Insights With the Event Profs: How to Keep Your Indoor Event Healthy

Events, festivals, markets, and fairs; there are so many different ways we get together to share what we love and celebrate our similarities. All of these events are vastly different too, just look at all the things we call them. Despite their differences, every event shared one massive setback in the last few years, Covid. However you dealt with this disruption, there are valuable lessons we all can take from it and create better processes in the future. These adjustments can help protect attendees from things as intimidating as pandemics or as simple as the common cold. I was lucky enough to sit down with the outgoing Steering Committee Chair of the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID), Daniel Cameron, to discuss the process they used leading up to, going through, and looking back on their conference in a very challenging time. Here are some very handy ideas to make your indoor event more effective in working with your audience and keeping their experience as meaningful as possible.

Communication

Cameron explained that the top priority for his team was communication. The more in touch you are with your volunteers, staff, guests, and vendors, the better shot you have at keeping away surprises. When you keep communication lines open with your participants, you ensure they know exactly what they’re walking into at your event. Public health safety measures aren’t always very popular, but higher adoption rates and lower resistance rates come from consistent communication of expectations and guidelines.

All this to say, communicate often! This doesn’t just mean once a week. Instead, consider the journey of your attendee. Cameron explained that ICEID didn’t just keep their attendees up to date with emails. They communicated on-site. At the time of their last event, Covid was on the upswing, and Cameron’s team knew that it would be harder to get in touch with attendees. Their response was signage and lots of it. Attendees had to prove vaccination, to make that clear signs were placed at entrances, on each floor, and again at check-in. More communication means fewer surprises, and that means happier participants.

The Takeaway: Find a fast, effective way to communicate. Then, use it.

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Be Able to Pivot

You know the old adage, “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…”? It holds true here too. Covid is an example of something you can’t change, but it’s just one of many. The weather, venue issues, and travel disruptions are common issues. The more agile you can be, the more you can adjust and react to life’s little surprises. ICEID pivoted by adding a hybrid option for their event. While this will have varying suitability for different events, Cameron said they found it extremely helpful and an adjustment they plan to keep. This was incredibly successful with travel issues. Some of their attendees were crossing international borders or just taking flights in any capacity. Hotel issues and work-life balance can also cause people to miss out. Now that events are in-person again, this is the perfect time to use digital advances to improve both the reach of your event and the in-person experience. Online sales via marketplaces, easy payment methods, and integrated ticketing and registration all make your event better than ever.

The Takeaway: Prepare your plan B, even if you never need it.

What Guides your Decisions

It can be tough to “make the call” when something comes up, and you need to adjust how your event will take place. ICEID was no exception, but they were required to have a guide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted their event, meaning following the CDC guidelines for covid was necessary. This can be viewed as a negative, but there is a positive way to see it too. It was a simple message for ICEID, letting attendees know what to expect. What should their attendees do to be up-to-the-minute? Look at what the CDC recommends on the day. A precise plan to follow takes the guesswork out of an attendee’s trip. This way, attendees aren’t looking to you for a plan. They know the plan in advance. If you can clearly share how decisions are made, you take half of the burden of communication away.?

The Takeaway: Be clear about what guides your decision-making process.

What Guides your Decisions

It can be tough to “make the call” when something comes up, and you need to adjust how your event will take place. ICEID was no exception, but they were required to have a guide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hosted their event, meaning following the CDC guidelines for covid was necessary. This can be viewed as a negative, but there is a positive way to see it too. It was a simple message for ICEID, letting attendees know what to expect. What should their attendees do to be up-to-the-minute? Look at what the CDC recommends on the day. A precise plan to follow takes the guesswork out of an attendee’s trip. This way, attendees aren’t looking to you for a plan. They know the plan in advance. If you can clearly share how decisions are made, you take half of the burden of communication away.?

The Takeaway: Be clear about what guides your decision-making process.

If You Can Do One Thing

I asked this of Cameron, as I ask every expert I interview. If an event can do one thing to improve, what would you suggest? It’s a tough one and couldn’t be whittled down to one answer. One was a biggie, but it has been crucial for ICEID. The hybrid option. While difficult to implement, it has made one significant positive addition, choice. Now their guests can choose what risks they want to take, what guidelines they want to follow, and even how much they want to spend to attend. It is a big ask, but the accessibility alone makes it something to consider. The other suggestion, and don’t bother stopping me if you’ve heard this one.?

Wash. Your. Hands.

Really. As much as any health and safety addition can do for your event, adding handwashing stations is the best way to keep people from passing a lot of germs. Consider other ways to limit germ-swapping, too, like scannable entry badges or touchless pay systems for eventgoers. They aren’t just handy features. They make your event more health-friendly too!

The Takeaway: Remove the need for physical touch when possible, and now it’s easier than ever!