Current Situation of Covid-19 and Events

Everybody knows, the Coronavirus has been and will be on a surge for at least two quarters of 2020 in Asia and globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) even declared the outbreak a global public health emergency.Any form of direct human contact including meetups, office work, and events are being canceled. It's no longer enough for event planners to simply take precautions and prepare for the virus – it's vital that we actively assess the risks and plan on how to keep audiences engaged.Event planners have been asking questions on Twitter:” How’s everyone doing? Events are canceled or postponed.” Keep reading to see your answers to the question!

1.   Rescheduling your eventThe coronavirus has already affected numerous events throughout the world and many organizers are choosing to outright cancel their events in the wake of the outbreak.Rescheduling the event is a viable option. For example, GDC (Game Developers Conference) which is the biggest annual conference for video game developers, has been postponed until summer over concerns regarding the virus. This is even true for global events such as the Olympics that were supposed to be held in Tokyo this year.Based on how the Asian countries have dealt with the coronavirus it takes up to 4-5 months to thoroughly deal with the virus domestically and for things to go back to normal. However, for events that have an international audience, it may take longer for all countries to get back to normal.

2. Relocating your eventsInstead of canceling or postponing an event, an alternative is to relocate. The PGA tour is one organization that has chosen this option. Although it hasn't yet confirmed which course it will be relocating to, it announced last week that it would not be hosting its China Series in the original location of Haikou. While this is a viable option, there are still risks to this as Covid-19 is slowly spreading across many parts of the world which comes with air travel risks.

3. Hosting a virtual eventVirtual meetings are a great opportunity for planners, regardless of whether they're in response to the coronavirus, and offer an even more appealing and cheaper alternative now that many countries have imposed travel restrictions. This is really a way to avoid contracting the virus whilst keeping social life on the go. So, this what event planners have been doing:

Companies are using different software including the common ones like Zoom, Nextiva and even Remo.co.But what people are eventually looking for is a real-life like experience and if so, probably Remo is your best option. Some of its very interactive features include business card exchange, direct link to linkedin and creative chat features.How does Remo work?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvfjiukhgnE

So, want to know how to host your event effectively? Click here to start a free demo!
4. Boosting Medical Security It may be wise for event managers that are hosting events in high-risk areas or attendees traveling from those places, to prepare medical supplies and emergency staff onsite.CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has published a comprehensive guidance report on mass gatherings for Covid-19.

Supplies such as hand sanitizer and masks should be provided to attendees as a safety measure. To go further, temperature screening or medical testing can be implemented onsite and it’s vital that attendees are made aware of the situation beforehand.Additionally, it is of best practice for planners to have crisis communication sources in place in case of emergency and be updated with the most recent educational resources.Therefore, rescheduling, relocating, hosting events and boosting medical security are some of the ways to hold events during emergency events like the Coronavirus outbreak. It is of utmost importance to keep health and safety of attendees as well as organizers, at the highest priority.