5 Essential Steps to Plan a Safe Event in the Age of COVID-19

Here in this blog, we have shared an extensive list of essential checklists that should be considered before creating a plan for any event that is getting conducted physically. This blog includes some applicable points that may not fit your event needs, so make sure to make them, read them and tailor them according to your needs so that you can take better advantage of the list.

1. Implementing safety measures

To lower the chances of any mishappening you have to make sure to take some safety measures. What are these? Discussed below

Mask Wearing

Make sure to provide proper guidelines for the attendees and highlight that mask is must have and is to be properly worn. Masks are to be provided to all those attendees who didn’t bring them with them. Also, hire volunteers to impose masks guideline on every individual.

Hand sanitizer

Provide information regarding hand sanitizing and hand hygiene stations to all the attendees. Make sure to have the sanitizing stations in the right place. Encourage attendees and hire staff for volunteering as well.

Bring your supplies

Provide the guidelines for using your supplies because sharing or taking supplies whether it is a pen, paper, mask or sanitizer can lead to the spreading of this virus. So make sure of that for future.

Reducing the number of shared items

Instead of providing items that can be used twice, thrice, or multiple times. Only provide single-used items that are used single times. Easy use and throw items can be a great idea to prevent covid-19 infection.

Risk assessment

While conducting the event make sure to create a valuable checklist of all the essentials, healthy & safety guidelines of the events, and the knowledge of the physical location concerning conducting the event. By a proper go-throHand sanitizer: Sanitising stations Hand Hygiene Stationsugh of the whole processes, system, and environment. The risk potential will get reduced.

Cleaning and disinfection protocols

Cleaning the frequently touched protocols is so important. Use an EPA-approved label for covid 19 to get the surfaces cleaned. Use PPE such as gloves, masks, or face shields to protect your selves. The event is to be implemented with proper disposal procedures too.

Physical barriers

You can use floor markings and signs to mark where attendees have to stand, and install screens and barriers at the closest locations such as registration or ticket desks you can also use the ropes for the same.

Contactless check-in Contactless check-out

These methods are used to decrease the dependency on the intervention of staff and use technology to join and leave events. It includes using QR codes, mobile apps, mobile payments, digital invitation cards, and digital payments for any purchase.

No-handshake policy, No-touch policy

Policies like no handshake where there is no one is allowed to touch anyone and policy like no touch can be implemented to reduce the spreading of infection. You can also include avoiding touching common objects and shared objects.

Limit People Cap

Put a cap on the number of attendees who can join the event. Decide it considering the points like the size of the area. Some seats are available, including the number of guests, heads, staff, volunteers, and other stakeholders in advance in the count to make sure not to exceed the limit anyway and maintain the right decorum at right time.

2. Offer virtual Options

Virtual registrations:

Instead of allowing attendees to attend a virtual event offline, you can provide them with a dedicated link or a website where they can register their tickets. That website can include the form with questions, and payment options, and after filling up the questions you can email them guidelines or redirect them to the guideline page for reading them.

Virtual Discussions, Debate, and keynote speeches:

These are the most attractive and attention-grabbing places at events. This can also be conducted virtually by inviting candidates and use face to face or audio interaction platforms.

Virtual Happy hours and networking events:

Conducting virtual happy hours or networking events can be a good choice. Everyone can follow each other on social media and get connected with each other plus it helps everyone meet their friends, increase their professional network build their following, and different needs are fulfilled so it can also be a great idea.

Virtual networking options:

The event management company can set up virtual rooms, set up a networking app, or use google meet or zoom type applications to have happy networking hours.

Virtual Training options

For corporates, if they want to conduct training employees they can use virtual platforms for corporate training. To make the sessions more fruitful you can provide the documents and tests to make them interactive.

Virtual Entertainment

Virtual events can include some entertainment acts, funny hours, standups, music, rapping, DJ, or anything that can also be conducted in the virtual world. So attendees can enjoy them from anywhere.

3. Plan worst case scenario in advance

There are many risks involved in planning an event during covid 19 few of them are discussed below:

Negative Publicity

At the peak of covid 19, if a company is conducting an event and this get public anyhow, the brand may get affected by the public and it can lead to a falling reputation in the market.

Event Cancellation

In case the event gets canceled make sure to set up a way to refund all the attendees and notify all the partners, vendors, performers, and stakeholders who are transactionally involved regarding the payment terms.

Illness

If any significant stakeholder felt ill and can’t come up for the event so how are you going to meet their alternative person? E.g, Staff replacement. 

Sales

If the tickets are not enough sold to manage the budget. What will be your plan to market the event in less time? How to bring funds at that point? 

There can be a lot of planned or unplanned risks that can happen we can think or not think all the risks are different under different situations So it is important for creating a contingency or emergency plan before conducting an event… 

4. Social Distancing

The event can include no. of people coming together for a specific purpose. At that point maintaining social distancing plays an important role because this virus can spread with close contact. Everyone should stay at least 2 meters away from every individual. We should avoid crowded places and gatherings but still if required maintaining social distancing becomes the best practice. By following, the guidelines of social distancing people can reduce the chance of getting affected.

Points to be taken care of to maintain social distancing and implement it in the best possible manner are shared below.

Limit attendees

I had already shared about it in the first point. By limiting the cap of people. We can manage the crowd.

Check-In Screening

By implementing the check-in process, for example, scanning tickets, scanning codes, and IDs. You can reduce the number of unwanted people joining and maintain the crowd.

No post registration

All the candidates have to register in advance. Otherwise, all the strategies will go down. If the crowd will come and the measure goes wrong. Due to post registrations.

Physical Measures

One-way traffic flow, creating marks for standing,  setting up barriers. Conducting line-by-line come-in-go-out activities. Conducting all these activities with the intent of never getting more people in the crowd in one place and not getting people in close contact anyway. 

5. Health Checks

Make it a compulsory temperature, and symptom check for candidates.

It can be implemented by creating forms and covering questions like: 

Fever (Greater than 38 Degrees C)	Yes/No
Cough	Yes/No
Shortness of Breath	Yes/No
Sore Throat	Yes/No
Runny Nose	Yes/No
Negative Covid report of last 15 days	Yes/No

And you can include much more questions with expert guidance to create a perfect screening for attendees.

Staff training:

Training staff for measures of covid 19 prevention, use of PPE, and cleaning most touchable common surfaces is significant. Because every precaution is to be taken very crucially important.

Staff Checking

Implementing the same checking for staff as well is too important because covid is infectious. One infectious person can make that a bad day for every part of the event.