Furloughs and layoffs have greatly impacted professionals across the meetings, events, and hospitality industries – industries that we directly support. As the pandemic initially took hold, we aggressively pursued multiple expense reduction measures.

Unfortunately, today we have had to follow others in taking the expense reduction of last resort, reducing our headcount and furloughing some employees, a decision we have not taken lightly. In total, 10% of our global workforce is impacted by this reduction in force. These Cventers were valued members of our team who made great contributions to the business, and we will miss them. They were more than just our colleagues and our hearts go out to them and their families. This decision weighs heavily on all of us.

We remain focused on supporting our customers, providing guidance and expertise to help our industry recover, and innovating for the future. We have expanded and enhanced our virtual meetings offerings to support clients in the current environment and remain steadfast in our commitment to the power of in-person meetings and to the long-term prospects for face-to-face events. We believe with today’s actions we have positioned the company to weather the current storm and thrive as the industry returns.

To say that these last few weeks have been challenging would be an understatement. Many of the industries that have been hardest hit are the ones that Cvent directly supports with our technology: meetings and events, hospitality, and corporate travel.

Before looking ahead, we fully understand the need to manage the present. Over the course of the last several weeks, our customer support teams have connected with thousands of our clients – event planners, marketers, travel managers, hoteliers – to hear from them first-hand about what they’re feeling. We’ve listened to their concerns and worked through their challenges alongside them. Most importantly, we continue to learn more about their needs than ever before – a silver lining during this period of uncertainty.

Never could any of us have imagined we would be where we are today. Our world has changed – which means, that in order to keep our businesses running, we also have to change and adapt. While in-person events are on hold, the show can (and will) go on. The first-ever Cvent CONNECT Virtual will be special, and I hope you’ll join us in August.