The end of meetings as we knew them - part 1
This is the first part of a series of articles in which we will explore the underlying trends and drivers that could shape the industry over the next decade and will centre on understanding the impact this will have on business models, meeting formats and meeting venues.
Meetings, seminars and conferences will never be the same anymore. Three factors are accelerating this trend:
- the growth of online (web- and videoconferencing),
- cost considerations (caused by the credit crisis); and
- the rise of social media and online business networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).
This will have an immediate effect on the way we meet and the layout of and services we need in meeting venues. Meeting venues will need to change dramatically and introduce what I would like to call ‘high tech – high touch’ services to accommodate the new meeting paradigm: the ‘hybrid meeting’, where face-face and virtual are combined. This creates new opportunities to design meeting models and processes that will help organisations to choose the most effective methods to conduct meetings across time and space, using the latest technology and distinguish themselves from traditional meeting organisers and venues. We are already seeing some fine examples of organisations that are implementing new offline/online conference concepts, setting up meeting ‘2.0’ venues.
In the next weeks I will explore the above subjects and blog about trends in the meeting industry. Please add your comments below.
