TRENDING
ALL BUSINE
CORPORATE MEETINGS AND OTHER EVENTS IN THE COVID ERA WILL BE SHORT AND TO THE POINT , WITH HYGIENE TOP OF MIND .
Contributed by JUDITH CROWN
Welcome to a COVID-era business meeting : Associates in masks and gloves usher attendees directly to long farm-style tables where they can be seated six feet apart . Box lunches with disposable utensils are distributed while presentations are delivered and streamed .
As hotels around the world open up , event planners and catering directors are mapping out what events will look like through the rest of the year and beyond . Hotel brands have teamed with public health specialists to develop protocols for the use of masks and gloves for staff , temperature scans , cleaning standards and other practices . Planners at U . S . hotels say they ’ ve learned from colleagues in Asia and Europe , where the virus has peaked ( for now ).
Managers at Four Seasons hotels in Asia and Europe have been sharing ideas for streamlining service , says Jamie Breslin , director of catering at Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago , such as Plexiglas shields for coffee break stations , protective vessels for passed food items and paperless registration using QR codes .
The risk of contagion is top of mind . “ We ’ re going to eat , get content and go home ,” says Chicago event planner Jodi Wolf . “ It ’ s unfortunate . But that ’ s where we are .”
SMALL-SCALE TO START Events such as internal meetings and seminars — small-scale meetings drawing participants from nearby communities — are the first to make a comeback , says Markus Engel , CEO of Shanghai-based Urban Resort Concepts . The hotel group already has hosted corporate meetings in Shanghai , which was early to recover .
“ As prolonged contact is thought to be a risk factor , events will also likely be shorter ,” he says . “ Functions taking place in outdoor spaces will be more welcomed as the open-air environment provides a lower risk for transmission .”
In the U . S ., meetings have been canceled outright , but many have been
12 hotelsmag . com July / August 2020