Ready to Party?
No doubt you know by now that quarantining, testing, and social distancing are about to be shown the door. And masks, well, we won’t don them en masse again until Halloween. I truly cannot recall a time I looked forward to with equal parts elation and dread. Am I the only one not quite ready to celebrate all these changes?
But here we are, my fellow event planners, once again in unknown territory. How to relaunch your in-person events after a one-year pandemic-related pause? Anyone have the handbook for that?
We all knew this day would come, and many, like my clients and I, have been strategizing how we want our in-person events to come back. But the challenge has been that nearly every day the goal post is moved. In February, we were still thinking virtual, maybe hybrid for fall. Then came April, and hybrid was looking good for late spring and summer too. And then here comes May and we are ready to party. Those 250-person capacity limits we placed on the live portion of our events, well suddenly its not nearly enough to satisfy the demand from our eager patrons.
If we learned anything from 2020, it is how fast the world around us can change. If we are learning anything from 2021, it is how quickly public sentiment can sway. Working in the northeast of the U.S. for most of my life, I know all too well what the threat of a snowstorm can do to my event plans. On Tuesday, a nor’easter is predicted to land on your event date, but when the event day comes, it’s only flurries. Sadly, the damage has been done as attendees changed their plans once they heard of the impending threat. Similarly, as we continue to operate with a pandemic in our midst, the odds are pretty favorable that the latest news cycle and their most recent event experiences will change their sentiment quickly—and maybe several times—before your event is here.
What to do?
Communicate often, remain flexible and remember who you are.
1. Communication is a two-way street that is open 24/7. Communicate with all your stakeholders regularly about your plans for your remaining 2021 events. Tell them the rationale behind your event plan and contingencies, and ask them for feedback. A quick pre-event survey is just not enough. You need their buy-in throughout the planning process and especially when changes need to be made.
2. Your hybrid event could need to go all virtual or it may need a larger in-person footprint. Either way, you may need to make that change relatively quickly. We all know last-minute changes in the event world can be costly, so look to include that flexibility now. You may be thinking that building in all this flexibility is going to make quite a dent in your budget. Smart planners know, with good planning and artful negotiation, it doesn’t have to.
3. Your organization’s core values and mission should be at the heart of everything it does. Pandemic event planning is no exception. Before you are compelled to keep up with the Joneses, make sure your plans reflect who you are, whom you serve and your event goals. This will ensure, even if your aim is less than perfect, your stakeholders will understand your rationale and remain loyal.
Sound like a bit of a minefield? It can be, but as always, I’m here if you need me.
- Dayla