The right touch

There’s very little that can replace the impact of in-person meetings, conventions, exhibitions, says Chat’r CEO John Arvanitakis. So how do we ensure we keep up the spirit of eventing while we adjust to shifting goalposts?

Humans are social beings who thrive off physical contact and authentic human interaction. It is well known that most people make decisions based on how they feel, and this is difficult to achieve via an email, phone call, or even online meetings facilitated by platforms such as Zoom.

As part of the bigger picture, meetings and business events are a driving factor in our economy, as large-scale events and conferences fuel trading and commerce. They also have a direct impact on the South African business tourism, leisure travel and entertainment industries.

THE DOWNTURN When the hard lockdown was announced in March this year, the MICE industry came to a screeching halt; all gatherings such as events, conferences, exhibitions, weddings, church groups, celebrations, and incentives were cancelled within 48 hours of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement. Certain players within the industry have made attempts to stay afloat and pivot their direction via online platforms. Chat’r is no exception to this and, through the launch of Chat’r TV, we have also been hard at work to provide an offering that means events can still continue.

With the recent announcement that the country will be moving to Level 1 of lockdown and that indoor events of 250 people and outdoor events of 500 will be permitted, the industry can start to move slowly out of its doldrums. As positive as this step is, the industry is still far from where it was prior to Covid-19 and we still have a long way to go before large-scale events and exhibitions will be allowed.

A REALISTIC TAKE The reality of where we are currently is that many of the business events sector’s smaller players have had no choice but to shut their doors, while larger organisations are downsizing and retrenching. Indirectly, we are seeing the effect on the country’s business dealings, as well as the total slump on inbound business tourism, which has a huge impact on the economy.

What we were working toward prior to lockdown has been fast-tracked by the pandemic and national lockdown, and we are that much closer to bringing to life the virtual attendance of conferences and exhibitions using technologies that will someday include VR headsets and eventually even AR technology.

For now, we see our role as helping the industry to survive and recover during this time, by making the Chat’r TV virtual offering available as best we can. However, in the long run, our mission is to help facilitate a mindset change, which has already begun to occur, and this is what will usher in a new era of eventing: the hybrid event.

A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL We believe that the future is bright for the MICE industry and that after a period

“The industry as a whole is going to need to work hard and be united to recover and grow in the years to come.”

of recovery and hard work, our events, conferences and exhibitions will be even better than before. We would like to see the industry take the tools, resources and lessons learned during this difficult time and apply these to a new way of approaching business entirely.

We envision hybrid events becoming the norm: delegates attending real in-person events, while others opt to attend remotely from the comfort of their homes or offices. Essentially, events may become global, with attendees logging in from all over the world, without having to travel a single mile.

Obviously, the current restrictions placed on the number of delegates able to attend

events, especially for large-scale events such as exhibitions, still pose the greatest threat. While allowing meetings of up to 250 people indoors and 500 outdoors has opened a small gap for business events to resume, the change is minimal and our associations – such

as SAACI, AAXO and the SA Events Council – are hard at work urging the government to take a different approach. This hopes to allow for larger events and exhibitions to resume to an extent, such as allowing a 50% of total occupancy of meeting venues. Another stumbling block to our growth and recovery is

the ban that some of our source markets for international delegates have placed on travel to and from South Africa. The South African government’s restrictions on the number of delegates able to attend exhibitions and trade shows also places hosting large international events, exhibitions and conventions under threat, heavily impacting on the business tourism industry – especially since so many of our international delegates opt to tour our beautiful country while here.

WHERE WE COULD AND SHOULD BE Besides getting the government to further open up our MICE sector, the industry as a whole is going to need to work hard and be united to recover and grow in the years to come. We’ll need to have all meetings and conference associations on board, as well those directly involved with marketing South Africa as a business tourism and meetings destination, such as the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB) and SA Tourism. PCOs will also need as much support as they can get in bidding for international events.

Despite being a long-haul destination for international visitors, there is no reason why South Africa’s MICE industry cannot fully recover; given our beautiful country, favourable weather conditions, our worldclass venues/facilities and an extremely favourable foreign currency exchange rate, there is so much our industry has to offer.