MAY | FEATURE
P
ostponing a major event is not
easy, or fun. But it certainly beats
cancelling outright, which is what
a number of organisers have been forced
to do as the Covid-19 crisis continues.
While major festivals such as Parklife,
All Points East and Lovebox have been
forced to call off their 2020 editions,
independent events have proved a
little more flexible. Some are moving
into the later stages of summer, while
others are extending the season into
an increasingly busy September and
October.
One of the first such events to
announce new dates was Bournemouth
7s (B7s), a sport/music festival on the
South coast which was scheduled to
take place in May, but which has been
moved to 28-30 August. Craig Mathie,
Managing Director of B7s, describes
the moment his team knew the original
dates were no longer a possibility: “The
Prime Minister, flanked by his medical
and scientific advisors, suggested on a
Thursday evening (12 March) that the
anticipated peak of the virus would hit
towards the end of May – the exact time
of year when our event falls.”
Confetti Party
Mathie and his team held a meeting
with their business Directors the next
day, at the end of which they decided to
seek a postponement. He says: “It may
transpire that we have acted too quickly,
but we decided that we would much
rather make the wrong call this way
round than wait another few weeks and
have to postpone once we had started
building the event.”
Three factors were key in the
postponement: preparation, decisive
action, and communication. One of the
reasons B7s was able to move so swiftly
in reaction to the pandemic is because
it has what Mathie calls a “detailed
Delayed gratification
The Covid-19 crisis has caused a number of high-profile cancellations, but
some of the more fleet-footed events have already moved to new dates.
Access finds out how
business continuity plan”, which sets
out the team’s approach to festival-
compromising incidents. While nobody
at B7s could have predicted the speed
and severity of the virus, the teams in-
depth preparation for adverse weather,
terrorism and other issues allowed it to
be nimble in its reaction to Covid-19.
Jumping the gun
The London Marathon was similarly
quick off the starting line, announcing a
move from its original date of 26 April to
4 October. Hugh Brasher, Event Director,
London Marathon Ltd says locking
in the new dates was a collaborative
effort between all involved parties. This
included the event team, the Mayor
of London, Transport for London, The
Royal Parks, the BBC and the London
Boroughs.
Brasher says: “[These stakeholders] all
understand what the London Marathon
– the world’s greatest marathon - means
to London, to Britain, to thousands of
charities and in inspiring activity. They
did everything they could to help us find
19