17% of them, followed by ‘Quarantine upon arrival and return’ and ‘health risk when attendees return home’ (14% for each), as well as ‘Rapidly changing regulations’ (13%).

Similarly, the recap from ‘The State of the Event Industry Survey 2021 – First Quarter’ by EventMB also points to the concern over the safety of attendees and stakeholders as the main setback with 55,5% of the surveyed professionals pointing to it. Nearly 70% of those asked stated that they’ll stick to hybrid events even in post-pandemic times, while 44% said their upcoming in-person events will be smaller in size.

And according to them, the return of in-person events will occur in the timeframe Q3 2021 – Q2 of 2022 (incl.).

So, while most face-to-face events are still in the future, it’s important to note that virtual events and meetings face challenges of their own. The main one being virtual audience engagement (pointed by 19% of the participants in ‘BCD M&E 2021 Trends Report’ ), followed by ‘Technology platform knowledge’ (15%). Another concern that is less known to be critical in ‘offline’ events, is the low or unpredictable attendance.

Due to the important information above, we believe that LayAlt’s mission to enable in-person events recovery is of utmost importance in 2021. Fortunately, more and more event organizers are using our platform to plan hybrid events at Grand Hotel Sofia and Grand Hotel Millennium Sofia. Make sure you talk to us in case you’re also eager to help recover the event industry!