IACC External Meetings Demand Report 2022

The same interviewee mentioned ways the venues are making a difference, “they pay a lot of attention to the venue and what the venue is offering on sustainability. Waste of food is an important one ” (Informant #3). Additionally, another interviewee mentioned human values as illustrated in this quote: We conquer the whole lot and so to become a supplier of DHL, they will have to agree to the environments to be sustainable, have a good policy for their staff and ensure that they're being well treated, they've been trained, there's no bullying, very diverse and also, they are socially responsible companies that are doing things legally, no 6-year-old to clean the bedrooms and those type of things (Informant #1). Sharing the same values with those external meeting venues is a way for companies to also respect their own organisational culture and their commitment to their employees. 4.2.7 Trends in the Meeting Industry In this paragraph, the new trends influencing the meeting industry will be identified and elaborated on.

Changing customer expectations

For the past two years, employees have had to adapt to the constant change of situations which has also created new expectations. When meeting in-person, employees are now more willing to connect and share ideas. An interviewee mentioned the need to detach from the screen, “because we are doing so much on zoom right now, we actually want to avoid screens as much as possible ” (Informant #6). Employees place a high importance on interaction. After so many meetings done online, in-person interaction is highly requested and is also an aspect that the organiser of trainings should understand, an interviewee mentioned the importance of it: And they are not just going to be spectators to what is happening. We call it a hub and spoke model. They are not just going to be spectators to what's happening at the hub, we will have facilitators who live in that area, traveling around the audience as they are listening with microphones. (Informant #4) This interaction is more inclusive for everyone, “And so, you get that interaction. So, it is not just one person talking to 25. It is one person sharing ideas, sharing information, getting questions from over 300 people” (Informant #4), this ensures interest from all employees and encourages collaboration from a larger group. Furthermore, a new expectation from the employees is more moments spent working outside: We have a lot of moments that we just take the group outside and, on several occasions, when of course, it needs to be summer in Belgium for a good weather. But absolutely, yeah, we do that, the lunches and we see it helps. It helps for the atmosphere and the spirits. (Informant #3) Having outdoor meeting possibilities can have many benefits on the work environment and the ambiance between colleagues.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) of the companies that were interviewed, and the venues being used have been identified as very relevant. When mentioning the CSR during interviews, the main topic brought up was sustainability. C lients of IACC’s venue s put a lot of importance on the green aspect proposed by the venues, but also their carbon footprint throughout their stay. One of the interviewees mentioned their own goal as a company, “So, one of the main areas we're looking at now and that’s a project for next year is how can we have a carbon- neutral training event. So that's high on our agenda as a company” (Informant #1). Their environmental impact during meetings has been raised throughout multiple interviews, where

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