The State of Corporate Travel and Expense 2022 35 SKIFT + TRIPACTIONS about wherever we travel. Prioritizing safety and following protocols are essential for getting back into the field — and moving beyond the pandemic. Skift: Speaking of remote work, how is that impacting the frequency of business travel and how people are convening? Massari: Honestly, I don’t think enough time has passed under this set of circumstances to know how it’s all going to turn out. Speculatively, I’d say that organizations that are staying more remote will need to gather their staff more f requently. In that scenario, you’re likely to spend more time than usual on activities such as communication, interaction, education, learning, and team building. That’s been our experience in going remote for so long, and it’s true for other organizations that we talk to. I think those conclusions are intuitive and reasonable, at least for the time being. As far as the permanence of remote goes, you may have heard JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon say that while working f rom home may fly for individual performers, “it doesn’t work for those who want to hustle, it doesn’t work for spontaneous idea generation.” If you are ambitious, you will want to be around the people that are decision makers about your future, because you’ll get to know people and communicate better when you are face-to-face. And if you are a part of a team, you need to be around that team. Glanzer: The pandemic has given people time to think about how they might reimagine events in the future. Many planners and groups have realized that hybrid, for one, is not something you just switch on. Involving a separate budget, planning team, and content, it’s like planning two events. Simply live- streaming events to people is not as easy as it seems. Looking ahead, I think that f rom the hotel, planner, and event perspectives, people will have to think through what digital engagement and experience means for conferees choosing to ‘participate’ at their desk. While individual mega-shows will take time to return, the good news trend we are seeing is two or three shows with equivalent attendance. It’s the same number of people meeting face-to-face, just in separate events versus one giant gathering. We are also seeing a high volume of small short-term meetings, f rom the senior leadership executive or regional sales team level to offsites for teams that have not met in 17 months. Allison: We are also seeing a rapid surge in smaller, shorter-term meetings across different industries for the same reasons. That’s especially true of our medical and pharmaceutical markets. Exceptional examples include hosting the HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition in August, with some 18,000 registrants. All in-person attendees and exhibitors were fully vaccinated. There were no issues about flying or wearing a mask or being vaccinated — the sentiment was all about being here for the live experience. Skift: What sentiments are you hearing regarding intent to travel for business versus staying in the virtual space? Allison: Our team has found a good balance between being efficient and productive both at home and at the off ice. The two are not mutually exclusive. Personally, I find the notion of working in the office five days a week to be somewhat archaic, especially in sales. Engaged mostly on the phone and on the road, they can be productive in different and flexible ways. Massari: I’ll say it again more strongly. Humans are hardwired for the multi-dimensionality of the live, in- person experience. Videoconferencing may replace all kinds of telephonic and written communication, but there’s no chance it will replace important face-to-face business interactions or events, no matter how small. What counts is what you want to accomplish, and how the investment in time and travel matches the likely outcome.