About 76 percent of U.S.-based meeting planner respondents will hold their next face-to-face event this year, according to a new survey from London-based conference-venue provider Etc.venues. Nearly three in five (59 percent) plan to focus exclusively on in-person events for 2021 and 2022, rather than adding a mix of virtual and hybrid meetings.
The survey was conducted the last week of June 2021 with responses from 405 event planners, including more than 100 based in the United States.
Still, when combining U.K. and U.S. respondents, 68 percent indicated they believe hybrid events will continue to be more common than before the pandemic, down from 73 percent who indicated such December, and similar to the 67 percent surveyed in June 2020.
About 82 percent of the combined group said they value face-to-face meetings more than before the pandemic. This compares with the 88 percent who said so at the end of 2020 and the 77 percent who said so in June 2020.
U.S. Expansion, New Sales Mgr.
Meanwhile, Etc.venues has fully opened its second New York City location, at 601 Lexington Ave., on the 14th floor of a 59-story office tower with 30,000 square feet of event space. The space joins the company's initial NYC venue located at 360 Madison Ave., which opened in March 2020.
In addition, John Sklencar has joined the company as sales development manager in the United States. He most recently was the Northeast national sales manager for Choose Chicago and previously worked for Visit Britain in New York City and for Destination D.C.