“Wellness is no longer a luxury to include—it’s a must-have,” says Peter Scialla, president and COO of global wellness and real estate tech company Delos. “As business events shift back to in-person attendance, there will be an even greater demand for assurances that health and well-being are at the forefront of planning.”
That’s why in November, Delos teamed up with Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI)—a global sales force that connects luxury independent hotels with meeting professionals—to create the Delos Wellness Accreditation for Meetings and Events. The science-backed accreditation aims to bring awareness to the value of wellness at meetings and conventions; it’s a five-hour course with videos on topics like light, nourishment, movement and mindfulness, along with prompts, exercises and other resources. (Interested in enrolling? Click here.)
The timing is right for an initiative like this. Scialla notes that the global wellness economy is now valued at $4.4 trillion, with strong, continued growth projected across all sectors. Moreover, according to the 2020 Wellness in Meetings and Incentive Travel Study by the Incentive Research Fund, 86% of internal meeting planners and 68% of external meeting planners indicated that wellness was a critical focus for them.
As Morgan S. Connacher, vice president of events and special programs for event company Haute, explains: “Wellness isn’t a buzzword anymore. It’s deeper.”
Read on for the new best practices for creating wellness-focused events in 2022.
Wellness and human connection go hand-in-hand.
Michael Dominguez, president and CEO of ALHI who helped spearhead the new accreditation with Delos, notes that the concept of wellness evolved during the pandemic. “Over the past two years, ALHI has been focused on how we execute a live event during this pandemic environment. As we look to 2022, we are shifting our attention to the experience and why we are meeting in person once again,” he explains. “Human connection and engagement are paramount to the meeting and event experience. And the science of wellness—specifically how our bodies react to the physical environments we inhabit—has long been overlooked, and is now deeply relevant.”
Connacher agrees, encouraging planners to hit the pause button and really think about that “why” behind their events. “We have an amazing opportunity to recreate annual programs, launch new initiatives and drive true connection. There is a reset opportunity that will continue into 2022 and even 2023 that will let event professionals take risks and experiment,” she says.
Her advice? Focus on the human connection, and wellness will follow. “I think the entire concept of meeting in person is wellness in and of itself in 2022,” she points out. “We have all been in silos in our professional and personal lives to varying degrees for so long now, that being able to safely bring people together in person, in real life, creates such a wonderful and vibrant energy. The act of meeting in person again fuels wellness consciously and subconsciously.” For attendees, Connacher adds, wellness is now more about strategically and intentionally designing all aspects of an event to make sure that it creates lasting, meaningful, human-to-human connections.
The physical environment is key.
“More and more, people are recognizing the importance of a ‘healthy’ meeting—one that takes care of business, but also takes care of the mind, body and soul,” explains Brigette Bienvenu, director of sales and marketing at the W Fort Lauderdale.
The 517-room hotel recently debuted a new “Sensory Reset” experience for groups, which includes a room designed to serve as a unique mental reset between meetings. The idea is to stimulate the five senses; highlights include fidget spinners for touch, ASMR videos on loop for sight and sound, aromatherapy and an oil bar for smell, and a selection of mints, frozen fruit and other bites for taste. (The experience is complimentary for groups with a $20,000 spend.)
“We wanted to provide an experience for meeting-goers that fosters a renewed sense of productivity by allowing them to enjoy a few minutes between or after meetings to disengage, relax and enjoy experiences that reset the senses—allowing them to feel more energized, balanced and focused,” says Bienvenu.
Dominguez also emphasizes the importance of a healthy, calming environment, noting that the Wellness Accreditation by Delos aims to help meeting planners create physical spaces through the lens of air, water, light, nourishment, movement, comfort and mindfulness. “The program teaches tactics and skills that extend beyond the meeting room and benefit everyday life, in addition to the restrictions and growing awareness of wellness as we emerge from the pandemic,” he says. “[It] builds on the elements of creativity, human engagement and mental acuity—all of which are directly influenced by our physical environment.”
Think beyond the gym.
“Lots of hotels offer physical wellness options with spas and gyms—and while we also offer those, we wanted to push it to the next level to go beyond physical health and create an experience that emphasizes and nurtures mental health," explains Bienvenu. "That’s just as important."
Dominguez and Connacher also note that wellness in 2022 needs to go far beyond the physical. Connacher says, “It isn’t about sunrise yoga sessions or cardio drum classes—though those can definitely be fun and build community—it is about creating space for people to truly connect and engage again in a way that they feel safe. This means something different for every audience and every event, which is why it is so imperative for planners to work with true partners as they create activations and experiences.”
She adds, “It is also why having a diverse team is so critical—bringing together a team with many unique lenses who work in harmony will always create a more authentic and engaging experience.”
Dominguez notes that attention to nutrition and sleep quality has also been overlooked when it comes to wellness in the event and meeting sphere. “There is also a growing trend around mental health or mental wellness within the context of meetings," he says. "This is something we are excited about for the long term, and hope to help push these initiatives further as it continues to penetrate and grow within the traditional meetings and events markets.”
Related: 5 Mental Health Apps to Help Event Pros Hit Reset in 2022
Don’t neglect your internal team.
Lastly, don’t get so focused on taking care of your attendees that you forget to take care of your internal team—after all, event planning is consistently rated as one of the country's most stressful careers.
“Due to the pandemic, brain burnout and stress have been on the rise, fueled largely by the need to juggle work demands with competing life responsibilities,” points out Bienvenu. “Employers are recognizing this, and I think in 2022 we’ll see that workplaces and planners will invest in the growing number of available resources that offer spiritual and mental health-focused benefits, including subsidized mental wellness and therapy services, mental health training at work, self-guided tools and apps, and mentorship.”
Connacher says that wellness should always be part of the conversation about managing internal teams. “The pandemic forced the live events industry off of our hamster wheel, for better or worse, and it gave us space and perspective. Most of us are raring to return, but I think each of us has a responsibility to make sure that we aren’t just blindly jumping back on; that we are creating healthy boundaries, that we aren’t pushing our teams to burn out,” she says.
She adds that one of Haute's internal company values is “enjoy the ride.” “I take that responsibility really seriously in how my team operates. We support our people, and in turn, they can create magic for our clients.”
