Companies in Australia seem to be completely abandoning virtual meetings for 2Q2022, according to events technology company Cvent.
This observation was made by Cvent Australia’s director of sales, Jack Ukil, who shared that 95 per cent of the meetings Cvent is supporting in the second quarter have gone in favour of hybrid or fully in-person events, providing insight into Australia’s appetite to return to face-to-face meetings.
“It was eye-opening to see how fast our industry is recovering here in Australia, with people craving to get back to in-person,” Ukil shared at AIME in Melbourne on March 22.
“If I compared North America to Australia, I think we have a lot more in-person and hybrid events returning and faster right now, which is surprising to me because they were ahead of the curve. But while we had a few issues with lockdowns, I think overall we handled really well and as a result, we’re back to in-person and hybrid faster than anywhere else across the planet,” he added.
Cvent Australia has been experiencing “non-standard” business growth of 96 per cent year-on-year since the pandemic hit, as clients turned to technology solutions to engage their audience.
This surge in demand for a return to face-to-face meetings is expected to lead to new challenges and “substantial business growth” for Cvent.
“Compared to last year, I’m doubling down on my business development management team. That obviously has a ripple effect and impacts the account management team, which eventually grows as a result, and my client services team grows too,” said Ukil.
Cvent is also investing heavily in enhancing tech solutions for meeting planners further, with plans to offer “CNN-style webinars” that deliver higher quality production standards, more interactive capabilities and community-style functionality to give users the sense of being more connected to a broader group.
