How To Prepare For The Future Of The Events Industry

Those of us who have committed our passions and careers to events are facing difficult and unprecedented times. Due to COVID-19, conferences, festivals and trade shows have been canceled. The $325 billion event planning industry is in jeopardy. Thousands of hours and countless experiences have been lost.

There are so many people and industries being leveled by this experience, and the last thing I want to do is compare tragedies. But, since I love events, that’s what I want to focus on — and since I’m a business owner in the event space, that’s what I have to focus on: What comes next?

Whether you’re in the event industry or your business utilizes events for marketing and brand building, you can expect events to look and feel different in a post-COVID world. Here are some changes to expect and how to anticipate them.

Watch your wallet.

According to some estimates, the economic effect of COVID-19 could last years. We shouldn’t expect a “back to normal” moment to happen anytime soon.

Events and experiences have been building momentum for the last few years, often priced at a premium, but we now have to watch our expectations. Events won’t be as profitable as they once were — not for a while, at least.

PROMOTED

Prepare for a period of reentry.

I’m not sure when it will be safe and smart to hold events again. What I do know is that it will feel really strange to be in a crowd of people. We’ll have spent the last however many months avoiding one another. When those restrictions are eventually lifted, I’m predicting that event attendees will need a period of reentry — a chance to get used to social un-distancing.

How do we as event marketers anticipate this and create better environments for our guests? Have fewer people in more space. It’s hard to imagine attendees being thrilled with walking into a packed trade show room or squeezed in shoulder to shoulder at a show, even after CDC and WHO recommendations allow for it.

Consider lowering the caps for your events for the first six months after all restrictions are lifted. Create schedules to limit access, or rent the bigger ballroom. The golden rule for an event is to make it the best for attendees, right? What will help them feel comfortable in this period of adjustment?

We’re all going to be used to video streams when this is over. So, provide that option. Communicate to your audience that you know how hard it’s been, and explain what you’re doing to make it easier for them. I predict we’ll get back to full rooms eventually, but let’s take our time. Let’s be sensitive to our audiences.

Prioritize safety.

I predict that providing a healthy, safe environment will be the most important and lasting change we will make to future events. There are two questions to have on every event to-do list you make: How am I making my event space safe for my guests? And how am I helping my attendees keep themselves sanitized?

First off, have a sanitation and prevention plan in place in accordance with CDC and WHO guidelines. What might this look like? More hand-sanitizing stations are a given. Clean the rooms at your conference every few hours. Clean the trade show booths at the end of each day. Invest in technology and materials to help disinfect your SWAG or the cellphones of your attendees. Build sanitizing practices into the new norm of your events.

Committing to healthier practices and sanitizing technology isn’t about generating the perception of safety to your attendees; it’s about fulfilling your responsibilities to them.

Through this terrible experience, we’re reminded how much we affect one another. I miss events, and I can’t wait to be back in the swing of things. But, I know we need to do events differently.