June 2020

Our Family of Companies
 
 
 
Greetings All,
 
We hope you are well and have adjusted to this brave new world of challenges we could  never have imagined as recently as a few months ago. The hospitality industry and our core business has been turned upside down, and everyone has had to rethink the way we do business and reinvent ourselves - literally overnight.
 
We feel for our friends who manage hotels, and conference centers, and all of those who have been hit hardest by the shutdown, and salute our colleagues at the Westchester Hotel Association, including Natasha Caputo  and  Westchester County Tourism  for their effort to create 10 Rooms for 10 Nights, a free county-wide initiative for those who've put their lives on the line to treat patients. We also recognize  all of those who have stepped forward to offer a place to rest for the weary - the brave frontline workers who battle every day to keep us all safe.
 
But every cloud has a silver lining, and we have taken this time to listen more closely than ever as we look to help our clients get back on their feet. In response to their needs, we recently announced a new Virtual Event platform with our strategic partners from Corporate AV and MackTeck Solutions , and it has fundamentally changed the way we do business.
We are very excited about our unique partnership, and pleased to announce we have already teamed up to produce several virtual events, including YWCA White Plains & Central Westchester Stand Against Racism event, the Westhab 2020 Building Communities event, the Boys &  Girls Club of New Rochelle Spring Gala, the Mercy College Trustees Scholarship event, the Impact 100 Gala, and Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon's Virtual Gala, which far surpassed their expectations. We have many more scheduled for later this month of June and beyond, as people grow more accustomed to participating, including organizations, attendees, and sponsors.
 
In this, our HRG Spring Newsletter, we review how the M&E industry has pivoted quickly to offer new virtual meeting and event offerings that will play a more important role in our future. 
 
We hope you find this newsletter to be a resource to help you prepare your meeting and event plans for this year and beyond. As always, we invite you to contact us about topics you are interested in learning more about in future issues.
 
Wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery!
 
Regards,

Robert O. Sanders Jr., CMP
Partner
Hospitality Resource Group, Inc. 

Michael Lattari 
Partner 
Hospitality Resource Group, Inc.
The Hospitality Sector Steps Forward to Fill the Void  
As reverberations of the pandemic continue to ripple through our industry, we are seeing an amazing outpouring of support, resilience, optimism-and innovation.Industry leader Freeman recently launched Go LIVE Together coalition created to help the hospitality industry recover when we are able to put the health crisis behind us. With the support of more than 65 founding members, they have come together to ensure that when the health crisis is over, the concerns of the live events industry are addressed in local, state, and federal recovery funding.
Nonprofits and M&E Planners Turning to Virtual Options  
We are also seeing incredible energy and enthusiasm from our clients, colleagues and friends who have come together to develop innovative solutions designed as both interim and long-term meeting and event strategies.  As hospitality leaders prepare for a new future, they are shifting gears as quickly as possible to keep their staff and management engaged and moving forward. In responding to meet the demands of this new marketplace, companies have stepped forward to offer virtual meeting and event solutions.
 
In years past, meetings were limited to time and location, and the tone and tenor were very different than they are today. As we have evolved in our thinking and become more open and focused on results, we have seen a greater emphasis on planning to generate a higher ROI in a more demanding, results-oriented market than back in the days of the Mad Men and 2 martini lunches.
Fast forward - today, we seem to have reached a tipping point, as a growing number of M&E Planners have turned to virtual meetings and events. According to EventBrite , business and professional online events increased 1,100% in the past month compared to this time last year. "Our data is showing a significant rise in demand for online events and it's been inspiring to see the innovative ways event creators are leveraging our platform," according to Crystal Valentine, Chief Data Strategy officer at Eventbrite. "We expect online events will continue to play a big role in events post-pandemic."

We are already looking at models that have come forward that provide a roadmap to guide us in how we can harness technology and engage in innovative planning to take advantage of a more global audience.
Recently,  Create & Cultivate's Money Moves Summit sponsored by MasterCard provided a glimpse into the future with a virtual conference that spanned over 20 time zones and offered pre-recorded and live-streamed videos that featured financial workshops, virtual activations, fireside chats, celebrity keynote speakers, live mentor sessions, roundtable conversations, and a live musical performance.
 
And while some see this as a quick fix, a growing number are carefully monitoring and evaluating virtual event elements as part of their in-person event planning in the future. Some of the benefits from engaging on a Virtual Meeting and Event platform we are seeing today include:
  1. Zero travel costs
  2. No F&B costs
  3. No cost overruns on travel and hotel rooms
  4. Higher audience engagement with less distractions
  5. Improved ability to record/report out on meeting or event outcomes
  6. Expanded audience on a more global level
  7. Increase selection of guest speakers and entertainment
Virtual Meetings and Events - Are They Here for the Long Term?  
Major global events often lead to change that include temporary shifts, while other developments can lead to longer term changes that remain. This article in USA Today reviewed the impact of virtual conferences on hosts, presenters, attendees, and sponsors. 
Here are some possibilities we expect to see and will need to prepare for:  
  • Hybrid Meetings and Events - as audiences adjust to virtual platforms, we will see certain elements become standard, combining unique in-person experiences and networking, F&B elements, and guest speakers appearing alongside live presenters.
  • Expanded Content Elements - industry conferences will evolve to include more pre- and post-event learning and education resources, as a truer lifelong learning experience.
  • Globalization to Grow - with the rapid expansion of audiences, speakers, and markets, we will see  new meeting and event options for attendees to participate in, as speech/language translation and local cultural influences are incorporated into the event architecture.
  • Improved ROI and Reporting - business leaders and event planners will be able to measure the effectiveness and productivity of their employees who attend these hybrid meetings and events, as attendees will be prompted to respond to questionnaires and surveys and monitor their experiences.
  • Focus on Innovation in Technology - Tech will continue to offer new resources to drive attendance and engagement on virtual platforms. We will see more examples of gamification, avatars, and Virtual Reality as key components of conferences, trade shows and exhibits. 
What do you need to do to ensure the success of your virtual meeting or event?  
HRG has formed a strategic partnership with industry leaders Corporate AV and MackTeck Solutions to offer a unique, single resource in planning, producing and managing every aspect of a virtual event. 

With experience managing more than 5,000 successful and engaging meetings and events over the past 25 years, our team of strategic partners have earned an industry reputation for unparalleled service, innovation, and delivering results. 
"When the pandemic hit, we had to evaluate our options to host our gala event on a virtual platform, and there were a lot of issues to consider, from maintaining our donors and sponsors, to the logistics, tech and communication. And when it came time to decide who we would work with in planning and producing an event like this, we turned to our trusted partners at HRG, Corporate AV and MackTeck Solutions. And the results exceeded our expectations, as the program was polished, totally professional, and, most importantly - we generated the highest net income from an event in our Club's history. I would highly recommend these partners to anyone looking to develop an event of any kind!"

-Mel Campos
Chief Professional Officer
Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon
For a presentation and demonstration of our leading edge Virtual Event platform, give us a call at 914 761-7111 or info@HRGinc.net.
About Hospitality Resource Group

Hospitality Resource Group, Inc. (HRG) is a group of vertically integrated companies, with over 20 years of experience developing innovative training, marketing and event programs for businesses, education institutions, not for profit organizations and municipalities. HRG clients benefit from our proven ability to develop effective management solutions to expand their markets and engage their companies to build  brand equity, increase sales and improve productivity. 

The HRG family of companies includes:

HRG has earned widespread recognition from leading industry organizations, including:

 
 



 

Corporate Office: 237 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY - Phone: 914.761.7111 - Fax: 914.761.7854 - info@HRGinc.net


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