The year 2020 will be remembered as the year that most of the industries got frozen. It is the year that halted a lot of social and economic activities. The global events management industry felt the impact of the pandemic – it is shattering.

The events management industry in the Philippines is not spared. Compared to the global events management industry capable to pivot faster, the event management industry in the Philippines is another story. A sad and forgettable story.

Given the circumstances and factors that are seen and unseen what is the future of the events management industry in the Philippines.

Welcome to Virtual Events

The Center of Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) - a non-governmental organization monitoring the trends of the exhibition industry released a new study that 86% of the global events shifted to virtual.

Among those interviewed, only 22% plan to abandon virtual events once the world goes back to normal. While 77% of the executives mostly from the US believe that virtual events will become a bigger component of their physical events.

The digital transformation took a faster turn when the pandemic happened. It changed the behavior of the consumers. They are now familiar with the technology. This makes virtual events an easy sell.

Experimenting Ways to Profit

The challenge of a virtual event is to become profitable. CEIR’s study revealed that prices of exhibition booths are 55% lower compared to the pricing in a physical event. In the Philippines, the business event organizers agree with this finding. Some even experienced pricing their services lower, as a low as 20% just to survive or make their staff productive.

Indeed, the challenge is finding the business models that will make the virtual events attractive as a business proposition. However, the same CEIR study showed that 21% of business event organizers exceed their profit goals in the virtual events.

Confronting VUCA – The Future of Events Management

It is a VUCA world. Nobody can argue that. The rate of changes unfolding right in front of our eyes like the explosion of the digital frontier and unpredictable social events like the pandemic are just a few of the phenomena.

In this VUCA backdrop, what is the future of events management in the world and in the Philippines? 

Aristotle the legendary Greek Philosopher said, “ Man is by nature a social animal’ an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual.”

Despite the challenges of our current world, man is a social animal. Events are one of his sources of socialization. Events where we gather and commune is part of our social make-up. It is safe to assume that events are here to stay, the question is what form?

The forms of events available like physical events, virtual events, and hybrid events become pivotal as we try to discover how to deliver a better experience and profitable results. All over the world, the resounding consensus is that virtual event or hybrid event becomes the norm rather than the exception. This leads to a domino effect on the composition of our event manpower and business strategies. 

It will be exciting to see changes in the events management industry moving forward. Right now, we are in the initial phase of the revolution. We are, as part of the industry, are actors shaping the story of our industry as it happens.