COVID-19: Events Industry Global Timeline to Recovery 2020

Due to COVID-19 the events industry has been halted in its tracks, Evvnt has ceased to trade event marketing services via the UK key accounts teams to it's global customer base or via the US calendar network. The US publisher partner teams are now in a holding pattern as publishers wait to see what happens with regards the global health epidemic in their local communities with events over 50 people being banned and national headline events cancelling or being rescheduled to August, September and beyond. I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s affecting every business stakeholder, every revenue stream, in every country we operate. Events companies revenue streams are reducing and at risk of collapse every day this situation continues with event creators and publishers facing impossible environments forcing event consumers to be isolated in their own homes.

COVID-19 is a business killer -  an events business killer, no doubt about it and time is the one critical factor to be tracked and managed. The events industry is built on community values and we don't quit, we innovate and we are already seeing consumer demand for virtual events and all software, data and ticketing companies launching 'Virtual Events' solutions to the market.

Without the economic support of event creators to tools and services and the economic contribution from consumers to event creators, we simply will not have an events industry to return to in the months to come.

What I know about every company I've spoken to in the Events Industry is that we have all worked way too hard to be killed by a virus in 2020 and we love this industry too much to allow a virus, politically charged, news media epidemic to shut us down, in fact I've got a plan of attack I'd like to share.

UPDATED31st March 2020

The last 30 days have been very interesting to watch and I've noticed some headline points I wanted to raise. Virtual events are certainly a hot topic right now but I sense this is merely a niche service going through an unusual growth spurt, however it's good for the tech as it will drive innovation and good for event creators who have never had the time to learn the art.

I've created a new Tier 5 which represents countries not responding well to how to control and handle COVID-19 and also creating lack of trust in their communities - this will result in a longer growth period and also lack of trust in safety to return to local communities in groups and enjoy events.

Headline Points

• Initial impact to the Events industry was set at 8 months and I've reduced this down to 7 due to news and media review.
• USA & Russia act slow and badly to COVID-19 which is why I've created a new Tier 5 as this will drive the effects up to 9 Months impact to the Events Industry in these countries
• Recovery time in Tier 5 is going to be hampered by lack of trust and nervousness to meet in groups - attend an event.
• Industry rallies around virtual events, it's a niche industry going through a short term demand phase and the good news here is it's teaching event creators how to use it for their real events when the market returns. It's also seeing a lot of companies improving their services which is good news too,.

1st March 2020: Analysis - So I looked at how long it's going to take for a global economic recovery by country where by we'd see local events appearing, drawing out consumers and leading to international events that attract delegates. I mapped this recovery over time to Evvnts global revenue attribution by country and mapped out when we could expect to see revenue$ and then more revenue$$$ and when we'd be back on track to normal working results across the business - revenue$$$$$.

COVID-19: Global Events Industry Impact - by country / over time / by revenue $

Why is this important: Well if know the timeline to recovery you can plan, budget to be more precise - your way through it and manage your resources through the process to invest in rebuilding your business where countries activate and open up first - in our instance Germany is likely to be our Key Account Teams first open market.

Secondly I was looking at what would be the key indicators to market recovery and of us it would be event submissions, the heart beat of our product.

The Heart Beat for Local Events Communities: We operate in the USA over 900 self service transactional events calendars and planning on launching a further 2000 over the next 8 to 12 weeks. Whilst the events industry is frozen these partner companies, CMS services, publishers are not, in fact they are safely at home working diligently to navigate their way out of this crisis and I'm 100% confident when we do see POST-COVID-19 the first thing consumers will do is look for local events via local publishers to live life in it's richest capacity experiencing community, social sharing, food and beverages in local venues. Nothing feels more like living than attending local community events, sharing time with missed friends and taking the moment to experience life once again. (Vacation booking will be next but will likely take a little longer to pick up).

Daily Revenue Tracking: We have instantly moved to tracking revenue per day to monitor how bad it's getting, when people are under threat they stop spending on luxury items and entertainment in the short term however we feel that when the event submissions and premium sales occur again in the market, this activity will be our heart beat of events life returning to our local publishers and local events communities.

Events Submissions + Premium Sales + Velocity = Recovery.

In Summary - The Chart Suggests...

• The virus has a 6 to 7 months impact by country once it's introduced and will take up to 8 months to fully recover.
• 72% of our revenue comes from companies based in countries which are moving from early stage to the growth stage April 1st 2020
• Most companies and local event creators don't have the financial cash flow to get through 3 months no mind 6 to 8 months.
• January to March revenues were strong but are we about to drop off a cliff? * must be monitored daily to know what cash flow will look like to forecast.
• It's going to get worse before it gets better... what do we use to track when it gets better? Events Submissions + Premium Sales + Velocity = Recovery.
• July 2020 will see recovery and back to revenue / profitability by September.
• The norm does not apply, we need to find new trends to survive such as Virtual Events

Whilst consumers can’t leave their homes, we are seeing a spike online via Google Trends for Virtual Events and we are encouraging all event creators to set up ticketed virtual events and to get your customers to attend online.

Whether online or in-person, events + ticketing + marketing result in revenue and we want to facilitate this for event creators globally by supporting ‘Virtual Events’ with event creators, event consumers and via our events calendar network with publisher partners. We are working hard with other events service technology partner, ticketing and data companies to make this happen quickly.

• Virtual Events: The Show Must Go On - Our COVID-19 response :: we are pushing virtual event for event creators and local consumers to stay connected.
• Local Event Strategy 2020 - Why local events will be the first indicator of local community recovery.

Time Line: Plan, Forecast & Watch the market

• April: Reduce all business costs, exceptional customer service, increase communications to customers and partners to weekly from monthly. Stop all expenses, business travel and focus on servicing and supporting revenue streams. You are asking for money from people who are in the same boat, so service them under contract well, listen, help, spend with your suppliers and keep the cash flow moving - don't bankrupt anyone ;-) We Need Each Other
• May: Evaluate!! Retain minimal business operating costs, pay suppliers, service customers, exceptional tech, communicate with the teams and ensure all staff have internal business projects they can contribute to and stay busy and motivated. We are expecting early signs of recovery in Germany one of our stronger markets.
• June: Commercial Activation, we are expecting to see early signs of event activity in and commercial investment, we should plan to be exceptionally happy to service these customers to show the rest of the market our shared confidence.
• July: Event Submissions and community spirit returns - Events Submissions + Premium Sales + Velocity = Recovery. We should start to see this in late June, July and going strong in to August.
• August: Vacation time, could go two ways - everyone wants a vacation or nobody is in the mood and just stays within country. My best guess is that people wil stay within country even with airlines pushing cheap deals to travel. Local community events and activities will be popular as consumers share their COVID-19 experience. Event advertising spends will start to pick up.
• September: Full Recovery - Local communities are now active, event creators pushing out events content and consumers engaged and attending in the masses.

Funding Options

Please note that banks, governments and local authorities are making efforts to create funding and loans available to allow you to bridge the gap, just make sure you budget your business through to Q4. COVID-19 Business Financing

03/19/2020 Finance, Grants, Loans and Good Reading

• UK Government - The Budget 2020
• R&D Tax Credits - info

Good Reading

• Six Sources Of Crucial COVID-19 Support For Small Businesses

#TheShowMustGoOn