Seven Ways Business in the Event Industry Can Keep Going During the Pandemic

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By Jacob Maslow

Many businesses worldwide have been badly impacted by the crisis, especially those that rely significantly on their customers’ physical presence. However, due to the nature of their industry, most organizations can swiftly pivot to find alternate income sources.

Others aren’t that fortunate. Consider concert producers, wedding planners, and expo and conference organizers, basically any business in the event industry. These companies rely nearly entirely on clients and attendees attending their events. They have had to adapt and overcome since the beginning. As in-person events slowly resume, they are still having to adapt to keep things going.

  1. Effective Social Distancing Techniques

It’s easy to say you support social distancing, but enacting at your venue can be tricky. You want to carefully go through every aspect of your platform to ensure you can implement all of the social distancing guidelines required. Some areas to pay close attention to include bathrooms and other areas with higher traffic. Think about the flow of people, use arrows placed on the floors, dividers, and other things to help direct traffic.

  1. Increase Hygiene Standards

Planners must consider how the activities they have planned may be carried out safely and sanitary. This includes increasing the hygiene standards that are currently in place. More frequent cleaning of restrooms, wiping down high touch surfaces on a routine basis, adding sanitation stations, and more.

  1. Alter How Catering Works

Buffets are pretty much a thing of the past, according to many event planners. They, along with any communal condiments, are no longer available, and nobody knows if they will make a comeback. Instead, food that is ready to eat should be available at venues. Many places will also limit the number of people in a specific area or assign specific times to get food.

  1. Stay as Contactless as Possible

While contactless registration is possible, you must consider security bag inspections and how they will be handled. People should expect that security will have to touch their baggage and look inside.

When conducting searches, security staff should be urged to use disposable plastic gloves at the very least. In addition, contactless payment for all transactions and catering will be essential. To ensure its success, make your attendees aware of the no-cash policy well in advance.

  1. Reduce the Numbers Allowed

Physically reducing numbers does not need to reduce total numbers, especially if you construct a hybrid event. It’s important to remember that many individuals have participated in virtual events, and this trend should continue until in-person events become more frequent. It’s pointless to exclude and perhaps alienate a large audience you’ve built up throughout the lockdown.

  1. Make Sure Your Business Stands Out

One of the best things you can do as a member of the event industry is to make your content even more attractive than before COVID happened. This is important because you need to stand out from others in the industry, as people aren’t making the same choices as before the pandemic hit.

People will have had more time to reflect on what they are doing and what they want to do while on lockdown. This involves taking a look at their travel patterns. Also, if they’ve been enjoying fantastic virtual events, they might want to keep doing so from the confines of their home rather than attending your live event.

  1. Offer Targeted Networking

Often, networking done before COVID was meeting people by chance and striking up a conversation, such as in line for coffee. Now thanks to COVID, networking has to be a bit more focused to make those connections. For example, you can now host virtual events targeted at a specific group of people in the event industry. You can also host in-person events at a much smaller size than before. The smaller size creates a more personalized atmosphere, so better connections are made.

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