AIPC: Here’s to a New & Bright Future

Date: 20/01/2021

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by Sven Bossu, CEO AIPC

On Nov. 30, a Flemish news anchor—Martine Tanghe—retired after presenting the seven o’clock news for 42 years on the public television. She has covered everything from royal weddings to natural disasters and every American president since Jimmy Carter. And her last words to her audience were: “Stay safe, take care–everything will be fine.”

Like anyone in the event industry, she most probably had different expectations with regards to 2020. And then she adapted to a new reality and provided us with daily COVID-19 updates for nine months. Similarly, event venues had to quickly adapt—first by becoming health and safety facilities and then by re-inventing themselves, both on a tactical and strategic level. This transition is still ongoing and requires many difficult decisions, not in the least when it comes to staff.
And unfortunately, these hard times will continue for the next months. But the pandemic has made something very clear: the importance of face-to-face meetings cannot be overestimated. When attending the annual conference of several associations in the last months–including AIPC’s—the message from the speakers was very clear: without face-to-face meetings, we lose the ability to truly innovate, collaborate and create welfare. Whether it concerned finance, cancer treatment or technology, each time the same need for bringing communities together surfaced.

And this will of course happen. China is already back in business, so is Dubai, and Singapore recently held its first major international event this year in a safe and secure way. In Europe, event organizers are firming up their plans to have meetings in the second half of 2021, boosted by the news of the roll-out of vaccines as from the start of next year and similar news is heard on the other continents.

Read the full article here

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