Two years ago, no one would have thought that wellness safety would be such a huge part of the event industry. Sure, there were things we were concerned with—like the physical safety of attendees, as one might think of contraband checks, fire safety plans, and tidy cabling —but we’d been accustomed to those risks for years.
Today, not only are we planners faced with this enormous new challenge, but we’re also constantly chasing evolving health safety standards and guidance. So it’s not surprising that in our most recent 2022 Event Industry Annual Survey, 57% of respondents indicated that their primary concern when planning in-person events amid the COVID-19 pandemic is attendee safety.
Unfortunately, with this intense focus on health and wellness, it’s been extraordinarily challenging for event professionals to a) get high in-person attendance rates and b) create engaging experiences for attendees.
I get it, people are still gunshy. Attendees are still more likely to take a pass all together on your in-person event, especially if they have a virtual alternative. And if they do show up, most of them are still pretty timid and not engaging like they used to. As people whose job it is to bring humans together and leverage engagement to drive our business outcomes, this is a serious challenge. So I spent some time thinking about how to navigate this. Here are some of my thoughts and observations.
A CLEAR Example
I recently went to visit our partner, CLEAR, in New York. Before I could even get in the elevator to head up to their office I had to pass vaccination verification, booster verification, and a myriad of health protocols to prove I was COVID-free. At first, it felt like an overwhelming burden: “You mean you’ll actually prevent me from coming in if I don’t jump through these hurdles even after I flew across the country?” But I have to say, once I got into their office, I felt transported back to the pre-COVID days. I knew everyone had complied with the exact same strict process. I immediately felt safe. People were even openly shaking hands and hugging. And the result? I came away from that meeting more energized, engaged, and optimistic than I had been in a long time.
The observation here for me is that it’s important to realize how much we shape attendee sentiment through our pre-event planning and our requirements. There are times we might ask for something that’s frustrating to an attendee—something that hopefully a robust communication plan can alleviate—but in the end, when we make people feel safe, they feel they have the freedom to actively participate in the experience. This is how we generate attendee engagement even while safety is a top concern; by putting plans in place that overwhelmingly prove to them that we are taking care of them, taking care of us.
Setting the Stage
Another observation I’ve had recently is that I’ve seen more and more event entrances look like makeshift hospitals. While that may make it evident that you’re focused on attendee wellness, is that the first impression you want to welcome a crowd ready to engage?
I’m wondering if there are more tasteful ways to manage our health and safety protocols? One idea that came out of Part V of our Pandemic Compliance & Safety at Live Events virtual series, was to offer/require at-home COVID testing with video proctoring, instead of having onsite staff with lab coats at the door swabbing noses. If everyone shows up having completed your requirements for admittance and you can verify that before the event and at the door, you’ll quickly have an environment like I experienced at the CLEAR offices.
Backup Plans
If you’ve ever produced events, you know all too well that things don’t always go as planned and there will always be that small group of people that are extra challenging. A behavioral observation that has caught my attention recently has been watching the airlines struggle with offering alcohol on flights during the pandemic because they’re concerned about the safety risk of frustrated and unruly passengers. I think this is a very real concern for the events industry as well, and not just because there’s alcohol at events, but because there will likely be pent up frustration and fatigue with the requirements we push on to attendees. Given that, now more than ever, we need to think about what our back up plans will be. What if someone refuses to wear a mask? What if someone fakes vaccination status? These are the things that you should plan for in advance and communicate to your audience in a published code of conduct.
The events that are thriving now are all proactively communicating their expectations of each and every constituent of the event—from speakers, to attendees, to event staff. They’re not burying their plans at the bottom of the FAQ webpage. In turn what they’re getting is a group of attendees who feel like I did in New York, taken care of and excited to actively participate.
Know and Serve Your Audience
Another important observation/critique I’ve had recently of the events industry is that I’ve seen too many event organizers copy other event safety protocols as their own playbook. Or even simply defer to the “local regulations” to define their event requirements for their attendees.
That has a few flaws:
- No two audiences are the same
- Your event use case or purpose may be drastically different
- Your audience may need or want a unique safety comfort level to attend
Take for example when Coachella announced that they wouldn’t be requiring any vaccination verification or negative test results to attend. Does that mean all events should blindly follow their lead? Absolutely not. Coachella made their decision based on their physical location (outside, warm weather, etc) and their audience demographic. They clearly feel they can deliver a high quality experience with the decisions they made. But can you imagine hosting a corporate all hands meeting? You’ll likely have a very different lens that you’re looking through in regards to wellness safety and employee engagement. If I’m an employee being required to attend a corporate meeting I know I’d expect my employer to go above and beyond to ensure my safety. And could you imagine the negative business impact if a large number of employees get sick? Two drastically different scenarios. Each event needs to choose what works best for them based on the business outcomes it’s trying to achieve.
When it’s all said and done, a sense of safety, or lack thereof, undoubtedly shapes how attendees think about your event and ultimately their behavior/engagement. People who feel safe and comfortable will obviously be more willing to come, stay, interact, and connect. As we continue moving forward in this more safety conscious society, I’m absolutely not suggesting we simply replace engagement with safety. Let’s create safe environments that meet our attendees’ expectations so that we can THEN create the most engaging experiences.
To learn more about how Event Farm’s suite of event engagement tools can help you keep attendees safe and engaged at in-person events, download the brochure.