In a televised speech on April 4, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II reassured the British public that, “better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.”
Although I’m sure the Queen is a big fan of the meetings industry, just like Pope Francis II who wrote an address specifically for an audience with event professionals, Her Majesty was actually referencing a song that was popular during the Second World War. Sung by Vera Lynn, “We’ll Meet Again” evokes soldiers leaving for war and pledging to return. Although the song was written in 1939, the lyrics perfectly sum up the uncertainty of the current meetings industry: “We’ll meet again, don’t know when, don’t know where, but I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.”
MeetingsNet has reached out to thought leaders in the industry to find out what they think will happen to the future of meetings and events in response to the pandemic, what they are most afraid of, and more importantly, what opportunities the pause in events can offer to planners, personally and professionally. We will be sharing a few of their thoughts over the next few weeks, and while none of the professionals we interviewed could tell us when or where we will meet again, they all agreed with the Queen. We’ll meet again.
