Creating an event always requires careful organisation, as each detail counts when it comes to satisfying your attendees. The arrival of Covid-19 has undeniably created difficulties for the events sector and forced it to reinvent itself. Organisers must therefore envisage tomorrow’s events now.
How can you protect your staff in the event of an epidemic? What tools can help you in this process? What’s the maximum number of attendees you can accommodate while ensuring their safety? In this article, we provide you with ideas for organising your future events by preparing for these issues as much as possible.
Summary
- Create a detailed hygiene protocol
- Hire trained staff
- Choose effective technological tools
- Set an appropriate attendee limit
- Optimise your event’s sustainability
1. Create a detailed hygiene protocol
Since the start of the crisis, hygiene has been by far the most important and sensitive issue for event organisers. To make sure your event is a success, create a comprehensive hygiene protocol.
Provide masks and hydroalcoholic gel, and ensure that attendees use them. Remind attendees of this system by placing signs in strategic places and making announcements on the microphone — like on public transport. Pay attention to the application of safety measures and enable the required distancing between attendees.
2. Hire trained staff
Once the hygiene protocol is created, you must make sure it’s followed. Keeping a safe distance, wearing a mask and using hydroalcoholic gel are not yet reflexes for most people, and they can quickly be forgotten during a social event — despite their ongoing importance.
For these reasons, good staff management in 2020–2021 requires a strengthened safety team in order to show your stakeholders that you’re addressing your responsibility as an event organiser head-on.
We don’t know when the virus will go away. It’s therefore better to adopt good habits now. This is one of the challenges for event organisers. To achieve this, hire safety officers who’ve been trained in the new standards.
3. Choose effective technological tools
Technological tools — increasingly used in all types of events — have often proven to be indispensable. Today more than ever, you must consider how certain solutions such as an online ticketing system, ticket control with scanning terminals and cashless payment can help you avoid contact between your staff and your attendees.
Dynamic screens placed in strategic places at your event can also help your staff to remind attendees of the safety measures to be carefully respected throughout the event.
4. Set an appropriate attendee limit
The number of attendees at an event can itself be considered a safety measure. Be sure to limit your attendee numbers with an online ticketing system to avoid physical crowding. To do this, you must take into account the size of your venue, its set-up and, in particular, the activities planned. The advantages and disadvantages of a conference in a hall won’t be the same as those of a group sport tournament in an open space. Above all, keep yourself informed of official measures regarding the maximum authorised number of attendees, as they can change regularly.
Bonus: One solution for achieving a visibility goal for your event while sticking to an attendee limit is to invite influencers. Make sure they match your brand and event by approaching a specialist agency that hires influencers as well as other event talent.
5. Optimise your event’s sustainability
Last, but not the least important, is your event’s sustainability. This issue has never been so topical, and it will now be a real measure of your event’s success. In the current context, for instance, provide your staff — and, if possible, your attendees — with reusable rather than disposable masks, as disposable ones contribute much more to pollution. Similarly, opt for bio-degradable cups and cutlery. Their plastic ‘ancestors’ are major drivers of pollution.
These solutions are not always the most economical in the short term, but they will show a real commitment on your part, which will be beneficial in the long term. Inspire your attendees, your partners, your suppliers and your guests to make an effort themselves. Finally, customise the reusable masks with your organisation’s logo and brand image to create a sense of belonging and to communicate outside your event for free by word of mouth.
In events as in other sectors, the impacts of Covid-19 will likely last some time. It’s therefore best to start adjusting right away in order to seize new opportunities. Benefit from all the features provided with Weezevent’s solutions and organise your future event by clicking on the button below:
