"Where are we going?" That's what many of us are trying to figure out when we curl up on the TV couch these winter weeks.
The same question has also echoed within the event industry. During the pandemic, many believed in a lasting transformation. A lot of creativity was put into digital and hybrid meetings. In all honesty, rarely was anyone really happy with them. But maybe they would still become "the new normal"?
Then the wheels started rolling again, and we were surprised that so little had changed. The customers sought largely the same as before. In 2023, digital meetings are indeed the new normal - but in the daily work out at the companies. And the status of the physical meeting has rather been raised!
Some of our biggest assignments in the last year have been for large software companies, who organize spectacular physical events to gather their entire "community": Users, consultants, partners and more. These fundamentally digital companies know that nothing can replace the immediate presence of meeting face-to-face, and that shared experiences give birth to a commonality that can then live on in the digital everyday.
The industry fairs are also strong. A new customer, an innovative industrial company of the kind we have so many of in our country, recently told us why they need to ship a 15 meter long demo plant to the fair in Germany: "We want to show that we are no longer a start-up, but that we are real.” In a world where anyone can create great looking digital content, it may be that a physical presence is required to build credibility in the market.
So aren't we going anywhere? Is it the status quo? Not at all! We are all facing a major and much-needed change – not so much in what we do, but in how we do it and by what means.
Sustainability has long been talked about in the event industry. But what does that actually mean in practice? So far, it has often stopped at words, ambitions and symbolic actions.
Sustainable events do not only require us as suppliers to be thoughtful in design, material selection, and logistics solutions. If we really want to achieve results, we must work even more closely with our customers. We need to jointly look up, think long-term and plan for reuse. We need to analyze the benefits and question things that may not be completely necessary. And we cannot get away from mathematics, but we must be able to calculate the climate impact in order to make informed decisions.
With the event industry's pressured time frames, it can be difficult to even talk about sustainability. Therefore, it is more important than ever to have long-term relationships, where you can continuously chisel and refine smart concepts for maximum customer benefit in relation to both cost and environmental impact. Then the conditions are created to later be able to act both quickly and thoughtfully before each individual event.
2024 is approaching. We hope this will be a year where we can work even more closely with our customers to create fantastic meeting places that bring people closer together. With creative height, quality, and consideration for the planet we all live on.
Robert Edanius
Project manager and sustainability officer
Space Production AB
Are you interested in the sustainability work at Space Production and how we can help you with a sustainable event?