With more people getting vaccinated and more clarity on what the return to business travel might look like, a growing number of companies are ready to reopen their travel programs. To demonstrate how in-person meetings and business travel can resume safely and responsibly, American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) teamed up with American Airlines and Hyatt to orchestrate a three-day hybrid event in American Airlines’ new headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

Initially, we had planned to conduct a small internal meeting for our Global Travel Program Management team, a practice within GBT’s Global Business Consulting (GBC). However, because there was so much excitement from other internal teams and our suppliers, the scope expanded into a larger commercial partnership event comprised of 40 in-person and 30 virtual attendees – making the meeting planning and execution a more complex undertaking.

In planning a hybrid event of this magnitude during COVID, we set out to achieve several goals, including:

• Create a safe physical environment where live participants could feel entirely at ease.
• Keep a high level of engagement between in-person and virtual attendees so that those sitting at home do not feel left out or lose interest.
• Harness the expertise and meeting technology of our American Express GBT Meetings & Events team to conduct a successful hybrid event that leaves attendees energized.
• Demonstrate the importance of connecting in person after 15 months of virtual meetings.
• Foster collaboration among our suppliers and GBT’s consulting, traveler care, client management, business development, and M&E teams.

By successfully bringing together 40 people traveling from across the United States, we achieved our primary objective: to show that, when planned properly, you can have safe business travel and meeting experiences in this current environment. On top of that, the feedback we received was tremendous. According to a survey GBT conducted, 100% of attendees were either “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the overall event.

Here are some top takeaways from this experience:

1. After being confined to their homes for 15+ months, people are eager to travel again. Spots for this event filled up so quickly we had to turn down over a dozen employees who requested to attend in person.
2. Video calls cannot replace the in-person experience. The energy and buzz in the room were electric, and the conversations had before and after meetings helped to cement connections on a personal level not achievable on Zoom.
3. With the right planning and technology, you can keep virtual attendees engaged and make them feel as included as live participants. As one attendee said, “I was pleasantly surprised by the engagement from the virtual attendees. Technology worked!”
4. Meeting face-to-face is key to solidifying relationships with partners. It was nice to finally meet our American Airlines and Hyatt associates after months of online communications. Since the event, there’s been ongoing collaboration to support the return to travel and potential sales opportunities for our GBC team.
5. This event mirrored a trend we’re seeing now: As countries lift travel restrictions and people become comfortable hitting the road, travel is rebounding at a faster pace than expected and companies are in the midst of relaunching their travel programs.