As we all have been aware of the news flooded worldwide, that the outbreak of coronavirus has been so disrupted that it has impacted majorly on event industries. As it is almost affecting globally on several business meetings, exhibitions, conferences, trade, fairs, etc. Currently, it is doubtful that your upcoming events in Mumbai and other cities in the world will be affected even as much as a flu outbreak is in your chosen destination. The National Football League(NFL) draft has also been canceled due to coronavirus outbreak, The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) suspended IPL matches to next month due to coronavirus. Apart from that, Amazon Web Services too announced its cancellation regardless of increasing coronavirus world-wide. Because of the constant increase in the number of suspects of the corona, several grand events have been canceled. As attending in large gatherings, can easily lead to the spreading of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) through physical contacts in such meetings, Being event planners in an area that’s corona virus-affected or has the possibility can put you in a matter of risk. You must be prepared for the following situations.
Ensuring precautionary tips on the decided venue date –
As an event planner, you need to be equipped with various precautionary arrangements when the entire world is preventing themselves in every possible way they could. But there can be many challenges to prevent the event from the impact of the virus. So communicating with the venue owner in advance is necessary, to place a medical team for the entire event. Also, be informed about the visitors who will be attending the event whether they have any history of infection/symptoms.
- Keeping a list of contact information for the nearest hospitals and centers for disease control can also come in handy if such need arises.
- Of course, the medical team that will be placed for the event should also carry basic surgical masks or sanitizers to clean their hands or stay prevented through it.
- And last but most important, let your attendees and other stakeholders of your event be aware of the guidelines released by WHO(World Health Organization) and CDC (Centres For Disease Control And Prevention)
Informing about the rescheduling or cancellation of the event –
The reach of the coronavirus has paced off so far that many of the events have been already either canceled or postponed. Medium and small level event planners, especially those with no major contingency plan, are suffering the most out of it. Here are these guidelines which event planners should follow in case their events are being rescheduled/postponed.
- The first is to inform them prior to the cancellation or rescheduling of the event. Prior informed can be conducted through emails or in-app notifications.
- Make sure you maintain a time gap between the day of the event and the time on being they are informed.
- Inform them about the new date to your attendees through event apps on which you have promoted your event. The event app works as a social media platform for your event to maintain networking with the visitors and your event community.
- After informing about the new schedule and the venue, you need to inform a detailed version of the conveyance facilities, nearest and safest travel routes to reach safely to the location.
Document all the above in your risk management section –
After coming on to the conclusion of the event, make a note of it. By now, you should have, or be working on, a note about risk management for your organization. Include all of this in that plan.
- If you haven’t started developing a plan, the coronavirus outbreak serves as yet one more reminder that such plans are necessary for the health of your attendees. Such plans can also eliminate severe financial risks to your organization due to legal liability and negative public perceptions.
- Therefore, Event planning is ultimately about the comfort of the event attendees and their enhanced event experiences. An event can be called a successful event when it is been conducted as per plans.
- The current situation is a test of our professional ethics and empathetic event planning. A responsible and human approach to event planning is the need of the hour.
Remember that the event planners is not the guarantor of the safety of the attendees, but the duty of care does mean that the planner must investigate the risk of coronavirus, advise the attendees of the current state of coronavirus in the location, and provide all the best hygiene and health oversight practices possible at your event.