7 measures to help big events bounce back through social distancing

At big, busy events, the opening days in the halls can be like trying to walk a block at the annual Sunburn. Walking 100 meters through the throng of revellers can take an hour. It's jampacked.

Until there is a mass testing and an effective vaccine for Covid -19, the format of big events has to evolve.

So what are the practical plays that can ensure the big shows rebound from Q1, next year, if not later? It would be brilliant if global events revive sooner but a more realistic time frame would be 2021, if all the predictions about vaccines and continued social distancing remain in place.

Here are some ideas that event organizers, venue operators and exhibitors might want to explore. I hasten to add that some of the solutions here involve cost and might put a strain on delegate logistics and the business models adopted by most event organisers. Bear in mind, the goal is to host a safe show, with the possibility of social distancing.

1. Extend the show time-frame and stagger delegate attendance

Could the show be hosted over a longer time frame with delegates given specific windows when they can walk the halls? Sure there are challenges with this protocol. Exhibitors have to be present for longer. You may need several key speakers in order for delegates to have the same quality of experience and content.

2. Restrict attendance to specific days, and scale ticket price

Event organizers might have to take the view that, in order to enable better social distancing, fewer delegates can attend. 3000 delegate events may instead have 1000 on a day or some element of control over hall access in certain windows during a day. Much like going to the supermarket in present pandemic climate, access to the halls could be managed by an app to avoid overcrowding.

To compensate the loss of delegate and ancillary income, prices can be partially hiked; the opening day would cost more than day two onwards, using a pricing scale.

3. Manage the flow of visitors

Corridors or pre-function areas may need to be split in order to flow in a specific direction and help prevent people from navigating each other head-on. Some corridors might have to be one direction only. So, like a one way street in a town, if you miss the booth, you go around the block again. Dividers and directional signage and service personnel can help manage this regime in a hall.

4. Reduce the number of exhibitors

Reducing the number of exhibitors would allow halls to have more circulation space, and more double or treble-deck booths would create more corridor space in halls. Staging some events at bigger venues could, of course, impact profitability if other commercial dynamics remain unchanged, like hall rental costs.

5. Tighter booth management and meeting schedules

The days of the open booth, with free-for-all access, may no longer be possible. Access will need to be more controlled to avoid bottlenecks.

Often meeting rooms on booths are smaller to enable the exhibitor to maximize the number of meetings and people that can be hosted simultaneously. But in a Covid afflicted world that ratio will need to be recalibrated. Meeting rooms will either need to be bigger or the number of people reduced. An app for scheduling meetings will be required, and rooms may need a countdown clock.

Allowing a five-minute window to clean a room after every use may also require additional hospitality staff. I have seen a lot of events congested in parts because of exhibitor and technical staff, so those participants may need to be more tightly managed.

6. Rake and remove seats in forums

I believe we might soon see airlines reopen with a social distancing configuration. Seats will be blocked to avoid people sitting side by side. Quite similar in a hall set-up, it may have to be that every other seat is unoccupied and rows are removed or positioned with significant legroom.

The organiser could also provide mandatory masks in auditoria and halls, as well as a lot of hand sanitiser dispensers.

7. Delegate health monitoring

I am not a healthcare professional. Here I'm talking about ideas that have surfaced in the media about public health monitoring.

While I flew through Delhi a day before the complete lockdown, they had staff monitoring the temperature of all passengers entering the terminal. With Covid-19 that's not a fail-safe measure. By the time someone has a temperature, they are probably already contagious. However, it's a means to reduce the risks and it provides some reassurance to delegates.

Hospitals have been trialling a system that uses artificial intelligence to monitor a person's temperature. The AI is better at detection than humans and can allow more entry points being monitored. AI can also substitute for any lack and cost of trained personnel.

There are also tests being done with UV light which might enable a venue to be sanitized overnight. Combined with certification, these techniques may provide additional reassurance that environments have been sterilized prior to delegates entering.

A new normal, a new playbook

Most of the events go hand in hand with the services of food and beverages. With the new restrictions, operators may encourage less buffets and instead suggest chef-manned stations to maintain distancing.The days of opening a double-sided buffet and allowing maximum people to go through it and everyone touching the same service-ware or lids are going to go away, atleast in immediate future.

Here, the operators have to focus on the meal experience in a way that the entire transition does not become a scary experience for attendees. These internal conversations might include the need for more personnel based on volume of business at a meal period.

If the big events with people flocking in from far-flung geographies are to happen, the approach to safety and reassuring audiences will need to evolve. It will require innovation and good communication, to provide reassurance.