FOCUS
THE RIGHT Organising and hosting an event is a costly and resource-intensive affair; during a time when budgets are much tighter, unnecessary expenditure isn’t an option. Join Meetings as we navigate through what essentials and add-ons can be expected from post-pandemic events.
T
he lockdown and limitations on social interaction during the Covid-19 pandemic spotlighted just how important face-to-face interaction is to the human psyche. So much so that it led to the establishment of #WorkAnywhere – a global advocacy movement representing remote workers and lobbying for a policy and legislation shift for the creation of remote working communities. So why is there such a growing emphasis on establishing genuine connections and
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growing communities? Well, in short, people thrive on positive social interactions. “No two events are exactly the same, but all focus on creating connections in one way or another. Maybe attendees connect with each other, with content, or with an idea. You need to think about how to create those connections. For instance, if the goal of the event is to teach attendees, you need to think about what attendees are learning, why they’re learning it, and how you want to teach them,” says Cvent’s Social Tables, highlighting the importance of creating genuine connections. And there is a scientific consensus that the human brain’s reward system releases dopamine when experiencing such a connection. “Data from functional imaging studies in humans exhibit striatal activations for a variety of rewarding social stimuli. There is evidence from a variety of studies that the dopaminergic reward circuits in the basal
ganglia form the primary neural system for processing reward of various social stimuli which could motivate social behaviour,” it was noted in a 2010 academic review titled, ‘The rewarding nature of social interactions’. This makes a strong case for why we as event organisers and planners need to focus on providing the best possible platform and environment in which positive social interaction can thrive.
ALIGNING NEEDS An article published on the PubMed Central website alludes to how the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a marked change in the way event attendees consume events, noting that “key findings highlight pleasure and excitement and sense of safety as salient personal values. Respondents also found health/safety attributes particularly important, considering them must-be attributes. Providing health/ safety services prior to the event would be effective in decreasing dissatisfaction.” This shows that event organisers should place a clear emphasis on health and safety protocols in the lead-up to and during their
16 • MEETINGS l MAY/JUNE 2022 www.theplanner.guru
