Each year, on the first week of January, I sit down to look into the “crystal ball” and share my predictions and hopes for the new year.
Before we look forward, let’s take a minute to look back. 2021 has been another rollercoaster year for the event industry. As well as dealing with the prolonged impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, our industry has had to create new processes to navigate these unchartered waters. We have had to shift our internal procedures to meet the needs of the event world; we had to follow the constant changes and mandates on both local and federal levels and manage the risk of our staff and the community, while still staying true to our clients, our teams, and remain focused on our core values.
However, with all the opposition we faced as a company, we were still able to accomplish so much-
What that tells me is we are a resilient industry, and we are not going anywhere EVEN with everything the world is throwing at us! 2022 is going to continue to produce new wins and new ways of working.
After almost 2 years of most of us working from home and evolving our businesses to meet the needs of the changing world and the effects of Covid-19 (and its many variants), we are still here, thriving and at times, surviving. Many of us are still waiting for the “new norm” to begin.
But what if there is no new norm? What if we are in constant evolution from here on out? In many ways, this is directly the opposite of my thinking for years. We built Hype on certain foundations that we hold true to today, over 15 years later, some of these “old school methods” are what makes us so successful. But these are also the methods that helped us to navigate these changing times and evolve through the process. We have never relied on a system to work for us, and we are not a “set it and forget it agency”. We have always spoken with every single staff member we put in the field to be sure they know what they are doing and who they are representing in the field. We have always spoken with our clients at the beginning of every program to understand their needs and brief our internal teams on all the details. With these new policies and procedures in place, we now request the Covid or vaccine requirements, we research what the local state is doing at that given time, we survey our staff in that area to find out what they know, and we provide a plan of action to have a successful program.
So, what does that mean for 2022, my prediction is simple.
“THE SHOW MUST GO ON”
We will adapt to the changing world, but we will not stop doing what we love. We will continuously evolve remaining true to our industry’s core mission- to bring products and services to life. As a company, we have continued to be successful because we have never given up on our staff, our clients, or our passion for what we do.
In 2022, as an industry, we must stay true to our core values and purpose. Strategies, tactics, and products may change for an organization to remain agile, but great companies always stick to their core purpose and values and preserve them with vigor.