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Manging Your Events in the Post COVID-19 World.

Andy Robertson

As economies start to cautiously open up globally it is increasingly likely that there are going to be some strict new practices that will be enforced for the entire events industry. Quite how this will play out remains to be seen but here are some possible scenarios events organsiers should consider.


Currently (June 2020) most countries are allowing business activities to resume in phases with live events being in the final phase due to the inevitable close proximity of customers. Realistically it's going to be from September 2020 onwards that any large-scale events can resume but check your local guidelines to see what will apply to any events you are planning. Here are some considerations suggested by various authorities in opening up: 

Social Distancing. 
This may be quite difficult to enforce in some venues, safe distances of 1m or 2m have been suggested, if your event is in an all-seater venue then you will have some control over the social distancing measures. For an open air festival this becomes difficult if not impossible, the exception being social distancing policies you can enforce where people congregate when queuing at public bathrooms or at food and drink vendors. Watch out for new rules that limit numbers attending events which would be another way of controlling distances between customers. This could impact your event attendance numbers by 50% and that would call into question the economics of running your event at all.

Hygiene Precautions.
Sensible placement of hand gel and the provision of hygienic facilities with regular cleaning would be easier to implement. A contentious issue may be the requirements for all attending customers to wear face masks. Depending on your culture and geographic location there may or may not be resistance to the mandatory wearing of face masks. On the whole the wearing of face masks may end up becoming a voluntary, but recommended, action. You can always hand them out for free on the door and encourage customers to wear them.

Contact Tracing.
The registration of customers at an event will help with future contact tracing. While government bodies struggle with official applications to handle this it's one area where the events industry is already covered. With automated ticketing and scanning of bar and QR codes at most events the contact tracing process already exists.

Policing and Enforcement.
To comply with any new requirements there surely will be an element of self-regulation as you are only following guidelines rather than a legal obligation, however, check with your government and local authorities to ensure you comply with legal obligations as some countries are stricter on this than others. However you police any new requirements it is going to require more staff than normal to marshal and implement, they are going to require additional training too.  

If you are using an event management software solution like
FestivalPro you already have the ticketing functionality in place to comply with potential contact tracing requirements. It also has all the features you need to plan and manage any type of event. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The FestivalPro platform is flexible and easy to use making it easier to adjust to the ‘new normal’ for event planning and management in the post COVID-19 era.   

Photo by Bárbara Oliveira from Pexels

Andy Robertson
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