Venue transformation
own position in any new structure and
not leave it to government.
Other advice included thinking ‘safety
first’ and how to minimise liabilities.
Addressing the cost issue as early as
possible with the authorities was another
strong piece of advice from contributors,
said Schoen.
Don’t look at it as a money issue but as
an operations issue and address the
question of who is paying, and for what,
upfront and early, was another piece of
advice.
Schoen advised starting the process of
thinking about how to get the site back
to normal as quickly as possible after the
emergency is over.
The transformation process is fast and
furious, he admitted, with 10 days being
the average span for conversion of
centres surveyed to date.
One guide chapter deals with the
sequencing of activities, passing from
initial planning with government,
through to communicating with clients
and the public.
On the security front, it is important
to control venue access so people can
work safely in the new environment.
The report offers detailed checklists
and those involved in these processes
needed to be aware of any timelines
during operations.
Key procedures are documented in the
guide in some detail and there are also
lessons from Australia’s experience of
recovering from the bushfire disaster.
When thinking about restarting
normal business, questions to consider
would include how gradual that should
be and how it could incorporate new
business models.
Another piece of advice in the guide is
for venues to consider holding a
remembrance ceremony around
reopening, to commemorate any deaths
in the facility, but also to celebrate the
humanitarian effort and mark ‘rebirth’.
That could be a virtual event but is sure
to generate positive news.
Schoen noted that, although there is
no ISO for restarting your venue after a
International rescue:
rewriting the venue
rulebook
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS AIPC AND UFI HAVE PRODUCED
A NEW GUIDE TO ACTION, ESSENTIAL READING FOR
ANY CENTRE MANAGEMENT FACED WITH EMERGENCY
VENUE TRANSFORMATION
overnments have
requisitioned convention
centres around the world
for emergency use in the
battle against the coronavirus and our
industry has been catapulted into the
headlines, albeit not in a way many of us
expected.
International venue association AIPC
and global exhibitions industry
association UFI have joined forces to
publish two venue guides, containing
advice, information and case studies on
how some of the world’s biggest centres
managed these complex transformations.
They also serve as guides for action for
any managers faced with such a situation.
Some of the key contributors to the
new guide to contemporary emergency
venues use shared their thoughts recently
during an UFI Connects webinar.
AIPC President and SingExpo CEO
Aloysius Arlando said the guide survey
had shown a quarter of his association’s
members’ convention centres had been
repurposed for emergency use and a
further 30% were in discussions.
Important to remember, these
transformation projects are hospital and
medical related, but also have involved
creating shelter, housing and test centres.
UFI’s MD and CEO Kai Hattendorf
said the new guide was, “an example of
how a difficult situation empowered our
industry to come together.”
He said he was proud that meeting
places for the world had transformed into
healing places for the world, but added he
would be “the first to cheer when we get
rid of these temporary uses and return
them to what we built them for”.
Crisis management expert Glen
Schoen, CEO Boardroom@Crisis BV,
helpd produce the guide and explained
its methodology in depth, highlighting a
long list of venues involved.
Questions that formed the approach,
he said, included, ‘What were managers
and staff struggling with?’ “We
produced knowledge that you can apply
as quickly as possible,” he noted.
The guide traces the process of set up,
through operation and covers how to
emerge at the other end of the emergency
situation.
Many venues were simply
commandeered. An important
recommendation here, said Schoen, was
for centres’ leaderships to claim their
Below:
Inside IFEMA’s
temporary hospital
in Madrid
ISSUE 106
/
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
/
27