“The follow-up on the rush of enquiries after the road map announcement is going well and has been boosted with a noticeable increase in site visit requests since they started this week. But the lack of certainty around the roadmap dates has made event bookers understandably cautious about contract terms,” says Adam Simpson, Director of Marketing and US Sales of etc.venues.
In the 24 hours after the Prime Minister’s road map speech, etc.venues received £2m worth of enquiries and incoming calls have continued at a strong level in subsequent weeks. They have been coming from corporates, public organisations and associations and were immediately followed up by members of its sales team who have been continuously available since before the announcement. Enquiries covered many different types of meetings and events but predominantly major training programmes and conferences looking to get key dates on hold. These events, comprising of both live and hybrid, are scheduled for late Q2, Q3 and Q4 this year.
“It’s great to see that many requests for site visits are from potential clients who have not held events with us before, as well as from previous customers interested in new venues including the additional floor at 133 Houndsditch. Most of the potential bookings have been from organisations that have held events at our venues before and are familiar with them.
“Despite this, a typical conversation about booking is lasting 25 per cent longer than before the pandemic. Although planners are briefly touching upon safety processes, they are quickly reassured by our well-proven 18 Point Plan. Most of their questions are around the possible inclusion of extra contract clauses to cover the consequences if the road map dates slip back or if new restrictions are introduced, for instance, limiting numbers of in-person delegates attending.
“Overall, there is a positive attitude and a strong underlying determination to return to live events as soon as possible, but they want to be covered in case the landmark dates or regulations change.
“We remain cautiously confident of confirming the vast majority of the enquiries over the coming months.”
Author: Adam Parry
Adam is the co-founder and editor of www.eventindustrynews.com Adam, a technology evangelist also organises Event Tech Live, Europe’s only show dedicated to event technology and the Event Technology Awards. Both events take place in November, London.
