Coronavirus
Hundreds of casual
workers and stand
builders will no longer
have an income that week.
And many hotel rooms
are going to be vacant,
many cancelled restaurant
bookings, bringing about
a ripple effect from such
large events”.
held at the Sands Expo and Convention
Centre in early April.
The Association of Corporate Counsel,
The International Anti-Counterfeiting
Coalition, Alzheimers Disease
International, The International
Trademark Association (INTA) and the
CORENET Global summit have all
cancelled or postponed events in the city.
In a statement INTA said it had been
responding to official advice from
Singapore to cancel the event. The city
state’s authorities and eventprofs have
been praised, however, for their rigorous
health and safety measures introduced.
Cancellations in Korea
CMW also asked the Korean Tourism
Organisation (KTO) how the coronavirus
was affecting its events industry.
“The coronavirus has had significant
impact, with cancellation and delays of
events both big and small. At the
KINTEX Convention Center, Korea’s
largest convention centre, there are
typically around 1,200 exhibitions,
conventions and meetings each year.
However, since the outbreak of the
coronavirus, over half of the scheduled
events have been cancelled,” KTO stated.
“At Suwon Convention Center, Korea’s
newest, 19 of the 34 scheduled events for
the month of February were either delayed
or cancelled,” KTO added.
KTO underlined that its events
community was working hard to ensure
the health and safety of all attendees,
prioritising safety management. “At all
convention facilities, every visitor
undergoes a temperature check upon
entry, masks are distributed and hand
sanitisers are placed throughout the
facility grounds,” said KTO.
Governments and venue management
have been working to eliminate as far as
possible cancellation fees due to Covid-19.
Large events cancelled have included
the Asia Pacific MICE Business Festival
2020 at COEX.
Two rescheduled events in Seoul
include the 14th Asian-Australasian
Federation of Interventional and
Therapeutic Neuroradiology (AAFITN
2020) at COEX, which has moved from
March to July, as does SECON Expo.
Clearly meeting organisers are looking
to salvage what they can and are turning
increasingly to event technology, to
maintain the ‘meet’ albeit online. Maybe
this could be the impulse for a great leap
forward in event technology which seems
to have stagnated in recent years.
Virtual tradefairs, as the Financial
Times newspaper noted in an opinion piece
on the topic, “still look like the feeble
offspring of Second Life”.
Those live events that do go-ahead will
involve much hand sanitiser, masks even,
and fist-bumping and bowing replacing
handshaking and kissing.
From past experiences of SARS, the
industry began to show signs of recovery
after approximately six months. However,
there is a high risk that this time recovery
may take longer. In all decisions, health
concerns have to come first, and, as
societies as well as businesses, we will
overcome this outbreak more easily if we
stay rational and focused.
The plethora of trend predictions for
2020 held no mention of what has become
the single biggest factor impacting events
in 2020 – Covid-19. If that tells us
anything, it’s surely how quickly things
can change and how connected we are.
Wherever you may be, and whatever
your event, stay healthy, stay strong, stay
connected and stay united.
Protecting your event
Much advice for trying to work in extremely difficult
circumstances seems to be just statements of the
obvious, but should probably still be repeated for
organisers to keep top of mind. Guidelines released by
the World Health Organisation and CDC (Centres For
Disease Control And Prevention) include:
• Wash your hands thoroughly (for at least 20 seconds)
preferably by an alcohol-based hand rub
• Avoid close contacts with people who appear to be sick
• Avoid touching your face (and especially your eyes and
mouth) with unwashed hands.
And, if it comes to rescheduling an event:
• Inform all your registered attendees
• Utilise the time gap between the original date and any new
date to nurture your attendees via digital engagement tools (eg.
event apps)
• You are also accountable to the delegates/exhibitors and it’s
necessary to inform them about the new schedule.
• Give details of updated routes to any new destination/venue
in any new notification.
It’s recommended that you shouldn’t postpone your
event for an indefinite period. Indefinite delay brings
restlessness for stakeholders.
It is understandable that there are places that are
completely locked down under the impact of coronavirus
and in such cases organisers may have no option but to
cancel their event. Again, here, use all your communication
channels to inform attendees and stakeholders. Check also
any insurance for any force majeure provision.
ISSUE 105
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CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
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19