Hello and thank you for taking a moment to check out this initiative. We thought the best way to kick things off was with an overview of Why we are excited about this initiative. Who it will impact. And What we are looking forward to accomplishing. We encourage you to reach out to us if you would like to get involved or have any feedback, insights or data you would like to share. Welcome to the next generation of Meeting, Events and Conferences!
A conversation with Chair and Vice Chair David T. Stevens and Reina Herschdorfer
Reina Herschdorfer: What excites me about this is that it validates something many of us in the meetings and events industry have felt for a long time. Not only do we feel that wellness is important for meetings and events, but the wellness industry now understands and sees that meetings and events matter too. That is a big shift.
David T Stevens: Exactly. We have been straddling two different industries. We have the meetings and events industry, and then we have the wellness industry, which has been around for a while. What is exciting about this initiative is that it helps bridge that gap. It is truly an evolution of our industry.
Reina: And the timing feels right. There has definitely been a shift in our industry. More people are paying attention. More organizations are starting to consider this. Being part of the Global Wellness Institute, and having this initiative under that umbrella, helps people understand the importance of it and the impact we can make as an industry.
David: I think the pandemic really gave people a better understanding of how important taking care of themselves is. It also changed how willing people are to have this conversation. Before, there were a lot of people who did not really think about mental health or wellness in a serious way. Then you had this period where everyone was forced to stop, reflect, and deal with things differently. That shifted perspective for a lot of people.
Reina: During COVID, there was so much discussion about whether gatherings would ever really come back. Would people still continue to meet? And of course they would. People have been gathering since the beginning of time. The idea that everyone would just stay on Zoom forever was never realistic.
David: Right. We are an entire industry built on the value of bringing people together in person. And now, with so much of life becoming more automated, that matters even more.
Reina: More and more in society, we have less and less real human interaction. You call an office and get AI. You try to reach a person and it is hard to actually get to a human being.
David: Exactly. We are being deprived of micro-interactions with humanity. You do not order Starbucks from a barista anymore. You order it on your phone, show up, grab it, and leave. Even at the airport, it is facial recognition, automated gates, barely talking to anyone. We are losing coincidental interactions with people.
Reina: Which is exactly why in-person experiences matter so much.
David: Yes. The rise of automation and AI is making meetings and events in person even more important than ever, because there is inherently becoming more and more lack of trust in what people are experiencing online. Deepfakes are getting so good. Technology is getting harder to distinguish from reality. When people gather in person, they know it was real.
Reina: And today, knowledge can be obtained anywhere. Online. But when you are in person, you know it is real, and you get to meet the people. It is the connections. It is the brainstorming. It is the creativity. It is the chatter that happens when you are having a juice together or talking after a sound bath.
David: People go to conferences for connection. That is such a big part of it. Yes, there is content, but what people really remember is who they met, the conversations they had, the relationships they built.
Reina: Which is why the old model does not really work anymore.
David: Totally. For a long time, the model was basically to wear people down and call that networking. Heavy food, too much drinking, late nights, early mornings, people showing up the next day running on coffee after going to bed at two in the morning.
Reina: That was just the culture. That was the norm in our business.
David: But people were not showing up as their best selves. That was what was supposedly bringing people together, instead of building an event around positives, where you are bonding people in ways that create meaningful relationships and interactions they actually remember.
Reina: And when you incorporate wellness into an event, you change the dynamic. You change the paradigm.
David: Exactly. The way people show up as their best selves is when they can maintain the lifestyle they live outside of work and outside of the conference. Getting a full night’s sleep. Eating decent food. Moving your body. All the things people are pursuing in their day-to-day lives. When we build walls that prevent them from maintaining that lifestyle at a conference, it undermines their ability to show up as their best selves.
Reina: That is such an important point. Events are the perfect place for this to happen, because that is when you have people gathered together. If you can support people better in that setting, you are influencing the experience in a very real way.
David: And that is why this matters beyond just the meetings industry. If you want to influence human experience at scale, events are one of the most powerful places to do it.
Reina: I would love to see this become part of the norm. There was a time when you could not really study meeting planning in universities. Now you can. I would like to see wellness for events become part of the curriculum too. I would like people to be taught what best practices are, how to do it, and where to start, whether they have a small budget or a large budget.
David: Yes. Because that is the real question. How do planners, executives, and the people who care about this actually get started? What are the practical things they can do?
Reina: That is what I hope this initiative can help answer.
David: Same. Because this is not about wellness as a nice extra. It is about making meetings and events work better for the people in them.
Reina: And that is why this initiative matters now.
