Emerging from the disruption: 6 points to consider for 2020/2021 events
ASN Events Director Mike Pickford highlights 6 key areas to consider when adjusting, responding and planning your 2020 or 2021 event in response to the disruption of COVID-19.
For 2020 and 2021 conferences and meetings the following needs to be kept in mind:
Venues have demonstrated tremendous support for our clients under the circumstances. Changing dates without penalties, returning some deposits, fixing fees, most have done it all without hesitation and the formal agreements, whilst referred to, were regularly bypassed to get a good result. Certainly we do have a list of those venues that put up a little bit of a fight, but force majeure conditions meant the discussions eventually came back on track. Choosing your next venue should not involve terror about the commitment – reasonable business destinations are the norm, not the exception.
Meeting size regulations are still in play and different in each state. Look forward to seeing those rules removed and modified going forward. Certainly the talk at the highest levels has not precluded domestic meetings running throughout the country before the end of 2020.
A ‘health safe’ meeting environment will be part of the equation for a good, well attended meeting. Expect a series of guidelines to emerge that will provide comfort for delegates and their organisations to let them attend. Before the travel bans were organised by our states, firms were making their own calls. Just because travel restrictions are lifted does not mean employers will make the same call without further assurances.
In 2020, expect your international key speakers to arrive virtually only. The international travel landscape may never be the same and certainly the expectations of authorities I’m speaking with are more aligned to a disrupted 2021 as well. Maybe don’t encourage your invited speakers to buy their tickets just yet.
Plan your program with confidence. Technically presenting the program will be possible in a variety of ways, it actually has been for a number of years. This isn’t as important as deciding what is going to attract delegates and every survey has indicated the primary decision factor for delegates is program quality. A strong program will get delegates (as long as it’s also marketed so prospective delegates know about it).
Time is on your side for a change. Marketing to potential delegates and sponsors really isn’t worth doing yet until the community narrative changes. Flag some dates, give a sponsor a chance to spend un-used funds before the end of the financial year – but mainly get your program and messaging right and be ready to spring into marketing action in a couple of months. Also, people’s diaries are pretty empty now. It’s a really good chance to capture potential delegates attention before they have made decisions on which conferences they will attend.