Survey Shows Reluctance From Many Business People To Attend Face-To-Face Events

A recent survey has shown that there are quite a large proportion of business people who still feel uncomfortable in attending physical events where they are face-to-face with other business people, but instead they are looking to carry on communications through the virtual channels that there are available online.

Many Business People Feeling Uncomfortable Attending Events

In fact 1 in 4 business people in Northern Ireland who responded to the survey said that they couldn`t see themselves attending a live event again, whilst there were only 30% who actually said they felt comfortable when attending such an event. This is despite the fact that 77% of the population of Northern Ireland are now fully vaccinated, with 86% having had a at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The survey found that events such as committee meetings and Annual General Meetings were particularly off the agenda for many business people. This attitude is likely to prevail for some time we assume, as peoples habits have now changed to such an extent that they feel very reticent to be in close contact with a large number of people at any one time.

A Shift Has Taken Place When It Comes To Events

The survey was run by Chartered Accountants Ireland and director at this industry body, Brendan O’Hora, is quoted in the Irish News as saying:

“Our findings show that at this stage of the pandemic, even with a large proportion of adults covered by the vaccination programme in both jurisdictions on this island, a shift has taken place when it comes to events, be they CPD courses, AGMs, conferences or social gatherings.

“We see a strong appetite to attend larger scale conferences, awards ceremonies, dinners, and social events in person, because while virtual events offered attendees greater time efficiency and flexibility in the last 18 months, for three-in-four respondents it came at the expense of networking opportunities.”

The Personal Touch Can Certainly Improve Business Relations

There are advantages for business people to physically attend certain events because there is no getting away from the fact that the personal touch can engender more trust and can definitely improve business relations in many circumstances. However people need to feel safe when attending any such event so it is imperative that all safety precautions are put in place to reduce the chances of anyone passing on the Covid-19 virus to any of the other attendees.