As reported in the Global Economic Significance of Business Events study, the global business events industry and its workforce of 26 million generated an estimated $1.5 trillion USD in GDP, which would rank the sector as the 13th largest economy in the world.
COVID-19 has brought the industry to a standstill. Sector job loss in the millions, decreased travel, cancelled and postponed meetings and events, closed businesses and borders across the global events ecosystem have collectively disrupted the industry. There will be a long-lasting impact on economic recovery worldwide.
In response, the Events Industry Council, a global federation of more than 30 member organisations, formed the APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force. The task force’s work groups are focused on aggregating and curating accepted practices across the events ecosystem and providing a framework for recovery and resilience as the industry adapts. We are cognisant of both our present realities and the need to best prepare for our future through our ability to analyse and mitigate risk.
Today, the Events Industry Council issued the Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide. It is intended to serve as a resource and educational tool for industry professionals to utilise as they put the curated resources and materials into practice.
This guidance also is intended to be global in nature. The work will continue to evolve through regional workshops led by task force members, to ensure it is either applicable or customised to each region.
To rebuild the trust that in-person meetings and events can happen safely, the guide provides these customisable tools:
• A meeting and event decision grid
• Guidelines and a code of conduct for pre-event, post-event and onsite
• Meeting and event success metrics (pre- and post-vaccine)
• Attendee communication considerations
• Resource guide
EIC will host a webinar on Friday, 24 July at 11 a.m. EDT to discuss the Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide. Additional guides, including one from the Hotel/Accommodations Health & Safety workstream, will be released in the coming weeks.
“In-person meetings, events, exhibitions, and trade shows came to a screeching halt in March,” said Meeting and Event Design workgroup member Cathy Schlosberg, Senior Vice President Marketing, PSAV. “While we have seen some very encouraging examples of events beginning to take place across the globe, we know that we need to continue to work to advocate our ability to create safe environments. Our colleagues want to understand and implement accepted practices that bring in-person meetings, events, exhibitions, and trade shows back to life. The guide EIC released today will help do that.”
“Included in the Accepted Practices Guide is a code of conduct, meant to serve as a tool for event organisers to engage all meeting participants in the health and safety of our events. Community buy-in by all participants at the event level serves to advocate for the well-being of our fellow global citizens and our industry,” said Meeting and Event Design workgroup member and APEX Commission Chair Allison Kinsley, CMM, CMP, CED, Chief Meeting Architect, Kinsley Meetings.
