The COVID-19 pandemic has left the world in a dire and grim state. Businesses – big or small have all been affected severely. However, the tourism sector has taken one of the biggest blows and MICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions will take a long time to recover. Given the norms of “new normal” where social gatherings are a complete no-no, it will be quite a while before “meetings” will go back to the way they were. Girish Kwatra, CEO, Meetings and More and Hony. Secretary, ICPB, is a MICE expert who understands the industry better than most. In a detailed chat with BOTT India, he outlines what will be the “new rules” of the “new MICE” era…
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Could you share with me a broad picture of your company operations – what is it that you specialise in?
Meetings and More a PCO (Professional conference organizer cum Destination management company), with a Pan India presence in – Gurgaon – New Delhi – Chennai – Mumbai – Hyderabad – Bangalore – Kolkata. We provide avenues for people to engage, interact and exchange knowledge and we specialise in organising conferences, incentives, exhibitions and events. Our experience ranges from arranging small board meetings to large global events. We specialize in venue selection, contracting and negotiations with vendors, conference management, exhibition management, and global event planning. We tailor our services to the particular needs of each client. We are an impressive team of MICE professionals and give immense importance to attention to detail; continuous budget control and endless creativity to help you explore new venues and new ways to impress your clients or employees. Our professional team encompasses a variety of skills that make everything possible. Team M&M has handled conferences with participation from 50 to as many as15000 delegates. Meetings & More is one of the very few PCO with ISO accreditation and with membership of ICPB, ICCA, SITE and IAPCO. Under the umbrella of Meetings and More, we have a specialised cell, where in we handle association management services (AMC) where we not only assist associations in managing routine affairs but also act as a catalyst in the growth of an association.
How severely has your business been affected by COVID crisis?
Just like everybody us is, we are also at zero business today. Most of the meetings are either being deferred or cancelled. We were running smoothly and did successful meetings up till March 1, 2020 However, the meetings from mid-March till September are not happening anymore, We had a mix of both National and International meetings lined up during this period, which are either called off by the clients for the moment or deferred, However meetings, post October are still on the books, we are in discussion with clients on hosting conferences, but it depends on the situation in next couple of months, we together with our clients, will take a call on this.
We are in the midst of the “opening” phase where on one hand cases are growing and on the other hand, facilities are opening – in such a scenario, what future do you foresee for tourism in India?
We hope and pray that the number of COVID cases comes down in next two months’ time and the meeting spaces will open for conducting conferences from September 2020 onwards. We may start initially with state level meetings followed by zonal, and then national meetings could open, and thereafter as borders open, then international meetings may be opened.
Future of tourism is domestic (which is a huge segment), atleast for the next one year, as international meets will be very small in size, not only because of fear of travel, but also because of financial crisis
MICE Industry is the one that deals with crowds. How will that work given the restrictions of “social distancing”?
We certainly feel there will be a big challenge in conducting the conferences in the ‘New Normal way’. We, as a company, had to do several brainstorming sessions internally and were then able to form new processes and systems, wherein we will be able to do meetings while following the new normal way of hosting conferences, taking in to consideration safety of everyone – the client, attendees and our employees.
What, in your opinion will be the “new normal” of MICE? What points would companies / organisers have to consider before hosting a meeting?
This pandemic will also affect the participation of the delegates in the conferences, even when they start to happen. Conferences will happen more in examination style rather than theatre or cluster style. The proposed role of the professional conference may capture the below activities, as the lock down opens:
- Organising virtual meetings for clients, till the time no physical meetings are permissible, as per law of land, for different countries.
- After the lock down, opens, for first few months…Organising physical meetings with limited number of delegates and faculties, following the new normal way of meeting (following the physical distancing)
- Transmitting the same physical meeting on online platform. PCO will coordinate with those meetings and people who can’t attend meetings, will send them a paid link, through which they can attend the conference from their own places through Live Transmission.
- The soft copy of the registration badges will be sent through an email and would have to take the printouts and get in to the conference. All lanyard with pouches will be placed at the common area, thereby NO ONSITE REGISTRATION at the venue, and avoiding all kind of physical contact.
- The meals will not be served in buffet, rather packed food will be distributed, from fixed counters, following physical distancing pattern.
- Providing safety kit at the conference venue that will include sanitizer, safety mark and one pair of gloves.
- Every delegate / visitor / staff to be treated as Corona positive, therefore thorough checking will have to be done, such as, using Robotic Thermal Scanners for Detecting body temperature at entrance to ensure the safe and risk free event.
- Medical Emergency desk to be must for very gathering, with all required medical facilities.
What changes would the “Venues” be required to undertake in order to make the conferencing a “safe” experience?
Venues will have to rework on their convention areas. They would need to provide a safe Conference environment and to ensure that people are not exposed to risks in terms of their health and safety. They will have to ensure that the event is safe and secure for all the staff and attendees.
- In the Post COVID era, venues will have to work on social distancing style of seating also with gap of 8 – 10 ft.
- They should have a separate entry and exit.
- They will have to prepare a sanitizing tunnel as a mandatory aspect for entry to the convention areas.
- The meals will not be served in buffet, rather packed food will be distributed, from fixed counters, following physical distancing pattern.
- Safety kit at the conference venue that will include sanitizer, safety mark and one pair of gloves
- Every delegate / visitor / staff to be treated as Corona positive, therefore through , using Robotic Thermal Scanners for detecting body temperature entrance to ensure the safe and risk free event.
- Medical Emergency desk to be must for very gathering, with all required facilities
Many MICE venues, globally, seem to be opening in a gradual manner. When do you think India will be ready to get into the MICE game again?
Currently, we are assuming that MICE will start from September/ October 2020. But in smaller numbers and following the new normal ways, as because of new meeting norms, venue would not have huge spaces to conduct big size meetings, however, we hope that vaccine will be out in the market by end of this financial year, and then, we will be able to do normal meetings.
As ICPB Hony Secretary, how supportive, in your opinion, has the Government been in listening and implementing upon your requests / demands with regards to COVID crisis?
As an ICPB office bearer, we are doing Knowledge sessions for our members, not only for current MICE business, but also on managing finances, general safety of homes and offices and surviving during these difficult times etc.
Most importantly, we have to understand that India is a very complex country wherein the primary agenda is to feed people, sending them to their respective home places, etc. However, we strongly believe that Government will provide us solutions in the long run. We have been doing sessions with Ministry of Tourism and are very confident that MoT is considering our requests and our demand and will definitely provide some relief to the MICE Industry as well as ICPB members. Not long ago, MoT has already launched champion sector scheme in these difficult times, which will be a big boost to international tourism business, as the borders are open for global meets.
