Reimagining Business Meetings and Incentive Travel in the Post-Covid Era

Four meetings and incentive travel executives and a research expert on all aspects of engagement will join an Enterprise Engagement Alliance RRN at RewardsRecognitionNetwork.com live and streamed YouTube Show on “Reimagining Business Meetings and Incentive Travel in the Post-Covid Era.” Their major conclusions: *The meetings and incentive travel market is back with a lot of the same fundamental components as before the pandemic, but programs are beginning to shift toward greater focus on interactivity, downtime, more personalization and authentic cultural exploration. *Bringing large groups together in an auditorium with compelling keynotes, panelists, and entertainment is still part of the mix both for storytelling and energizing people toward a common purpose, but all agree that the traditional 80-20 ratio of plenaries and breakouts is now shifting toward 60-40 group versus more personalized experiences, and that even auditorium programs can benefit from more interactivity. *People are under tremendous stress today for multiple reasons--planners should be sensitive that many people are carrying different types of emotional baggage to events and look for way ways to help them hang up that stress for a few days to be with colleagues rather than pile more on to the stress they're already feeling. *There is more emphasis on culture, authenticity, and exploration, but also a need to address the interests of all different types of participants, which can include social events with less emphasis on alcohol. *Sustainability is a growing concern, but varies by client, as do issues related to concerns about fair pay of destination employees or the potential for human trafficking. The focus on return-on- investment measurement (that is, against specific organizational objectives) has gained some traction since the pandemic, but also varies widely by client. Panelists are Jacque Busby, Founder, CEO of Luxe Incentives, a 32-year-old meetings and incentive travel firm; Kate Cardoso, Director, Strategic Services, HMI Performance Incentives; Charlotte Frederick, Vice President, EGR International; Dr. Rick Garlick, Founder, Rick Garlick & Associates, with decades of research experience in engagement; and Melissa Van Dyke, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing and Innovation, The Creative Group, founded in 1970.