COVID-19 PANDEMIC CHANGING INDUSTRY CONFERENCES & EVENTS

The global COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world and many industries and businesses.

- Christy Gren

One such badly hit industry is the event/exhibitions industry. Till then, virtual meetings and conferences would be the thing! Many conferences, meeting and events across the world were cancelled and postponed indefinitely owing to the global pandemic and social distancing rules implemented to secure oneself from the dangerous virus. There were also instances of transforming the conferences to a digital platform and conducting them virtually over a small audience and with lesser output.

What would it take to organize events post COVID-19?

Hosting meetings and events post COVID-19 would require people and event management companies adjusting on a large scale. It would require a combined effort of all the sectors to kickstart the industry again. For holding events and conferences, deciding venues would also require focusing on the primary requirements of health and safety protocols, social distancing arrangements, and safe food and beverage to ensure a healthy and safe environment. Venues play a crucial part in an event, and to organize an event in the post-COVID-19 world, the organizers will have to implement distancing practices in the venues and adhere to extra precautions.

One of the real problems the industry would face in the long run is that it would be tough to re-organize an event when they don’t have any timescale. As there is no specific time limit of complete eradication of COVID-19 or its control, it is hard to predict any rescheduling of events soon. To add to the woes of the events industry, there have also been media reports which suggested that Coronavirus could re-surface next winter, making event organizers more nervous about committing time and money to rescheduled events.