While the return of in-person corporate meetings and events continues to gather steam, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to shape companies’ priorities and policies around such interactions, according to a new study from AOK Events. 

The London-based corporate events organizer in August and September 2021 conducted a survey of its clients whose yearly buying power for events exceeded £50 million. The results indicated what AOK called a “new rule book” for the events sector due to the “probability that there will be no return to pre-pandemic business-as-usual.”

Among the biggest changes in the new paradigm is a shift in companies’ main objectives when it comes to their events strategy and budgeting. The survey asked respondents to indicate the three main objectives for their events spend in summer 2019 and the present time up through the end of 2021 to compare how those aims have changed since the pandemic.

For external events, objectives such as supporting a new product or service launches and engaging with media and supplier partners have surged in importance, rising 33 percent and 48 percent, respectively. Conversely, entertaining clients declined by 11 percent, largely due to the need for such entertainment to be accomplished in-person. 

For internal events, the pandemic has forced companies to conduct a balancing act of ensuring the health and safety of their employees while continuing to conduct business. Amid those competing priorities, teambuilding and maintaining company culture skyrocketed as a priority, increasing by 38 percent from 2019 to 2021. 

As to the road ahead, survey responses indicated that companies are preparing to ramp back up budgets for external events sooners that internal events, with 80 percent of respondents projecting their external events budget would increase in 2022 and beyond, compared with 68 percent projecting their internal events budget to rise during the same timeframe. 

That contrast indicates a re-emerging demand for event-based client entertainment over the near term, particularly related to Christmas-related events, along with the likelihood that internal events will continue to operate on a largely virtual or hybrid basis for the long term, AOK said.