It’s essential in the era of pandemics to protect the health and well-being of all who attend your in-person events. The COVID19 pandemic has introduced a revolution in the events industry. The traditional event planning process has become obsolete. The modern events industry has made it its mission to be agile and quickly adapt to changes and adopt new processes for safer in-person events.
In this post, we will discuss some of the ways you can do this. One of the most important things is to make sure that all of your guests are up-to-date on their vaccinations, and that they are aware of any risks associated with the in-person events. You should also have a plan in place for dealing with any potential outbreaks, including having plenty of supplies on hand and making sure that all of your staff is properly trained in how to deal with them in the in-person events. Finally, make sure to promote healthy behaviors among your guests during the in-person events such as washing their hands regularly and avoiding close contact with others if they are feeling ill.
Importance of taking precautions while conducting events
As the covid pandemic continues to spread, many people are taking precautions to avoid getting sick. Event organizers should also take precautions to protect their attendees. Here are some of the benefits of taking precautions during and after the covid pandemic:
1. Attendees protection: Reducing the risk of exposure to covid. By taking precautions, event organizers can reduce the risk of exposure to covid for both themselves and their attendees. This can help minimize the spread of the virus.
2. Employee protection: Protecting your employees. By taking precautions, you can help protect your employees from getting sick and being forced to miss work
3. Event protection: Protecting your event. By taking precautions, you can help protect your event from being shut down or canceled due to the spread of covid. This could prevent other people from getting sick and missing out on an event.
4. Minimize cancellations: Minimizing cancellations and disruptions. By taking precautions, you can help minimize the number of cancellations and disruptions that occur as a result of the pandemic.
5. Protection against legal action: It can help to protect you from legal action. If something does go wrong at your event, you could be held liable if you have not taken proper precautions.
Essential safety measures during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
Event organizing and risk assessment during and after a pandemic is something that needs to be dealt with, with utmost vigilance and responsibility. Although the events cannot be conducted with the same zeal as before due to the restrictions, following these precautions would still make a viable event and better risk management.
Tip 1) Limit the number of attendees
It is essential to note that with an active pandemic, the event professionals should ensure that the people can follow the social distancing measures. The social distancing measures are the first step of risk management. Therefore, the ideal number of individuals should be chosen so that they can maintain a social distance of 6 feet from each other.
Fewer guests mean that it’s also easy to keep a track of their travel history to curtail the spread of the disease. Limiting and scaling down the number of people prevents crowding. The duration of the meetings also needs to be kept in mind and they need to be kept short.
Tip 2) Make sanitary equipment compulsory
The guests and organizers, both need to have access to sanitary equipment at all times at the event platform. The guests need to be provided with alcohol-based hand sanitizers immediately after registration. The event should also have appointed sanitation sites that have access to sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, tissues, gloves, and masks.
Wear face coverings and gloves should also be made compulsory as a part of prevention measures. Technological equipment used to present such as microphones, tablets, and iPads also need to be disinfected after each use. Thermal scanning equipment can be installed at entry points to check for symptoms.
Tip 3) Sanitize the venue
The venue determines the outcome of the event, to prevent crowding and contagion, a large venue is ideal so that the individuals can maintain 6 feet distance. Outdoor space or a place with several windows is also beneficial for airflow. A spacious venue ensures that there’s ample distance between each guest. Strict guidelines laid down by the CDC and WHO need to be followed. It should also be ensured that enclosed spaces such as lavatories which are a haven for the spread of the virus are sanitized. The venue should also have closed dustbins to dispose of the waste.
Tip 4) Create a precaution plan
To have a successful event during a pandemic, there needs to be diligent planning. Establishing efficient communication channels is extremely important to keep track of all the guests and individuals in the event. If the monitoring is successful the information can also be shared with health officials. It is important to check the double vaccination status of the participants. Checking the vaccination status is one of the widely used prevention measures.
Creating a health policy before the event and mailing it to the attendees is also resourceful so that they are aware of the various rules and regulations in the event, for example, specifying before the event that the attendees should not shake hands or hug to greet is more helpful than letting them know during the event. Think about setting up a contact tracing log to examine if the guest has come in contact with the virus.
Tip 5) Consult public health officials
No matter how systematically things are planned and appropriate hygienic standards are taken, some things are beyond control and it is imperative to have medical professionals on board before planning an event. The local authority must be consulted.
Every individual attending the event must provide their contact details so they can be relayed to the health officials in case of emergencies. The attendees must also be provided with the contact details of the health officials and other health hotline numbers. It is resourceful to have an onsite crisis response team as well.
The emergence of hybrid events post-pandemic
The covid-19 pandemic has become one of the greatest problems for the events industry. Events such as conferences, corporate events, trade shows, and meetings have been canceled or postponed due to concerns about the spread of the virus. This has stranded event planners needing to figure out how to proceed with their corporate event planning. Many event planners have considered rescheduling their events or going for hybrid events rather than the traditional in-person events.
Typically, a hybrid event combines online events and in-person events. You can do this in several ways, such as requiring all attendees to join a conference call or an online meeting or having some people attend in person while the rest are held remotely. The advantage of hybrid live events is that they can be customized for every type of event, and they allow event professionals to conform the experience to the needs of each event.
Here are 5 reasons for considering hybrid events in the post covid19 pandemic era:
1. Increased virtual engagement: By incorporating both online events and in-person elements, hybrid events provide event attendees with more opportunities to engage with each other through online social interactions, live videos, and other content. This increased audience engagement can help build stronger relationships within teams and organizations, provide excellent virtual experiences to the event attendees, as well as increase attendance at future events.
2. Increased flexibility: Participants can customize their virtual experiences by choosing which elements of the hybrid event platform they would like to attend. By utilizing hybrid event platforms, organizations and business owners can get more out of a limited budget while still providing participants with the flexibility to attend whichever portions of the event best suit their needs.
3. Control: The business owners have greater control over budgets and ROI Participants have more control over their budgets because they can choose to attend any portions of the event that matter to them.
4. Increased accessibility: Participants can attend events that are in more convenient locations for them, and can often get better rates by choosing to visit hybrid events.
5. Greater reach: With so many people now finding working from home to be a great option, hybrid events offer a way for businesses and organizations to connect with a larger audience than the traditional in-person events as they would be able to reach through live videos and online social interactions.
Conclusion
Additionally, in-person events are advisable only if they are necessary, otherwise, people can migrate to virtual events or hybrid events which is a combination of in-person events and virtual events. Hybrid events are the best of both worlds since the attendees can choose to attend remotely or virtually. The advantage of this approach is that it ensures more coverage. Hybrid events make in-person events safer as one can provide multiple options for the attendees to choose from to access the event remotely reducing in-person attendance. By following these tips, you can help ensure that your in-person events are safe and enjoyable for everyone involved.
Webmobi.com offers a hybrid event platform that delivers all of the key elements guests want to see in events while still complying with health and safety requirements. To schedule a meeting and know more contact us to schedule a demo.
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