Lauralee Shapiro @ CD

Lisa Messina is a longtime veteran of the Las Vegas hospitality industry. Now, she's making a big career move. Click the link below to learn more about why this Vegas vet decided to move to the Sunshine State: https://lnkd.in/g7_jupyW #meetings #orlando #events #florida #vegas #lasvegas #meetingprofs #eventprofs #goingplaces Visit Orlando

My heart sank this morning reading Julius Solaris' latest newsletter. There was a quote from a small biz owner that hit hard. "[...] our firm is not going to survive the massive inflationary increases in AV and F&B costs." Events right now are a Tale of Two Cities. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The mid-size in-person event is getting squeezed out of the market. Venue costs are up. F&B costs are up. A/V costs are up. Attendees and sponsors are signing later and later. The basic requirements for hosting an event have all risen. Gone are the days of booking a hall, getting an overhead projector and a mic, and holding a mid-size event for a few days. If you want to be competitive today, you need to be recording and streaming. Cameras, lights, all the stuff that used to be reserved for the highest of high-end events... you need it all. More gear. More setup time. More labor. Plus all the extras that attendees expect now with their in-person experience. If your food sucks, someone will post on social media about it. If the registration lineup takes too long, it'll be the subject of a boredom post. All it takes is for one of those posts to go viral and BAM. Your brand looks dumb in front of millions of people. People are expensive too. To retain good talent, you have to pay well. This is an industry where overtime is the norm. From the dock manager to the A/V crew to the catering staff to security... I could go on. Staff costs at venues can run in the thousands of dollars per hour. The mid-market event is being squeezed out. This year will mark the last time that many mid-size events have an in-person content-driven event altogether. Here's my unpopular opinion - we have been overdue for this shift for a long time. People don't want to travel to watch what could have been a Zoom call. There's a reason why small events and huge trade shows are booming. They're giving people what they want: Networking, experiences, and a chance to swap stories. Events like NAB give people a chance to see the latest and greatest in tech, and swap war stories during all the happy hours and after-parties. Events like Client Ascension's Tampa mastermind give a select few attendees an exclusive chance to pick the brains of 7-8 figure entrepreneurs... on a literal yacht. If you're in the mid-market, chances are you would be way better off hosting your content online, then having a one-day VIP reception in-person. High margin. Lower cost. Great memories. You get the best of all worlds. While this is a sad moment for many companies in the event space, it should also be a moment for reflection. Does your event format still make sense in 2024? Does your event format today look the same it did in 2004? Your event doesn't have to be that way because "it's the way we've always done it." It's time to pause and re-think the way we hold events.