As offices reopen and more employees return to the office, the conference is making a comeback as well.
Key Details
- The pandemic squashed any growth business conferences and trade shows would have had, but they are beginning to show up again as the workplace returns to normal.
- Conferences represent a chance to network, close deals, showcase new products, and provide a change of pace for office workers.
- In-person networking with peers differs from online communication. The effect of online collaboration just is not the same.
Why it’s news
As more workers return to the office, it only makes sense that familiar old practices like conferences will return. While these do provide a valuable service for companies, conferences also represent a chance for employees to catch a break from the monotony of daily tasks and office politics.
Though conferences are an old standby, they are being reshaped with new technology. Network apps and other technology bring conferences forward into the modern era, Bloomberg reports.
Smaller conferences focusing on team-building or knowledge-sharing are experiencing the most significant changes. Rather than setting up in hotel ballrooms or sterile conference centers, these retreats take place in more creative locations. For example, Voyagers is a “community of impact-driven people” that takes its attendees out hiking or on outdoor retreats to do business.
This new version of conferences began during the pandemic when the outdoors offered more social distancing options than indoor venues, but attendees seem to like networking with a view.
Desiring outdoor work options extends beyond conferences and reaches remote workers as well. Co-working startups in the outdoors have appeared in places like the UK, where Ashore offers customers the chance to “Escape your office. Explore the UK.”
The chance to work while enjoying the outdoors might be the right mix of the traditional way of doing things combined with a new approach.
