As the COVID-19 crisis has rocked the business events industry, new business models have spring up — not as short-term workarounds, but as lasting shifts.

The pandemic’s effects were so profound and far-reaching that not changing ceased to be an option for almost everyone on the planet. But which changes will be permanent, and how will they transform events?

Perhaps we once took for granted the larger role that face-to-face events play in our society, but the past year has shown us that they are far more than economic engines. These case studies show how physical events have given fledgling industries a foot-hold and path to success.

These digital gatherings connect participants to the physical world, transporting them to real places and engaging their senses and emotions.

To make virtual trade shows and exhibit halls work, exhibitions industry practitioners have found that you have to rethink the physical experience — and embrace tech tools that entice attendees to connect with suppliers.

“Necessity” is a mild way to describe the impetus for invention brought by COVID-19. We’ve learned in 2020 that creativity is, as business strategist Natalie Nixon argues, “incredibly practical and crucial to survival” — in the business events industry especially, where the pandemic has forced us to go digital or go dark.

If we’ve just been waiting for the COVID-19 crisis to pass to go back to business as usual, we’ve missed a rare opportunity to see our lives and our work in a new light. Here are some ways our world has changed and what we hope will stick once the pandemic is behind us.

As the pandemic pushes record numbers of business event planners toward digital platforms and new ways of connecting online, it may ultimately strengthen the ability of meeting professionals to serve their audiences and to reach their business goals.

It used to be that scientific and medical conferences were highly formulaic, but planners are testing innovative session formats, presentation materials, and registration pricing, to name just a few elements.

Why event organizers are embracing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals — and how meetings are a prime medium to accelerate their success.

Today, event attendees are tourists, too. Here are a handful of rising global destinations that have the goods planners need and the attractions delegates want.

Building an authentic brand identity for destinations is complicated. Here’s how a handful of CVBs have tackled the issue — and why planners are incorporating that sense of a place’s identity in their event design.