EVENT MANAGEMENT SKILLS IN THE POST-COVID-19 WORLD: INSIGHTS FROM CHINA, GERMANY, AND AUSTRALIA

ABSTRACT

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has caused the event industry and providers of tertiary event management courses to reflect on the nature of future events and the form they will take. With hybrid, virtual, and innovative events being foreseen for the coming years, skills taught in the relevant programs and courses also need to be reassessed and restructured. Using qualitative, semistructured interviews, this research explores the viewpoints on requisite future skills from three groups of event stakeholders—professionals, lecturers, and students—across three countries China, Germany, and Australia. The results show agreement on what event management skills will be needed, among which technical and digital expertise, communication, innovation, and leadership are seen as the most important. Copyright © 2022 Cognizant, LLC.