Viva Events!

Over my three decades of exposition and events management experience, the show teams I worked with had to deal with a number of urgent issues at shows – a flood in the expo hall, an attendee having a heart attack on the show floor, labor injuries, a forklift crashing into an exhibit booth, minor fires, power outages, hotel labor strikes, stolen equipment, exhibits that blew over, an exhibitor’s publicity stunt that the convention center authorities thought was a real riot, moving in a show in San Francisco during the ’89 earthquake and still have it open thereafter, having staff members assaulted or injured on show-site, having the registration system crash on the first morning of the event with attendees lined out the doors, having a sponsor’s outdoor breakfast flooded because the lawn sprinklers went off, etc. – but the challenges were overcome and the shows went on. And there were a couple of international shows that canceled: one to SARS and another to fear of terrorism. In both cases, the shows returned and grew over time. 

But now, we’re at an incredibly unprecedented time when the global events, travel, hospitality and entertainment industries are at a standstill with facilities shuttered and millions unable to work due to COVID-19. It seems like the end of days is upon us.  In the past, there have been areas hard hit by natural disasters and war where the events industry in those areas took time to recover; but the entire industry had not stopped until now. So, for now, we’ll take a break, wait and make plans for events to return.

Like others who have commented on the state of the events industry given the COVID-19 pandemic, human beings crave personal connection. It’s in our nature. I'll go on record right now and say again that virtual events will not replace face to face (F2F) events. Digital technology has not sufficiently advanced to a point where we can drink a beer and eat together online. These days of quarantines, social distancing and restricted travel are testing everyone’s patience. I truly believe that F2F events will return strongly after the virus fades and life will go on.

I suspect some things about events will be different moving forward –fewer handshakes and hugs (at least initially) – perhaps new hand and body gestures will emerge for use during public gatherings and technological aids with personal proximity detection capabilities will warn us to keep safe social distances from each other (I’m sure someone is working on that one in a garage somewhere right now). More F2F events will be hybrids with virtual event companions running simultaneously and greater adoption of augmented and virtual reality solutions may finally emerge as serious event tools.

This massive experiment with remote working will either precipitate a positive sea change in the way business is conducted moving forward or it will cause a rush of employees back to the office and limits will be put on teleworking after weeks and weeks being cooped up at home with intermittent connections and limited access (especially in cases of small and mid-sized firms who were unprepared for the extended disruption to their businesses). In either case, COVID-19 has been a rude awakening for many companies and school systems who have been thrust into working from home and delivering services remotely.

COVID-19 has also shown us how our health system and communities are lacking resources to deal with a massive influx of patients, childcare, support for the elderly, disabled, underprivileged and special needs members of our communities during an extended period of crisis. But it is heartwarming to see neighbors helping neighbors and first responders, health care professionals, our military personnel, food and personal product manufacturers, grocers, many other essential service businesses and government agencies continue to rise to this challenge.

Will our nation now stockpile toilet paper, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, face masks, and latex gloves? Will homeowners and businesses rush to install bidets? Will there be a surge in deploying autonomous vehicles and robots to make deliveries? Will we become a dystopian world in perpetuity where we all wear full personal protection suits when we leave our homes? The future we were looking forward to before COVID-19 will change in many ways, some bad, some good. But as I’ve learned over my events management career, we will need to just roll with it, pivot, adjust and the shows will go on.

There will be hard lessons learned from this time. The question remains whether our governments and society will be able to make the investments and changes necessary to be better prepared for the next crisis. As they say, you can’t go back and relive the past. We must move forward and embrace change. Events are a massive facilitator of global commerce and economic development. They will lead the way in rebuilding the economy. Events will put people back to work and return the world to prosperity.

Let’s pray that these extraordinary times pass quickly. Everyone is eager to return to work. Viva events!