Case Study |
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Following the reopening of its borders on 26 March 2021 , Iceland has welcomed global visitors and Harpa itself is well-practised in hosting safe events .
Going the distance Iceland ’ s distance from Europe posed a few challenges to the event ; the Awards ’ production schedule had to be reorganised due to later arrivals . This posed a logistical challenge for the team , as rehearsals and press interviews couldn ’ t be held on the day originally set . Luckily in this case , the schedule needed to be postponed by only a day . Equally beneficial was that a large number of attendees were travelling from mainland Europe , where the flight-time is usually as short as four hours .
Back into the economy On the Awards ’ contribution to
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Reykjavík ’ s economy Sigurður Valur Sigurðsson , director of marketing for Meet in Reykjavik , explained : “ Time will demonstrate the long-term economic impacts of hosting the awards , but we achieved our aim of promoting Icelandic culture and art to key opinion leaders .”
Noting that the event ’ s promotion of Iceland would pique the interest of leisure and business travellers , Sigurðsson added : “ The event was broadcast live in 24 countries across Europe so it offered substantial advertising value and reached a large audience . “
Harpa ’ s team noted that EFA spotlit the facility ’ s modern infrastructure and complex capabilities , such as its inhouse security , sound quality , and the Harpa operational and technical teams ’ skills and professionalism .
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Above : Harpa
Conference and
Concert Hall
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The road ahead Since its opening in 2011 , thousands of events have been held in Harpa spanning many different sectors . However , none had been the scale of EFA 2022 ’ s production . Domestic film and music award ceremonies are regularly held at Harpa , but on a much smaller scale .
Due to the success of EFA 2022 , Harpa has not reported that it will be changing the way it operates future events in any significant way . Overall , the experience provided by the events ’ scale has benefitted the team – such as in dealing with the complexities of a multi-partner collaboration . When concluding its assessment of EFA ’ s process and hosting , Harpa ’ s management confirms that its confidence in hosting international events has only grown .
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