Attendees wear masks at the 2020 Arkansas Business CFO of the Year Awards.
For well more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation, postponement or outright reinvention of live events. Just as people learned to work remotely, so did event planners and attendees adjust to virtual formats and new technologies to host and “attend” events.
“In 2020, rightfully so, nobody wanted to bring 20,000 people together at one time,” said J.R. Shaw, executive director of Visit Rogers and executive vice president of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.
Arkansas Tourism Director Travis Napper, referencing the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau annual report, noted that in 2020 there were 297 group cancellations, an economic impact of $26,692,632, and 51 group postponements, an impact of $8,462,642.
Cancellations included Elton John, the Arkansas Comic-Con, the Arkansas State Fair, Walmart Shareholders meeting, Arkansas Trucking Association convention, the Miss Arkansas Pageant, the Future Farmers of America convention and much more.
“Meetings are worth tens of millions of dollars to local economies all across Arkansas,” Napper said. “There’s no doubt that meetings are a critical component to the health of tourism in our state.”
Vaccinations, safety precautions, reopenings and the lifting of certain restrictions have led to a gradual resumption of concerts, movie screenings, conventions and meetings. But many of these events come with pandemic-inspired twists: proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, masks, sanitary stations and distancing requirements.
It will be important for event organizers to consider the government, city or facility COVID-19 restrictions and safety measures with which they will have to contend. What precautions — like masks — or documentation — like proof of vaccination or a negative test — will be needed? How can planners minimize transition risks and manage the movement of guests or arrange meals and networking opportunities to ensure social distancing?
Not that planners ever overlooked safety, but there are now additional elements to consider. A good health and safety plan can ease the concerns of those who may be especially anxious as they return from a year or more of remote work and limited physical contact.
“Professional meetings and events are different from other types of large gatherings, because organizers have a controlled setting for implementing health and safety measures,” Napper said. “In fact, according to research from the U.S. Travel Association, in-person meetings pose a near-zero (0.001%) risk of COVID-19 transmission to attendees, even for large events.”
Once safety requirements are in place, event planners should communicate the details in advance so attendees can know what to expect and prepare for, and to ease the minds of those who may be on the fence about attending in person.
“We work hard to make them at ease, to facilitate outdoor events, to facilitate spreading out their attendees to help them make their goals and be successful,” Shaw said.
“In our sales packets we incorporate the corporate hotel cleanliness standard. They’ve all published how they’ve changed their housekeeping and food and beverage [service] and whatever that may be. We put that straight into our sales pitch and our sales package.”
With companies and employees re-thinking the value of spending five days a week in an office — a hybrid combination of remote and in-person work has proven popular — event planners are having to engage and entertain two audiences as opposed to one.
In the world of meetings and events, the virtual elements that became commonplace in the past year and a half will likely be retained and guests will be able to decide if they’ll attend live or online. The advantages of the hybrid setup include the ability to maximize attendance, not just ensuring the remote presence of the COVID-19 cautious but drawing remote attendees from out of state who would otherwise not have been able to attend.
Gretchen Hall, president and CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, said hybrid events are proving to be an option in the industry, but there is no substitute for live attendance its local economic impact.
“The experience and engagement just cannot be replaced in a virtual environment,” Hall said. “I think virtual platforms are very useful for certain things and the technology has increased exponentially over the past 18 months, but large live events will see a comeback. We are already seeing it with the recent Arkansas State Fair attendance numbers, sell-out crowds at sporting events, and the re-opening of Broadway productions.”
However it’s not clear when all events will return to their large-scale glory.
“Many companies are still not letting their employees travel, and we’re just not sure when business travel will completely reach pre-COVID levels,” Napper said. “The U.S. Travel Association projects that it could be years before business returns to normal.”
Shaw projected, with no further setbacks, a return to previous attendance levels by late 2023, but he made no guarantees.
However it’s clear that Zoom fatigue exists, and while meetings may look a little different in the near future, the culture of companies and corporations — and human nature — guarantee that events will bounce back, just as they have from economic setbacks in the past.
“There is an element of doing business, day-to-day, that can’t do things remotely, that needs to be done in collaborative settings,” Shaw said.
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