JGL hosted a webinar on Friday, April 10, 2020 with a panel of experts to address how the event rental business is trending currently, what can be done now to help facilitate a positive sales process and what do catering and venue professionals need to be thinking about for the future.
Panelists:
• Jan DeMarzo, VP of Development, Neuman’s Kitchen
• Natalia Laskaris, Director of Rental Events and Catering Services, Peabody Essex Museum
• Adelee Cabrera, VP of Operations, Constellation Culinary
• Robert Severini, Director of Events & Catering, Wildlife Conservation Society
JGL Team:
• Tracy Lawler, President
• Brooke Botwinick, Senior Associate
• Colleen Geyer, Junior Associate
Tracy opened the Webinar with some statistics from a recent Wedding Report survey:
1. 28% of couples are postponing to later in 2020, most of these are coming from April, May, June weddings.
2. 22.5% are moving to 2021, these are from April to December
3. 6.5% are cancelling altogether, most these are coming from April and May
4. 43% are holding the date
JGL asked each panelist to address the following questions:
1. What types of inquiries are you getting? What type of business is booking?
2. Have you noticed any changes in the needs of social clients? In the needs of corporate clients?
3. Has your marketing strategy changed in the short term? Do you anticipate longer term changes?
4. How do you expect events to change after we re-open?
5. Do you have two or three top tips that have been helpful to you in booking or retaining events?
To view the webinar, please click the link below:
http://JGL Webinar Recording: Finding the New Normal in the Event Industry
Top takeaways from the conversation:
• We are all in this together.
• Virtual tours are helping venues continue to book events.
• As in the 2008 economic downturn, the social market is seeing the most activity and booking while corporate and gala markets are very limited.
• Event professionals have more time now to focus on staying connected to their client base through social media.
• This is a great time to update your website, review your contract and clean up your CRM.
• Consider relaxing rental policies for the balance of 2020; this might include allowing ceremonies on site or select fundraisers.
• Making clients feel secure about booking will be the key to success – following CDC protocols, business continuity planning and providing a fair cancellation policy given the current circumstances.
• Reducing rental fees is not ideal as it can devalue your brand; offering incentives for less desirable days or adding more included elements to a package price is a more effective long-term strategy.
• Anticipate new categories of events such an employee or customer appreciation events.
• Norms regarding number of guests seated at rounds, buffets, passed hors d’oeuvres and stations are all changing. The catering community needs to pivot quickly to be able to provide guidance and offer creative solutions once gatherings can happen again.
• Packaging will be an important part of food service in the future. Sourcing sustainable and cost- effective materials will be the challenge. This research needs to be done now.
We hope that you find this information helpful. If you have any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you.
Please continue to stay safe and healthy. We are optimistic about the future of the event industry and believe that there is great enthusiasm to begin gathering again!