As the meetings and events industry begins its return following lockdown, businesses will be keen to provide staff that have been there throughout the pandemic with training and development opportunities. These show colleagues they are valued, while also progressing their personal development which is key to any business’s success.

When the UK government announced England’s roadmap out of lockdown, a sense of optimism – albeit cautious optimism – swept the nation. As businesses prepare for life after lockdown, plans can now be put into place to ensure the staff, which have helped organisations run during the most difficult of recent business periods, are supported.

One year ago, it would have been strange to image a world without face-to-face meetings. While we have become familiar with online meetings and working remotely, there are signs that many people are ready to partly return to the working world we previously knew.

In February, a roadmap started to be formulated regarding the easing of lockdown in the UK. As we look forward to putting plans in place to welcome delegates back in a physical setting, we must also acknowledge the way in which conferences and events are run has changed.

With the vaccine for coronavirus being rolled out across the UK, businesses can begin building for the future, taking into consideration key learnings from 2020.

While everyone is confined to their own homes during Lockdown 3.0, many of our customers have been missing the creative spaces which our venues provide.

Every year, we publish our industry trends report and reflect on the learnings and expected focuses across the industry.

No magic eight ball could have predicted what 2020 had in store for the events and hospitality industry. And it’s fair to say that we don’t know what lies ahead as we look to try plan for 2021.