Footfall may be down, but the 100 or so companies in the CGA Tracker are collectively reporting spend up over the last year. Underlying 12 month sales are currently tracking at 1.8% up on the previous 12 month period. Not a massive uplift, and we can all add our own caveats. But the people that are venturing out are finding something they are willing to part with their money for - even if it’s just a more expensive pint.

What’s the enduring attraction? Is it the food? Is it the drink? Or is it a superior experience? Experience is the word of the moment, and it does speak to how people feel, the emotional impact of being out, having a good time. Now you could say this is all basic stuff, but the question is prompted by two things.

First, practically all the business leaders I meet when I’m out are talking about growth. Not in a gung-ho way, but understanding the need to drive top-line sales to keep the bottom-line at least ticking-over. Some of those are more upbeat than others, but it boils down to finding new and different ways to engage, enthuse and delight the public to keep coming to their establishments - and more often. That’s the overarching challenge.

The second prompt came from my other world of events - a sector even more ravaged by lockdown than even hospitality, and one that is having to reinvent itself to get people (for business as well as leisure reasons) out of their homes and offices.

A recent article by David Adler, a respected veteran American events industry entrepreneur, asked essentially the same question of why do people really turn up at events? “People don’t show up just for content”, he concludes. That’s generally secondary to “the conversations in the corners, the unexpected collisions, and the moments of pure emotional resonance.”

Sound familiar? We are fundamentally talking about the value of human interaction, giving people the opportunity (permission even) to engage, talk, listen and discover. It’s what actually goes on in people’s brains that’s the alchemy. It’s not just about the product, but what it sparks.

I’m quickly going to get out of my depth here, but at it’s most basic it is about neuroscience, what can trigger dopamine, the motivation and reward chemical, how engaging in conversation boosts oxytocin, creating emotional memory, and how active dialogue fires mirror neurons, allowing us to remember what we hear, or so I’m told.

You’re right, I need to understand this a lot more. And perhaps we all do when it comes to really getting inside our customers’ thought-processes, what motivates, what brings joy. We can (and should) harness technology to analyse data more throughly and react more quickly, but there’s probably a different sort of expertise required to fully grasp customer behaviour. How do you deliver happiness? Big question.

Part of the answer (short of hiring behavioural scientists) may also be getting out more yourself - meeting and learning from colleagues, competitors, leaders from other sectors. Discovering what works, what doesn’t. Have conversations. And maybe even doing that at events - breakfasts, dinners, tours, summits? Yes, I do have a vested interest.

A point Adler makes about events is that at best they help business people build capital, intellectual capital, emotional capital, social capital. And with that resilience to solve the problems and challenges they face in their jobs.

He tells a story of when two US Secretaries of State, Hilary Clinton and Henry Kissinger, met on stage at a conference. At one point, Kissinger turned to Clinton and said: “Every day you’re Secretary of State, you’re drinking from a firehose. You’re spending your intellectual capital. The key is to build it beforehand—by reading, attending events, learning and surrounding yourself with thoughtful people.”

The pressures of running a pub, restaurant or bar group may not be quite in that league, but you get the drift.

And finally, Adler recalls a speaker he had booked saying: “The most powerful word in the English language is ‘Let’s.’” Ponder for a moment.

Getting your customers to think “Let’s go out” (and to your business) just may be the simple objective. Understanding the motivation to say it and to turn up is the difficult bit. But let’s get started.

A version of this article first appeared in MCA.