NAVIGATING THE PATH FORWARD FOR MEETINGS AND ...

NAVIGATING THE PATH FORWARD FOR MEETINGS AND EVENTSINSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES FORSUCCESS IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

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https://www.venetian.com/meetings/

Navigating the Path Forward for Meetings and Events: Insights and Perspectives for Success in a Post-Pandemic World 2SKIFT + VENETIAN

Executive Summary

Executive Letter

Introduction

Short- and Long-Term Forecasts

Live Event Health and Safety: Standards and Best Practices

Understanding New Association and Government Guidelines for Events

Health Screening for Event Attendees

Special Rules for High-Risk Attendees

Strategies for Venue Distancing and Diminished Capacity

An Interview With Chandra Allison From The Venetian Resort

Adapting Events: The Path From Virtual to Hybrid to In-Person

Long-Term Outlook: Maintaining a Strategic Focus

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT SKIFT

Skift is the largest industry intelligence platform providing media, insights, and marketing to key sectors of travel. Skift deciphers and defines trends for global CEOs and CMOs across the travel industry through a combination of news, research, conferences, and marketing services.

ABOUT SKIFTX

SkiftX is Skift’s in-house content studio. SkiftX produced this report in partnership withThe Venetian® Resort Las Vegas.

MASTHEAD

Vice President, SkiftX / Katherine Townsend Editorial Director, SkiftX / Lisa OmagariResearch Editor, SkiftX / Jeremy KressmannDesigner / Joanna GonzalezContributor, Angela Tupper


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The entire world is presently engaged in a battle with Covid-19 that is unlikely to end in the short term. Like many other industries, the events sector has been deeply affected. Meeting planners have had to adapt rapidly to a world transformed overnight, and are actively seeking innovative solutions to meet the needs of businesses amidst unforeseen and ongoing constraints.

While virtual gatherings have filled the gap to some extent, event planners and large venues know that these alternatives cannot match the primacy and richness of face-to-face experiences. In addition to contributing over $1 trillion in revenues and millions of jobs to the global economy, in-person events deliver real value for attendees. Virtual platforms do not come close to live events when it comes to situations like sensitive negotiations, and in-person events allow unexpected opportunities to emerge as attendees interact at banquets, in exhibit halls, and at entertainment venues. In addition, the growing investment in “experiential design” is evidence that the atmosphere and creativity

around live events are crucial to their appeal and effectiveness.

Since it is difficult to gauge exactly when live events will make a permanent comeback, industry executives are currently trying to ascertain the best mix of in-person, hybrid, and virtual events on a case by case basis. At the same time, they are looking for ways to make in-person events safer and virtual events more effective.

In this report, Skift and The Venetian Resort Las Vegas reveal how industry stakeholders are dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. They share learnings, best practices, and innovations that can enlighten businesses, meeting planners, and venues alike. The report covers key topics such as the short- and long-term economic forecast, evolving health and safety protocols, and new technologies that promise to enhance the virtual experience. The report is a helpful guide for industry leaders seeking direction in these unprecedented times.


The Venetian Resort Las Vegas is pleased to partner with Skift to present this new report, “Navigating the Path Forward for Meetings and Events.” It contains valuable insights and strategies for coping in the Covid-19 era, and we are confident our clients and partners will regard it as a vital resource.

At The Venetian Resort, we are proactively and continuously adjusting to the challenges presented by Covid-19. Meetings are at the heart of what we do, and we are committed to keeping our guests and attendees safe. Our Venetian Clean Commitment comprises over 800 new safety protocols that are based on federal, state, and local government direction; our teams use these guidelines in collaboration with meeting planners to ensure event safety and success. To develop the Venetian Clean Commitment, we mapped the guest and attendee journeys in detail, pinpointing all the touchpoints and creating mitigation strategies for each one. We also looked at ways to increase physical distancing by redirecting foot traffic in key areas across our property.

Many of our clients are using virtual and hybrid alternatives during this unprecedented period. We appreciate the importance of virtual options and are looking at new ways

to support these practices. However, we know that in-person events are uniquely well-suited to customer engagement in many areas, from building business to rewarding employees to creating opportunities for spontaneous collaboration. We recognize that face-to-face meetings may not look quite the same in the near term, but we are fully invested in doing what it takes to make all events as engaging and productive as they have always been.

Preparation of this Skift report is just one initiative we’ve undertaken to inform, support, and ultimately revive our industry. We hope you find it useful, and we wish you well during these challenging times.

EXECUTIVE LETTER

Chandra Allison,senior vice president of sales,The Venetian Resort Las Vegas

Best regards,Chandra Allison



Introducing Venetian Clean Meetings.A safe way to come together at meetings, conventions, and tradeshows.

As a leader in the industry, The Venetian® Resort and Sands Expo® have re-imagined the convention experience, placing the health and safety of attendees at the forefront. Through use of clever design and innovative technology, and with our Venetian Clean Commitment as our guiding principle, we’ve created an experience for meeting and tradeshow attendees that enhances safety and minimizes risk.

LEARN MORE AT VENETIAN.COM/MEETINGS



INTRODUCTION

The unprecedented fallout from Covid-19 has had a dramatic, and immediate, impact on the worldwide meetings and event sector. As event planners across the industry try to figure out the best path forward, many are looking for direction about how to proceed in this period of rapid change.

The recent popularity and success of virtual events is undoubtedly encouraging. But as event organizers, industry associations, and major venues already recognize, there is a strong conviction that virtual events will never fully replace live events. One reason is the widespread economic benefit of events, which sources like Oxford Economics note contribute over $1 trillion in combined business sales and government taxes, in addition to supporting

millions of jobs. On top of this, face-to-face events have incalculable economic value for meeting attendees, whether it’s finalizing a sensitive business deal or creating the opportunity for fortuitous meetings on a trade show floor. Finally, the growing emphasis on ‘experiential design’ in recent years is further proof that being there is often essential for a full appreciation of an event’s atmosphere and the collective synergy.

Still, despite this undeniable demand, it is difficult to predict when in-person events will return en masse. So much depends on the development of stringent safety protocols, and that means increased costs at a time when revenue models are already facing major challenges.

Classroom Setting in The Stella Studio

https://www.pcma.org/whats-economic-impact-meetings-industry/

https://www.pcma.org/whats-economic-impact-meetings-industry/


What do event planners and organizers think about the future of their industry during these uncertain times? What can event venues do to help assist them on their road to recovery? And can they draw any lessons on best practices to ensure minimal risk to the public health while also optimizing the attendee experience at events?

While directives from external agencies like the WHO, CDC, and local city and state health authorities are crucial, the input of event planners and their business partners will also prove invaluable in helping uncover creative solutions to aid the industry’s recovery. In this report, Skift and The Venetian Resort interviewed a wide variety of industry stakeholders to gather insights, learn about evolving best practices, and understand the state of the meetings sector.

The dialogue in this report strives to tackle both sides of the event recovery coin: What requirements need to be met for events to return? And where can event planners and organizers turn to for advice on best practices, whether they are educational, technological, or procedural, to help make their events better than ever for all the stakeholders involved?

In the sections below, Skift and The Venetian Resort investigate these questions through the eyes of event industry stakeholders, with the interviewees’ responses organized around four main themes:

Short- and Long-Term Forecasts: Where is the events business at today, and what does the economic outlook look like moving forward?

Live Event Health and Safety: What standards, rules, and operating procedures can the events industry use to keep guests and stakeholders healthy and safe? What needs to be communicated or provided on-site to put attendees’ minds at ease about potential risks?

Adapting Events: The Path from Virtual to Hybrid to In-Person: How can emerging digital event tools help address the virus transmission risks of Covid-19, and how might technology be used to help organizers rethink the real-life event experience?

Long-Term Outlook: What will the events industry look like in the future, and how can organizers prepare their businesses for what’s on the horizon?

EDITOR’S NOTE

As many of this report’s readers likely already recognize, the impact of Covid-19 on the meeting and event sector in 2020 is complex and rapidly evolving. The state of local outbreaks in various cities, states, regions, and countries around the world continues to evolve, and with it the most effective protocols and the news regarding the feasibility of holding various live events and gatherings.

Readers are advised that while the information in this report was accurate at the time of publication, the news continues to change. Therefore all insights below should be considered as directional guidance only and should be implemented with respect to the facts on the ground and each individual event organizer’s unique geographic situation. ◆


SHORT- AND LONG-TERM FORECASTS

Perhaps the most important question for event planners is how they will survive the economic challenges created by the current crisis. In order to answer this question, it’s worth investigating the current and future state of the industry.

The early part of 2020, considered by many to be the peak of the pandemic, illustrates the early challenges faced by event organizers. In June 2020, The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) reported that the industry’s economic performance declined by 15.1 percent in Q1, with a steep drop in exhibition activity in the second half of March: 72.6 percent of exhibitions scheduled in this period were canceled, with the remainder postponed for

a later date. The CEIR’s June survey of exhibition organizers suggested that the immediate economic challenges remained. Overall, 73 percent of respondents reported having to cancel shows originally planned to take place in 2020; and among those reporting cancellations, 53 percent had originally tried to postpone their events.

As of May 2020, industry experts predicted that among the 82 percent of shows that have been postponed since the onset of Covid-19, 50 percent would eventually be canceled. Looking ahead to the rest of the year, AMR International forecasts a 60 percent contraction in the global exhibitions market by the end of 2020.

Coffee Break in The Stella Studio

https://iaee.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9OTM4MjExNCZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9MTE0MDQ5MDYzMA==

https://iaee.informz.net/informzdataservice/onlineversion/ind/bWFpbGluZ2luc3RhbmNlaWQ9OTM4MjExNCZzdWJzY3JpYmVyaWQ9MTE0MDQ5MDYzMA==

https://www.ceir.org/news/ceir-june-survey-finds-covid-19-impact-on-u-s-b2b-exhibitions-worsening-and-growing/

https://flashesandflames.com/2020/05/15/what-will-happen-to-trade-shows/

https://amrinternational.com/globex-updated-2020-forecast/

https://amrinternational.com/globex-updated-2020-forecast/


Estimated Revenue Losses by Quarter for Meetings and Events in 2020

Source: AMR Globex 2019, AMR research and analysis

-60%

2019

$29.7bn

2020Q4Q3Q2Q1

AMR Globex

2019 estimate of market

size

$2.2bn

$6.1bn

Estimated and forecast 2020 proforma revenue drop by quater, compared to 2019

Estimated and forecast revenue losses vary by quarter. Quarterly figures consider original volume of events scheduled, % of events that are

postponed and cancelled, and impact on events are held

$5.1bn

$4.7bn

AMR revised

2020 forecast

Nonetheless, there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Asia has already witnessed several large-scale exhibitions along with a few smaller ones, including Biofach China, Craft Beer China, and the Hunan Auto Show in China; the MBC Architecture Expo in South Korea; and The Hong Kong Wedding Fair in Hong Kong.

Several of our interviewees expressed cautious optimism about the future of the events industry, with particular confidence in the potential for hybrid formats in the coming months. Those representing smaller-scale events often have the flexibility to be more agile, and many have already paved the way for the hybrid model. Jeff Goldstein, CEO of Legend Productions, explained that following the initial shock of the lockdown, his company is now transitioning to take advantage of new virtual and hybrid opportunities:

“We truly did see what started off as a rolling decline down a mountain really turn into a cliff in terms of everything canceling through the end of June,” Jeff said. “There have been many conversations regarding the second half of 2020 … do we take it live, hybrid, or fully online? For the most part, given the unknowns of the virus spread, clients have opted to stay in the online and hybrid space through year end. We do have robust activity, with live on-site events being planned in March of 2021… fingers crossed. For now, we’re actively discussing scaled-down live events utilizing TV studios and sound stages while feeding those webcasts out to audiences.”

Sue Gill, founder and CEO of Your Event Solutions, had similar observations to share. “For the next three months, most events have been postponed, a few have been canceled, and a lot have gone to an online

http://www.biofachchina.com/en/

http://www.cbcechina.com/en/

http://www.enghunan.gov.cn/hneng/News/Localnews/202005/t20200506_12028853.html

http://www.aipc.org/uploadFiles/1590419900_KINTEX's%20Preventive%20Measures%20Against%20COVID-19.pdf

http://www.aipc.org/uploadFiles/1590419900_KINTEX's%20Preventive%20Measures%20Against%20COVID-19.pdf

http://wedding-show.com.hk/hong-kong-wedding-fair.html

http://wedding-show.com.hk/hong-kong-wedding-fair.html


platform,” Gill said. “And then we go into more of a hybrid of some face-to-face and some online. Then from January [2021] onwards, we’re back to having events face-to-face, but obviously in the restricted environments that are expected …

The reopening of borders is, of course, a key first step. As Wendy Gibson of GES explained, the industry’s outlook varies widely from region to region, especially when it comes to the bigger trade shows: “GES operates all over the world. We do more than 4,000 events a year. You have to break it down, and look at it by region and sometimes even by city — what’s going on in that particular area?”

Travel restrictions and other regional differences are essential pieces of the puzzle. To help us better understand how these factors influence the long-term forecast, we posed a series of pointed questions to the participants in our roundtable discussion.

Once restrictions are lifted on travel and mass gatherings, do you anticipate that prospective attendees will be reluctant to participate in person?

Carina:A huge amount of work has been done very quickly within the industry to put in place guidelines that will be crucial for re-engaging confidence in potential attendees … Obviously, it all depends on the situation that we find ourselves in over time, but assuming that it stays stabilized, I believe that enough work has been done through the industry and by all the national governments for us to hold safe events again under a responsible framework. We now also have the agreement of many governments to move ahead. If you look at some of the events that have opened up in South Korea or in China, you’re talking about trade shows with 60,000 people over a week. So those certainly have not been diminished in terms of attendance. I think it really depends on how you manage those delegates.

Kai:I know [South Korea and China] saw two to three times the number of [estimated] attendees flocking to the [first trade shows after lockdown] than expected, showing that there really is this pent-up demand that people were talking about. Enough time has passed that we’re also increasingly confident to say that no person was harmed in attending those shows, i.e. infected. That’s because of the health and safety measures in place. To have the data to prove that a show took place with 60,000 people in China and there was not one infection, and to have the same case in[South] Korea, will all help to make the case that given proper health and safety protocols, the risk is minimal.

For the most part, given the unknowns of the virus spread,

clients have opted to stay in the online and hybrid space through

year end. We do have robust activity, with live on-site events

being planned in March of 2021… fingers crossed.

— Jeff Goldstein, CEO, Legend Productions


KEY TAKEAWAYS: SHORT- AND LONG-TERM FORECASTS

Monitor the shifting regulations in your region, not just in terms of limitations on event size, but also in terms of restrictions on travel.

Keep in mind the regulations that apply to your location and develop an event strategy that optimizes the opportunity for in-person experiences (e.g., stage smaller regional in-person events that allow remote participants to connect virtually).

Stay informed about developments in other regions and learn from their successes, both in their lobbying efforts and in their health and safety innovations. UFI has published an Exhibition Industry Market Status Tracker to help monitor the degree of lockdown in other regions.

Consider that current investments in technological solutions are not just a stop-gap measure — they will enhance the in-person experience in the long term.

Understand protocols that have been put in place by regions that have successfully brought back live meetings. ◆

What does the forecast look like for the industry generally?

Carina:Answering that question is dependent on the region, but not just the region — it is also dependent on the type of event, the size of the event and where your participants are coming from, which is critical ... A number of the events that had been pushed into Q4 were later canceled or further postponed into 2021, but that’s not to mean that everything has been. There are events that are still going ahead in Q4 ...

There have already been some for a few hundred people in some European countries. Certainly, Asia is back up doing trade shows at 80 percent capacity. There are also some small events still taking place in the US. I don’t think Q4 is completely gone ...

https://www.ufi.org/wp-content/uploadhttps:/www.ufi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Exhibition_Industry_Market_Status_Tracker.pdf

https://www.ufi.org/wp-content/uploadhttps:/www.ufi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Exhibition_Industry_Market_Status_Tracker.pdf


LIVE EVENT HEALTH AND SAFETY: STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES

Economic outlooks can tell event organizers a lot about the current state of the industry. But it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Given the importance of live events to the meeting and events industry, the industry is also going to have to figure out a way to host such gatherings that minimizes the risk to public health.

Most event planners understand that implementing effective health and safety protocols is only half the battle. It is also essential to convince government agencies and prospective attendees that the organizers are taking all the necessary steps to minimize the risks.

The government has the power to set regulations, but the industry has the expertise. The industry will need both of these forces to work together to allow attendees to feel safe. How can the government and industry leaders collaborate to develop guidelines that can be both uniformly applied and reliably effective?

Beyond this there are questions about how to navigate the rapidly growing list of health and safety protocols. How should event planners navigate between these?

Attendee Dining in the Sands Expo Marketplace


In the section below, we offer some insights into these questions, pulled from our interview sources and recent industry news.

What is most urgently needed at this time to help the industry recover?

Jeff:I think we all have to come together and figure out how we keep our attendees not only entertained and engaged, but safe and healthy. There are going to be important practices that have to become [standard], not just ‘nice to have.’ And I think as an event industry, if we can say that the practices that we’re doing for this consumer electronics show are the same set of protocols used for the small national sales kickoff conference, that are also the same for this meeting that’s going to happen in Madrid — we can say that this is, I don’t want to say the law, but it’s the ‘science law,’ if you will.

Kai:Together with AIPC and ICCA, we’ve just released a set of guidelines, [Good Practice Guidance: Addressing Covid-19 Requirements for Re-Opening Business Events], so that an organizer in the US can benefit from what has worked in Dubai. Or an organizer in

Germany can benefit from what has worked in South Korea, etc. We have compiled about 80 pages of best practices, guidance, and standards that we are sharing with the business community.

Wendy:Safety is going to be one of the most important elements in terms of getting attendees back. We’ve been surveying our different client segments asking them what they expect when they come back, and safety is top. All the things that relate to the distancing — we call it physical distancing because we think it’s still social, but it’s just not doing it as close together — all those measures are important. Ensuring the safety and wellness of the attendees — what does it take? We’re addressing safety at an industry level, working together with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council, and we’ve been in discussions around the IAEE [International Association of Exhibitions & Events] considerations for show organizers. I think we’re going to solve the safety aspect at an industry level. You’ve got to get the venues, the labor, everybody involved to make that happen … Somebody may have been your competitor yesterday, but in working through a crisis, you have to partner together to move the industry forward.

Sue:A lot of MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences, and events] agencies work in silos. I actually think that it would be really useful if we pursued more collaboration. Sharing best practices in the industry would be quite good going forward, like hosting webinars. Rather than somebody thinking they’re going to take somebody else’s business, actually coming together as a unit, as an industry. If we can collaborate, then I think we’ll just be in a stronger frame of mind as a division within the travel industry. I think it’s been a reset. The industry press can also really support us with podcasts, the latest news, and positively cover how we’ve been responsible as well.

https://www.ufi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Good_Practice_Guidance_Reopening_Business_Events.pdf




Kai:What helped us here in Germany was to tell the government that a trade show is not the Munich Beer Festival. You can have as many people in one concert arena for one night as you can have on a specialized business-to-business exhibition spread out over f ive days and with much more space. And when you get them to listen to that, they understand that the crowd density is different. So that convinced them to allow trade shows to go on again, whereas all other types of mass gatherings remain banned in this country. So right now it’s really all about the advocacy work, the government work, getting the license to operate back.

UNDERSTANDING NEW ASSOCIATION AND GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES FOR EVENTS

There’s no doubt that health and safety is on the minds of event organizers. But even though nearly all industry stakeholders agree on this point, there’s some difference of opinion as far as what constitutes adequate safety requirements. Indeed, the emerging problem is not the lack of guidelines, but rather the overwhelming surplus of them. Virtually every industry association has published resources on managing health risks, not to mention all the guidelines published by private companies and government agencies.

Several interviewees cited SISO’s All Secure Standard guidelines, along with the Event Safety Alliance Reopening Guide. Kai Hattendorf also highlighted his organization’s recently released Good Practice Guidance: Addressing Covid-19 Requirements for Re-Opening Business Events, a comprehensive resource published jointly by AIPC

[International Association of Convention Centres], the ICCA [International Congress and Convention Association], and UFI. The Good Practice Guidance provides an overview of multiple other resources in addition to dozens of case study examples gathered from recent and upcoming events.

Taken all together, these guidelines may initially seem overwhelming. As Carina Bauer noted, they are designed as resources, not as steadfast rules that everyone needs to follow religiously:

“The protocols that are being published at the moment are a shopping list of everything that you could possibly do. That doesn’t mean to say that you have to do 100 percent of those things. They just give you a clear idea of all the things that you need to consider, but then you have to decide what is going to actually work in your venue.”

At the same time, consistent industry standards are needed to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Many of our interviewees suggested that certification programs may be the key to self-regulation. In response to industry demand, Bureau Veritas developed the SafeGuard™ certification program, which has already been adopted by Las Vegas Sands at The Venetian Resort and The Palazzo in the US. International participants in the program include Viparis in France and The Shangri-La Hotel and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Several US convention centers — including McCormick Place, the Orange County Convention Center, and the Las Vegas Convention Center—have similarly signed onto the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s GBAC STAR™ facility accreditation program.

Beyond providing some form of oversight, these kinds of accreditation programs also provide a structured framework to streamline the process of updating an event’s infection control measures.

https://www.siso.org/__media/PDFs/Industry-All-Secure-Standard-051420.pdf

https://www.siso.org/__media/PDFs/Industry-All-Secure-Standard-051420.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aec979d3e2d09db8bcad475/t/5eb86f694a67d30048528163/1589145456606/2020-05-11+Event+Safety+Alliance+Reopening+Guide.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5aec979d3e2d09db8bcad475/t/5eb86f694a67d30048528163/1589145456606/2020-05-11+Event+Safety+Alliance+Reopening+Guide.pdf



https://group.bureauveritas.com/markets-services/restart-your-business-bv

https://www.theincentivist.com/las-vegas-sands-and-bureau-veritas-partner-on-hygiene-and-safety-program/

https://www.theincentivist.com/las-vegas-sands-and-bureau-veritas-partner-on-hygiene-and-safety-program/

https://www.expodatabase.de/en/articles/126475-corporation-for-safety

https://group.bureauveritas.com/newsroom/shangri-la-hotel-first-singapore-receive-safeguard-hygiene-excellence-and-safety-label

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200629005708/en/Marina-Bay-Sands-Bureau-Veritas-Partner-Hygiene

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200507006040/en/Global-Biorisk-Advisory-Council-Introduces-GBAC-STAR%E2%84%A2



https://gbac.issa.com/issa-gbac-star-facility-accreditation/

https://gbac.issa.com/issa-gbac-star-facility-accreditation/


HEALTH SCREENING FOR EVENT ATTENDEES

Another pressing logistical issue for organizers is how to effectively screen their attendees. Until there is better testing and contact tracing mechanisms in place consistently across regions, event planners have to rely on two methods:

Implementing health screening mechanisms at the event itself, such as temperature checks and possibly even testing centers. The state of Nevada, for example, requires temperature checks and the screening questionnaire for all attendees.

Applying physical distancing protocols equally to everyone in case someone is unknowingly a carrier.

Unfortunately, rigorous health screening would be logistically and financially challenging, and on top of that, it could undermine physical distancing efforts. As Frank Yang, the Director of KINTEX [Korea International Exhibition Center], pointed out in a LinkedIn article, the registration process and health screening methods used at the MBC Architecture Expo “[g]enerated a long admission line and congestion” that required organizers to free up extra space and add more staff.

A fast registration system is necessary to avoid overcrowding, but health screening efforts are bound to slow down the process. While thermal cameras can provide a relatively efficient way to screen people for fevers, other more thorough measures will likely cause too much of a bottleneck to be practicable at scale.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6666298588798300161/


SPECIAL RULES FOR HIGH-RISK ATTENDEES

By now, most people are aware that Covid-19 exhibits vastly different symptoms from patient to patient. Those with healthy immune systems may face limited risks, while those with medical complications face additional dangers from virus exposure. With this in mind, is there a case for asking vulnerable groups to avoid events?

Perhaps the best response is to simply defer to local government health rules. The state of Nevada, for example, recommends vulnerable individuals stay home altogether. But this report’s interview subjects had some additional suggestions.

“I’ve seen some articles suggesting that during registration, you’d have to ask people their age and if they’re in a high-risk group and things of that nature, and I just don’t think that’s realistic,” IMEX’s Carina Bauer said. “I think you have to be transparent with what you’re doing and then people have to make their decisions as to whether they want to put themselves at that level of exposure based on all the parameters that you’ve put in place.”

Wendy Gibson of GES suggested a different approach that puts more control in the hands of attendees: “We’re thinking about going as far as using badges to identify how you want to be contacted: red is for no contact, yellow is for some contact, and green is for any interaction within the physical distancing rules.”

Carina Bauer also suggested the possibility of allowing registrants to opt into select events only, with special activities created in response to stricter physical distancing preferences:

“If somebody is immunocompromised, you have to question whether they’re going to feel comfortable enough coming to the event at all ... Maybe there’s a middle ground there, where it’s a preference

rather than a true need. There might be some events where you could give those people access to some elements of the event, but allow them to opt out of others so that they can manage their exposure. There are some appointment-based events, which are very much a speed-networking format. You could do that in a ballroom with screens and really manage the flow of people, and maybe they don’t take part in the less formalized networking afterwards.”

As with so many other adaptations arising within the ‘new normal,’ customization may be the best way to approach this issue.

STRATEGIES FOR VENUE DISTANCING AND DIMINISHED CAPACITY

Until the scientif ic community develops and distributes a successful vaccine for Covid-19, event planners will have to f ind ways to work around physical distancing imperatives. In some regions, it is 1.5 meters (over 4 feet), and in others it is two meters (6 feet). What will these requirements mean for events, not just in terms of revenue potential, but also in terms of the attendee experience? And how might these rules impact staffing decisions?

Below we explore insights and innovative ideas from industry insiders for coping with this new reality.

As live events begin to reemerge, will they have to operate at a diminished capacity to meet physical distancing requirements?

Jeff, Legend Productions:Clients are not really wanting to sign contracts with venues because they’re just trying to figure out what the diminished capacities are going to look like. So, we’re doing a lot of illustrating in that regard. And I think that’s really the big question. Do clients embrace an audience size that is potentially 50 percent of what it’s scheduled to be?


Kai, UFI:For trade shows right now, there are two strategies when you’re the owner or the organizer. You can say, “I’ll push it to next year to have the full brand experience, or it will be closer to the brand experience pre-Covid.” That way, they can reach an international audience and have the whole community together. Or you can say, “Well, I have a critical mass, maybe 25, 30, or 40 percent of our customers who will say, ‘Please run the show because we need the marketplace.’” But it won’t be the same experience as in more a normal time. So do you do that for this part of your community? Or do you wait until the whole community has access again to the bigger marketplace? These are the decisions that will have to be made in the weeks going forward.

Brian, Skift:Scarcity is a way to create value. So I think that in the future, certain people might be able to attend the live event; maybe that’s the high-level access. And they may get a pretty personalized or bespoke experience. I once attended a private press event

hosted by Facebook … They took you through this 1950s set, but somehow the technology was there and was able to anticipate your needs for various things … I think that experience was interesting in a couple of ways. One, it was three or four people at a time taken through this large space, so the emphasis was less on a mass event and more on what those select few people experienced, just like any marketing premise. A select few influencers can scale up the reach of an event or bring the story to a broader network.

Sue, Your Event Solutions:I think that the bigger venues, the clever ones, will be able to give a solution with much more of a boutique-style environment. Some of those bigger ballrooms, which obviously in the past we would fill to capacity, can still be used. I actually think it’s a benefit for them to have a larger space, because even though we might not be filling them with 1,500 delegates, we can socially distance people in a bigger environment.

How can we adapt event scheduling and/or formats to meet further distancing requirements?

Jeff:When attendees go to the restroom during a coffee break, how are we going to deal with that? It’s a conf ined space, a conf ined amount of time. For scheduling, that will need to be finessed. I think we as an industry can try to establish some innovations, like scheduling and rotating audiences, or rotating speakers and leaving audiences in place. I think there’s going to be opportunities for us to rethink the traditional flow in a multi-dimensional space, where different presenters come in and out of a room more than the audience does.

Kai:We can rethink event formats in many ways. Do you host one event in one part of the world, or do you break it down to three or four smaller regional events until people can travel freely around the globe again?

I think that the bigger venues, the clever ones, will be able to give a solution with much more of a

boutique-style environment.

— Sue Gill, Founder and CEO,

Your Event Solutions


Weigh the limitations of staging an event under current restrictions against the urgency expressed by your client base.

Think about breaking up a single, large-scale international event into smaller regional ones.

Consider the allure of exclusivity and the marketing potential of influencers when exploring models that involve reduced venue capacity.

Expand on existing tour-guide models to maintain a tightly controlled journey through the event space.

Consider different presentation formats that reduce crowd movement, such as having presenters change locations instead of the audience.

Stagger breaks to avoid overcrowding in bathroom facilities between sessions/activities.

Expand the time frame of your event and control entry by time of day in order to serve a wider number of attendees.

Sue:Respecting how delegates feel about traveling, group sizes, and government restrictions is key. We anticipate smaller regional meetings for 2021 rather than the larger company-wide conferences … We have regional teams who are close to their own markets, which is key to our successful business model.

Brian:If I were to think about planning CES right now, I would adapt the small group tours that already happen there. You’re walking, but if you have these setups and the setups are spaced farther apart ... Maybe that’s like when collectors go to an art gallery’s private viewing ... Maybe it’s about spacing the event out where the exhibition becomes two weeks instead of a few days, because you have to let the same volume of people come through in separate tours. If they don’t want to do that, then they just simply need to have less people and less booths and less volume.

Carina:Events obviously are going to look different for a while in terms of the safety, security and sanitation efforts, reduction of crowds, and really making sure that our business events are very curated experiences with curated delegates. There’s a lot of work being done, but one of the issues is how do you control the attendance or numbers in the hall at any one time?For some events, that might mean a reduced attendance, but for others, they may be able to spread it over a longer period and make sure that it really is the key people coming in.

BEST PRACTICES FOR VENUE DISTANCING

Figure out the maximum capacity for your event under current or projected physical distancing guidelines.


EVENT STAFFING CONSIDERATIONS

With events now placing a premium on reducing contact between people, planners cannot ignore the role that staff can play in reducing transmission risk.

On the one hand, more staff on the ground can help to reinforce physical distancing guidelines. The Good Practice Guidance makes note of the ‘Safe Distancing Ambassadors’ concept developed for SingEx in Singapore: “Well-dressed, polite, well-instructed and well-equipped, such ‘Ambassadors’ can play a positive, proactive safety-regime supporting role by engaging attendees in a friendly, open manner.”

On the other hand, staff are likely to be exposed to a greater number of people than attendees, and they themselves could be a vector for transmission. [The event management company] GES has introduced some innovations to address this issue. They have designed a holographic digital host to greet attendees, and their visitor app allows attendees to select their beverage of choice with a corresponding QR code — scanning the code will activate a robotic arm to serve the drink.

How much the threat of Covid-19 will accelerate robotic automation and AI technologies is unclear, but it will likely increase demand for these types of innovations.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: LIVE EVENT HEALTH AND SAFETY

Recognize that quarantine periods can be a significant disincentive to travel even when international flights are permitted.

Consider the infection risk at each stage of travel and develop a plan to minimize the risk for your attendees, such as by recommending airlines with maximum passenger restrictions and mask-wearing policies.

Develop rigorous infection control protocols.

Guarantee that these protocols will be consistently enforced as part of your waiver agreement with attendees.

Use the successes of other regions that have begun reintroducing live events as a proof of concept, while also acknowledging all the steps necessary to meet these benchmarks.

Appoint a wellness team member to stay abreast of the latest Covid-19 guidelines being published by industry leaders and regulatory bodies.

Drawing from these resources, establish a clear code of conduct around your event’s health and safety measures, with strict protocols for disinfection measures and physical distancing practices.

Where possible, seek out venues that have vetted their infection-control measures through a third-party certification program, such as Bureau Veritas’ SafeGuard™ program or the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s GBAC STAR™ Facility Accreditation Program.

Ensure that detailed information on your protocols is made available, not only to your own staff, but also to government authorities and prospective attendees.

Leverage these protocols and related certifications when lobbying the government to recognize a distinction between mass gatherings versus trade shows and other B2B events. ◆

https://group.bureauveritas.com/markets-services/restart-your-business-bv





AN INTERVIEW WITH CHANDRA ALLISON FROM THE VENETIAN RESORT

To help shed light on how venues fit into the industry’s recovery strategy, Skift spoke to Chandra Allison, senior vice president of sales at The Venetian Resort. Allison not only offered her perspective on the outlook for events and their impact on the overall economy, but also shared the practical steps and strategies that The Venetian Resort is using to establish a safe return to in-person events.

SkiftX: How did Covid-19 impact The Venetian’s event business over the past three months, and how does that compare to the environment you’re seeing now (as of June 2020)?

Allison: The impact of Covid-19 on the meetings and events industry has been felt worldwide. Education is key - for our team members and our guests – equipping everyone with the knowledge on how to stay safe. To bring back meetings safely, we introduced our Venetian Clean Commitment which includes hundreds of new protocols that put attendee safety and wellness in the forefront and our teams will work with meeting professionals to ensure they are able to execute the successful events they are used to. The meetings industry is responsible for millions of jobs and a national economic impact of billions of dollars. There really is no substitute for face-to-face meetings and for the experiences that are designed to inspire, educate, and energize attendees and we need to focus on how we can begin our path to recovery safely.

Can you share your perspective on the broader importance of the meetings and events sector to the economy and to business culture? In other words, why will face-to-face events be an important part of the travel industry’s recovery from Covid-19?

We know that face-to-face meetings continue to be the ultimate connectors, and being able to provide an environment where a group can execute an event in a safe way is an important first step on getting back to meeting face-to-face and on the road to recovery.


It’s clear that meetings are critical to business, strengthen relationships, and provide outlets to develop new ones. Conventions and meetings provide exceptional opportunities for buyers and sellers to come together to conduct business and not only that, they impact global and local economies. The total impact of the trade show and meetings industry on the United States economy was estimated at $1 trillion in 2019 and nearly 4.4 million direct jobs (7.9 million total jobs) are supported by this industry including restaurants, off-site entertainment, transportation, lodging, retail, and more.

We believe now, more than ever, face-to-face meetings will continue to be a necessity in most industries and although they may look different for a while, we are all working together to make those meetings come to life in our new reality.

What’s your prediction about how soon the events business will begin to recover from the impact of Covid-19?

We know there is a great desire to bring people together again, to exchange ideas, connect, and network. Nothing can replace meeting face-to-face and the business that comes along with it. One thing we have learned throughout the pandemic is to rely on and make informed decisions based on data. We continue to follow the guidance of federal, state, and local government when it comes to events and hope we can get back to bringing people together soon.

Have there been any key learnings or best practices The Venetian has found during the Covid-19 event shutdown that will affect your meeting and event strategy moving forward?

In developing our Venetian Clean Commitment, we looked at the guest journey – both for a leisure traveler and an attendee of meetings and events – and mapped out their consistent activities from beginning to end.

A number of these touch points were obvious – increasing disinfection of high-traffic areas, adding hand sanitizers, physical distancing protocols – others, were items that were sometimes taken for granted – we do it this way because we always have. But by completing this exercise, we’ve been able to have a holistic plan that addresses all points. For instance, one of our team members identified that an A/V tech who is setting up computers for a trade show registration desk often briefly touches every keyboard to log it in. We suggest using a fresh piece of transparent plastic film over each keyboard, which not only eliminates the transfer of germs, but also eliminates the need to spray a keyboard as often with sanitizer, which can potentially shorten its lifespan. Talking to Team Members that are involved daily with all aspects of a meeting are great ways to identify those not-often-thought-of touch points.

Other considerations include exploring solutions for in-person and virtual hybrid events, ensuring broader audiences can be reached, and managing flow of event traffic, which is also a requirement by the state of Nevada, working through the best way for attendees to enter, exit, and get around the event space with a goal of reducing congestion and influencing physical distancing.

How are you adjusting The Venetian’s event facilities, meeting products, and support services in response to Covid-19? Have there been any big changes or innovations to help organizers ensure safe (and engaging) events?

Meetings are at the heart of The Venetian Resort and we are committed to doing everything we can to keep events safe. We continue to keep lines of communication with our customers open and transparent, providing our Venetian Clean Commitment, which is a summary of all the initiatives we’ve rolled out in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Examples you can visibly see include thermal scanning for everyone entering the resort, posted screening questionnaire, frequent and ongoing cleaning of high-touch surfaces, hand sanitizer stations placed throughout the resort, adhering to physical distancing protocols in accordance with state guidelines, and the implementation of mobile check-in and digital key for hotel guests. Additionally, we’re committed to ensuring all of our team members are trained on additional Venetian Clean protocols, ongoing Covid-19 testing for the team members who are in certain front-line positions, and our resort is part of a pilot program with Oura Health Oy, utilizing their smart ring, to help our team members identify the onset of symptoms of a potential illness, including but not limited to COVID-19.

On the meetings side of things, we are constantly exploring new innovations and how we can implement them. One of those innovations is the Venetian Meetings Virtual Planner that was launched last year. Virtual Planner is an innovative tool that allows prospective customers the ability to customize and research venues before contacting a representative at the resort and gives meeting planners the ability to plan an event from home. We’ve also worked through best practices for meetings and events, offering suggestions on things to consider when hosting a meeting or event at the resort including staggering attendance, extending show hours, revising agendas to allow for more time between meetings, and having a traffic flow management plan to minimize risk and enhance safety for attendees. Our teams are prepared to help assist with these plans and ensuring an event is following state guidelines.

How is The Venetian thinking about the health and safety guidelines it will give to event organizers as they plan events moving forward? What are the main considerations, and are there any organizations or governments you will look to follow as you provide advice to meeting organizers?

We developed the Venetian Clean Commitment to reassure our visitors and Team Members that their health and safety are a top priority. The Venetian Clean Commitment is our pledge to meet or exceed guidelines set forth by national, state, and local governments, and introduces new protocols for events and meetings. To provide transparency, we’ve published the Venetian Clean manual on the Venetian Meetings webpage for meeting planners and attendees to review at their leisure. This manual is updated as additional protocols and guidance are made available. Additionally, we’re working on other ways, including video content, that will further show the enhancements that have been made.

To verify our Venetian Clean standards, we have aligned with Bureau Veritas, a nearly 200-year-old world leader in testing, inspection, and certification. Bureau Veritas has developed the Safe Guard™ Hygiene Excellence and Safety Label to support the operational activities for The Venetian as we continue to keep safety and hygiene at the forefront. The Cleveland Clinic serves as the Medical Advisor for Bureau Veritas’ health, safety and sustainability programs including Safe Guard™. The partnership between The Venetian and Bureau Veritas will provide comfort that our resort — from the suites of our hotel towers to the meeting space of the Congress Center — is ready for your enjoyment.


We’ve seen some interesting examples of virtual events over the past few months. How might these experiments influence the format of real-life events even after the threat of Covid-19 has passed?

Virtual events are filling the need in the short term, allowing the businesses to continue to connect with attendees, but also allows them to expand their reach to a larger audience. However, as an industry leader, we know it’s unlikely that virtual events will completely replace in-person meetings and events.

The in-person event allows businesses to provide an experience to their attendees – whether it’s a hands-on demonstration of the newest technology or providing immersive experiences for attendees to reenergize and keep attendees engaged and productive. Face-to-face meetings and events strengthen relationships and allow organizations to connect people from all over the world to test-drive products and ideas and collaborate on future plans.

Technology was already a key part of the event experience before Covid-19. Do you see any opportunities for event organizers to use technology in new or better ways as events start to return? (This means not just from a health and safety perspective but also from the attendee experience perspective.)

Oh, absolutely. Meetings and events are constantly evolving. Pre-pandemic, we saw technology as an enhancement, but not a replacement to in-person meetings. Hybrid events and even all-virtual events

are filling the gaps for the short term, but we know that face-to-face meetings strengthen relationships and provide outlets to develop new ones. We believe that in-person meetings will continue to be a necessity in most industries.

As the meetings industry adapts to the current landscape however, there are a number of emerging technologies that meeting professionals can take advantage of when planning a small in-person or hybrid event. Online registration, touchless payment, and QR codes aren’t exactly new tools; however, we are confident they will continue to be incorporated and more widely utilized as ways to reduce touchpoints for attendees. We’ve also seen health screening apps that attendees can use to not only track their health, but can be used to contact trace as well. Events utilize applications for their attendees to manage their event schedule or registration, but imagine that additional tools are included to allow attendees to track their health screening questions and know if an attendee has been in close proximity with someone else at the event who may have tested positive or even buzz attendees if they aren’t physically distanced. We’ve always approached our meetings and events as partnerships and we understand that needs differ from group to group. We are constantly exploring new technologies, trends, and innovations so we are equipped with the most up-to-date information to guide our groups through the planning process ensuring they are leveraging the right tools to create

a successful event in this new reality. ◆


While some regions have lifted or loosened their restrictions on live events, many are still in lockdown. To help keep track of shifting regulations across the globe, UFI created an Exhibition Industry Market Status Tracker that is periodically updated. With global case numbers increasing daily, event planners have to be prepared for continued lockdowns in many regions. Even if we can agree that virtual and hybrid events are not ideal, they are a lifeline for many event planners.

Ultimately, the learning experiences developed from hosting virtual events will help pave the way for hybrid experiences that serve to augment, rather

than replace, the live event experience. In every step of the way, the effective use of technology will bring us closer to the final goal: a return to full-scale in-person events. Technology can not only enable a much wider audience reach, but it can also help to facilitate physical distancing measures once in-person events return. Although it may seem like an oxymoron, ‘contactless interaction’ is the way of the near future.

Below, our interviewees discussed the possible uses, as well as the pros and cons, of the technological toolset available in this time of competing demands.

ADAPTING EVENTS: THE PATH FROM VIRTUAL TO HYBRID TO IN-PERSON


Can virtual events replicate the experience of live events, and will the pivot to virtual have long-term effects on the format of events even after the threat of Covid-19 has passed?

Carina:I came into the industry in 2002, and the world wide web was pretty new then. I remember during my first few years in the industry, people were asking whether the internet was going to cannibalize live events, and then it moved on to other types of tech and Skype and social media: Was that going to cannibalize live events? What I’ve seen all the way along is that event organizers have been very savvy at utilizing technology to improve the live event experience. I believe that this will happen again, but just in a slightly different way, because we’ll need to be able to bring in people virtually who may not be able to be there in person.

Sue:I’ve been in MICE for 20-odd years, and the face-to-face experience will always prevail. There’s no question about that. The only benefit that’s come out of this is that I think now we’ve all got another solution to sell. We can have people in a hotel venue, wherever that may be around the world, but we can also stream in a lot more delegates. Online events have allowed our clients to diversify and extend their guest list. It has really opened up accessibility. That also gives us more exposure for the final stakeholder. We pivoted a medical conference to

virtual. It was initially going to be for about 500 people, but it ended up being for 1,500 because we could get them on the platform. We invited university students. We also managed to get trainee doctors to attend. They wouldn’t have ordinarily had that opportunity before.

Kai:Meetings will be more digital afterwards. Of course, this will involve a change, not in a fundamental way, but in an ongoing way. We are now seeing that, to a large degree, content and sessions and talks, they’re relatively easy to offer in a hybrid way. But when people want to make a deal, they will still rely on that face-to-face moment for anything meaningful. And that’s where the industry will not need to change, but rather will be even more focused on delivering that face-to-face meeting opportunity.

Jeff:This was thrust upon us. Nobody was grumbling and groaning about having to get on a plane and go to a conference in Okinawa or Bali. The live event business, when this passes — and it may not be until there’s a vaccine — [has a future, and] I do think ultimately this model of live events will come back. I just don’t know that you can replicate the live experience with a virtual one. I think it’s like trying to replicate going out to your favorite restaurant with friends. Well, we’re trying to replicate that on Zoom, but as soon as we can, we’re going to go back to what we really crave: that interaction.

How do virtual and hybrid events factor into the industry’s recovery?

Jeff:We’ve had some June virtual events through to ones in early fall. And our role is in creative design, the production strategy and in staging operations. In our world of doing live events, hybrid has always been there because there’s always been an element of webcasting, whether it be outbound or inbound video where we have participants coming from different parts of the world presenting to a live

Marina Bay Sands Recent Hybrid Virtual Conference Event


audience. So, I think hybrid has always been there, it just hasn’t been elevated to its current stature, if you will. But I do think it’s going to be essential, because from a business perspective, I think anybody that’s putting on a conference or some kind of expo is going to need attendance in one way, shape, or form. So, I do think that it will become more of an automatic inclusion in proposals. There was always, should we webcast, should we not? Are we behind a paywall or not? I think now it’s not going to be an afterthought in a lot of cases for live events: I think it’s going to be essential.

Sue:We have to learn on our feet. By showcasing how we’ve adapted to virtual and hybrid events, we’ve managed to stay at the forefront of our clients’ minds. What we did is look at all the different solutions, from the Zoom platform right through to much more complicated and much more creative platforms. For a virtual medical conference, we had a big backdrop with a production set, and we had videos. We’ve adapted to different budgets, as well as different requirements. You don’t want companies who are looking at furlough schemes thinking that they’re going to have to spend a lot of money on events. I actually believe that the future of digital technology is matching it with creativity, because you want to remember something. We recently did a British pub night for 200 remote participants. We sent out a creative pack in advance, and it included a beer or a soft drink with some crisps. As part of the event, we hosted a pub quiz ... You might be operating on a reduced model, but you spend the time to do it well. All that magic should go behind it because it’s the experiential aspects that actually hit you when you go to a really nice party or a great conference or an educational piece ... There will be a rise in hybrid events, although we do not believe that virtual events will ever replace face-to-face unique travel experiences.

Brian:It opens up the door to having a global experience around an ephemeral event. Historically, some

people watch the video of conferences afterwards, but not many. Now, we’re signing in via Zoom for a virtual conference, and there’s 25 percent of the people that we would have seen before in that room. But you can get several times more people virtually, and that experience is really interesting and rich. The virtual event or conference right now is more akin to TV. How are you crafting that really interesting capture, that really interesting experience, that a few people do get to experience in real life on the ground? How do you then translate that experience so that technology can connect the people in the room to the people who are watching around the globe, and vice versa?

Carina:Digital is going to play a bigger role for all event and trade show organizers. And I think to a degree it should have played a bigger role anyway. So, we’re being pushed into doing what should have been done anyway. For us at IMEX, there were a number of strategies that we were talking about for the next five years, and to a degree we’re just accelerating some or pausing some. At the moment, we’re trialling engagement tools to bring connections to people when they’re not there in person. We utilized the Brella tool for a two-week period between May and June. We had about 1500 appointments organized through that system during that period. We haven’t decided yet which platform we’re going to use for PlanetIMEX in October, but certainly we will be utilizing a platform that allows us to deliver both content and the networking and matched appointment elements. That is an element that is much harder to achieve online than in live events, but we feel that it’s important to offer that as an opportunity for the industry. And we’re using our own systems to drive business introductions as well. We’ve obviously done that very quickly, so we’ve pivoted existing systems to our new reality. It is an experiment, and it will be interesting to see what kind of traction that takes. I just don’t think it’s possible to get the same kind of level of engagement online. However, it is possible to get some engagement.


Wendy:We recently had a client that did 100 percent virtual, and although they were able to deliver some of their key messages and content, by no means did it replace that face-to-face meeting interaction. We do feel strongly that hybrid events will be part of the norm moving forward. And it will complement a face-to-face event and allow for remote participants to access some of the key areas and get up to speed on some of the content, as well as exhibitor information. We’re working with a variety of clients on that type of strategy.

Sue:Digital platforms can also give us really great marketing intelligence. We can see what features they’re using, and how long they’re engaged for. There’s going to be a lot more intelligence behind the hybrid model: audience interaction, polls, feedback. We’ll also be able to share leads with clients, giving them some good ROI.Are there any technologies that can be used to accommodate physical distancing guidelines in the context of live events?

Jeff:For me, the key term all this revolves around is what I’ll call touchless or contactless. Touch screens and demo areas are going to be a thing of the past for now. How do you have interactivity when you have this touchless mechanism at work? Whether it’s on the hotel side or the meeting planner or the tech side, I think we’re a pretty innovative group of people in an innovative industry. It’s just that maybe we haven’t been forced to imagine those solutions yet. I think the modules that some event apps will include can also enable or help with this hygiene aspect. An app, for example, can enable the expedient receiving of a meal without it being on a buffet. It could be some kind of pre-ordering application that enables you to select your meal and then it has it ready, maybe at a certain location.

Wendy:We’re using innovation to provide contactless service wherever possible, sometimes using acrylic shields, but also looking to reinvent the process. Think about registration. Do we really need on-site registration if we could take care of that in advance and send out the information, and then use technology to get somebody inside of a show? This is our opportunity to rethink those things and to do the pre-booking of visits, so you schedule a time to meet with the exhibitor … Visitor apps will also be even more important in the future. If you can get AI and make it a lot more personalized, you can then deliver content through the app versus handing out flyers. Just tap a touchpoint with your phone for information. So we’re really trying to reinvent and use this as an opportunity too, because if you think about a trade show, not a lot has changed in terms of the structure of it—the rows and the aisles and all of that. Let’s use this as a chance to rethink it.

It’d be interesting to see what type of engagement tools spring up or get reinvigorated because

of this crisis. I have also seen some articles about apps that can

utilize beacon technology, near-field communication technology,

those types of things, to help people keep their distance from

one another.

— Carina Bauer, CEO, IMEX Group


Carina:There’s a lot of talk at the moment about contactless engagement … things like electronic business cards, tapping phones or badges. All of those things have been around for a long time, but have had limited success really. It’d be interesting to see what type of engagement tools spring up or get reinvigorated because of this crisis. I have also seen some articles about apps that can utilize beacon technology, near-field communication technology, those types of things, to help people keep their distance from one another. With that said, the thought of people sitting down two meters apart and then communicating via an app, seems to slightly defeat the purpose of an event. I think that’s the point at which you do have to evaluate what your event’s about and what the purpose of it is and, therefore, utilize that technology properly.

Jeff:For larger conferences, there’s RFID technology that lets you know where attendees are, and how the traffic is moving. Do we use technology like that to have distancing awareness without it being too intrusive to people in attendance?

Wendy:At GES, we’re utilizing digital signage in case you have to redirect the flow of the crowd … and we’re talking to a client about geo-fencing. We’ve been using geo-fencing for years in our digital marketing strategies. And now what does it look like when you bring it to a live event? If we need to send out notices or gain information or change the traffic flow, we’ll be able to leverage that technology in a number of different ways. What that also provides is a lot more personalized access to content based on location. And you can map that back using AI based on what they want and need.


“I think the exhibitor experience will be better because it will be a lot more personalized and a lot more focused,” said Gibson. “The people that will be attending will really be there to learn and to gain new information. So I think when we come back and — and we will, live events are here to stay — it’s going to be a better experience overall.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS: ADAPTING THE EVENT EXPERIENCE

Learn to leverage virtual engagement tools so that you can retain your client base while lockdown restrictions are still in place.

Consider creating a TV studio setup with a select group of presenters and attendees broadcasting to a wider audience.

Avoid thinking about virtual simply in terms of replicating the live experience; instead, think about the entire tool set that virtual platforms can accommodate, and then consider innovative applications by looking to other industries (e.g., video game makers and film producers).

Use revenue from remote attendees to buoy your business model and facilitate smaller in-person events.

Draw from your experience of virtual events to inform your hybrid events: How can you make the in-person experience as contactless as possible?Remember that technology can do more than enhance the status quo; it can be used to reinvent the basic structure of events, such as how attendees are registered, how business prospects exchange information and arrange meetings, and even how food is ordered.

Consider using location-based technology, such as RFID tracking or geofencing, to enable the management of traffic flow and the customization of digitally guided tours. ◆

CASE STUDY: HOW GES IS USING TECHNOLOGY IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19

The old event model relied on an idea of efficiency that revolved around space: How many people could we fit into a venue? In some sense this basic principle still applies. But now the emphasis has shifted to making the attendee’s journey as efficient as possible.

Because space and time are at a premium, you need to be able to deliver your event’s core value as effectively as possible. This is where technology can come in handy — and can even enhance the attendee experience long after Covid-19 is a note in history books.

Wendy Gibson spoke to us about several innovations that GES has developed in response to Covid-19. Their ‘visitor app’ enables multiple features that streamline the attendee journey for minimal friction:

Pre-registration and e-badges that can be scanned on entry.

An audiovisual tour guide that provides customized directions upon entry to different ‘zones’ within the exhibition layout.

Pre-booking of meetings and audio directions to lead attendees to their destination.

Geofencing technology that functions to notify attendees about nearby opportunities relevant to their interests.

Touchpoints that can be scanned to retrieve exhibitor information and ‘virtual portfolios.’

AI-enabled customization of content and geofencing recommendations.


LONG-TERM OUTLOOK: MAINTAINING A STRATEGIC FOCUS

The present Covid-19 situation is demanding so much attention that it can often be hard for event organizers to think in terms of a long-term timeline. That being said, the long-term possibilities of the events industry still need to be considered in the industry’s response to the current crisis.

The goals of the event business should remain constant. The demands of the moment necessitate major changes to your product offerings, but the end purpose should be the same. Our roundtable interviewees reflected on how to reinvent the event model while maintaining its expected role within the industry.


How has Covid-19 influenced the long-term outlook for your business, and where are you currently concentrating your focus to ensure the best possible outcome?

Carina:The worldwide situation necessarily causes you to really look at each aspect of your business and to evaluate what is truly valuable to your customers at the end of the day, and to really focus on that. From that perspective, it could be a silver lining because I think it brings into stark relief, what is your purpose as a business? What is your purpose to your customers and how can you really deliver to those customers in this new reality? And is that doing exactly what you did before but in a slightly different way, or is that offering new products and services? It’s going to be different for every organizer and for everybody in our business, but I think what this crisis or any crisis does is really focus the mind. At PlanetIMEX in October, we’re looking at a mix of educational content, networking appointments, and also bringing the community in. When we’re live, we’re really the platform for the industry — that’s the offering that we want to continue providing. We’ll be hosting a community day where our industry partners will have the chance to host engaging activities.

Jeff:Things change, but the one thing that stays the same is helping the clients solve the problem of the day as we’re learning that the problem of the day is constantly changing. As we move forward, if it’s six months out and our clients are still leery of putting on a live event for all the various reasons there might be, then our job is to help them put on the best online event that they possibly can. As things open up, our focus can be on getting certain elements out f rom behind the Zoom cameras into more formidable TV studios, where we can have limited presenter participation and maybe even limited

audiences. Our focus will be the way it always has been: on our clients and on the attendee experience and everything else is a mechanism, a technology, a path.

Wendy:I think the key takeaway here is that communication is key. In this time of crisis, you cannot over-communicate. And that’s to your employees and to your customers. And sometimes you don’t have all the information, but you still communicate what you can and what you do know. It’s okay to say, ‘I don’t have that right now,’ or ‘I don’t know.’ But communication is what’s going to get us there. And we think about communication internally, and externally through the industry. And we’ve been communicating with industry leaders and government officials. So, communication is key. And then, in that communication, be as transparent as possible.

Sue:Our biggest focus has always been client contact. When I set the company up 19 years ago, it was all about a really bespoke, a really concierge service. I still believe that it’s prime today. At YES, we’ve got contracts across the world from different customers who pay us a retainer to manage their events, which has meant that when a cancellation happens, we still have some income. A lot of agencies in the meeting and events industry furloughed lots and lots of people. We kept going. And through that, we’ve been able to communicate with our colleagues, our stakeholders, our clients. We’ve been able to help them navigate the crisis and be consultative. We’ve been there for them, obviously being cost effective. That’s come out really in a beautiful, positive way.

Kai:It’s the same approach as always. That’s what we saw when we had discussions with the CEOs of the big


organizers. It is: Be in touch with your community. Listen and talk to your customers. Find out what they want you to do and deliver what they asked for. It is our role as the providers of these meeting places and marketplaces to help them to be successful. They’re not paying us for running an event because they like it; they’re paying us because they benefit from being at the event, from being part of the community, from being on that show floor. In my view, people will question themselves once or twice before they make a trip. First of all, we will all have less money. Secondly, we will all be pressed for time to get our businesses and sectors going again. So the trips you make must make a difference. Business events are needed to kickstart the whole economic recovery. More incentive-driven sectors will have a role to play later in the recovery, but initially it will be all about what built the meeting industry in the first place: bringing buyers and sellers together and providing a marketplace.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

Identify the core value that you provide to your clients and ensure that you prioritize these services, even if it demands a new approach.

Stay focused on your clients and your attendees.

Maintain regular, two-way channels of communication with all your stakeholders.

Be transparent about your needs, your goals, and your limitations.

Recognize that most of your attendees and clients are also facing financial strain and economic pressures, and that events must therefore deliver pragmatic value if they want to stay competitive. ◆


ABOUT SKIFT ABOUT THE VENETIAN® RESORT LAS VEGASSkift is the largest intelligence platform in travel,

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Expo® are on the forefront of meeting innovation,

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traditional meeting venues. The Venetian Resort Las

Vegas is the ideal choice for everything from large trade

shows to small meetings, with unique services and spaces

to serve every need. The fully-integrated luxury resort

was built with the needs of business in mind: meeting

space is easily accessible and highly configurable, and

attendees can avail themselves of countless dining,

shopping, entertainment, and spa options.

The resort is also a recipient of many hospitality industry

awards, including Forbes Four-Star ratings for more

than 10 consecutive years, Cvent’s top five meeting

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