For obvious reasons, Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®) announced last week that this year's HITEC will pivot to a virtual edition called "Cyber HITEC." I guess most of you have been participating and attending in a variety of online event formats over the past 3 months... and you probably had some good, some bad, and maybe some great online experiences originating from creative minds.

So the question I would like to ask you is to share your personal best experiences so far and recommendations for team HFTP... supporting them to make CYBER HITEC a success!

Floor Bleeker
Floor Bleeker
Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Accor

Thanks HFTP for virtualizing this year's edition of HITEC! It would have been very hard, especially for non-US based hoteliers to join this year for obvious reasons. What I have enjoyed most at HITECs in the past was the opportunity to network, catch up with old friends, and make new connections (remember the HotSOS parties?). Virtualizing presentations is easy and there are tools available to virtualize the trade show. The key differentiator will be to recreate or re-invent face to face networking. So how do you replace coffee breaks, breakfasts, and HotSOS or Samsung parties?

I have attended many online events over the past few months and nobody has really cracked this at scale. I had a Zoom birthday party with a small group that worked well. One of our partners organized a 'cocktail making' session after a meeting. They shipped the drinks in advance and had a professional bartender facilitating, which was a nice idea and also for a small group.

In a way, I would be happy if this problem can not be solved with a remote solution as it will ensure the long term sustainability of our industry!

View all 12 views in this viewpoint