Event Companies Share Their Visions of Live Events in the COVID-19 Era

Author: Curt Wagner       

Business event professionals have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by pivoting to virtual events, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t thinking about a time when face-to-face meetings will be possible. Two event and brand experience companies, Freeman and Shepard, have created videos that demonstrate their visions of future events — particularly exhibitions — that can be created responsibly to not only engage live audiences, but keep them safe in world without a coronavirus vaccine.

As hotels and conference centers are trying to reassure planners and attendees by implementing special sanitation programs and health certifications, event suppliers are likewise rolling out their offerings to make people more comfortable meeting in person at events.

Planners also are eager to hear about safety solutions for live events. In a series of PCMA COVID-19 Recovery Dashboard surveys, on average, 77 percent of planner respondents said they wish to learn all they can about creating virtual events, but 70 percent consistently said learning how to design safe live events also is important.

Both videos are designed as a walk-through of an exhibition, stopping to highlight different safety protocols put in place. The Shepard video, for example, shows a pre-registration area, where attendees must fill out health forms and also have a temperature screening before proceeding to registration. The Freeman video, among other features, shares some tech solutions that allow for touchless registration and also to help keep crowds spread out in the venue. Both videos demonstrate floor layouts to optimize physical distancing and directional flow to keep attendees from bunching together.

Both videos highlight the idea of breaking up session spaces by allowing viewing via video from other rooms, or even on a personal device from anywhere in the venue.

Watch the videos above and below.

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