The coronavirus outbreak and the dangers and preventative measures associated with it are affecting even smaller events in the region. Following the prohibition of governments across Europe and the World of hosting public events, for more than 100 people, even small and medium-sized events face difficulty. To this day, three marketing events in Slovenia and the biggest Croatian communication festival had to change their plans.
The 29th SOF (Slovenian Marketing Festival) that was supposed to take place on April 2nd and 3rd has been postponed until September, due to government regulations following the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Following the same red line, the 1st Effie day, dedicated to knowledge and inspiration for effective performance, scheduled for the 11th of March, has been postponed indefinitely.
InOrbit, the regional digital marketing conference, expected to take place in Portorož, Slovenia between March 19th and 20th, has taken an alternative approach. The organisers decided on going forward with the event digitally. All the participants will hence be able to follow lectures online, from the safety and comfort of their homes. In their press release, the organisers announced: “This way, everyone, regardless of their location, health, government and company measures will be able to take part in the event. With this decision, we show our responsibility to the community and concern for the health and safety of our participants, speakers, partners, and employees.”
They are however planning to run some parts of the InOrbit conference in a smaller scope across the following weeks and months on two physical locations, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and London, UK.
Right across the border in Croatia, Croatian communication days Dani komunikacija under the slogan “Love advertising. Fuck advertising.” were due to occur at the same time as SOF. The organisers decided to postpone the festival until October 2020 and accompanied the change of date with a new slogan “Fuck Spring. Love Autumn.”
