#WeWillMeetAgain is a video blog series from the Vancouver Convention Centre exploring the future of the meetings and events industry as we continue to adapt in this global pandemic together.

Across industries, including our own, one of the most prevalent takeaways from COVID-19 so far has been just how quickly – and significantly – our circumstances can change. As a result, having the ability to sharply pivot, grow and adapt has become foundational for businesses and communities looking to move forward towards recovery.

For meetings and events, the need to rethink the ‘norm’ and evolve has never been more prudent. Meeting planners, venues and other industry professionals have been looking at how meetings are designed and executed so that safety can be more deeply integrated throughout the process. Not only that, changes are being made to areas like client and guest experience, technology and more to ensure that every aspect is considered in contributing to the creation a new, safer approach for holding events.

For the third entry of our series, we connected with Sherrif Karamat, President and CEO of Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), the world’s largest platform for business events strategists, to talk about the path forward for meetings and events professionals and businesses.

We asked Sherrif, “How will the events and meetings industry need to adapt to move towards recovery in the wake of COVID-19?” In his video, Sherrif discusses what he considers are the three key areas that our industry will have to focus on in order to make it through this challenging period stronger than before: Participant Engagement, Adaptability of Traditional Business Models and Re-skilling our Industry.