7 Useful Tips While Planning Your First In-Person Event in Pandemic
After the Covid pandemic, eventually, the world is returning to the old regular, with as much safety as possible. While everyone was accommodating with virtual events back in 2020, now, with the covid scenario under control, the world is getting back to in-person events.
Event professionals did a fantastic job during the times of the pandemic crisis by organizing innovative virtual events. And, they continue to bring out excellent norms to socialize without getting affected by the coronavirus.
With the virus still not completely eradicated from our lives, it is essential to plan and execute events with safety measures and social distancing norms. If organized with safety measures, events can be both enjoyable and harmless. Therefore, as the world begins to enter the world of hosting and attending events, listed below are a few things to consider.
1. Register in Advance
Whether you plan a fun event, wedding event, business gathering, or conference, having your attendees pre-registered is a must. Pre-registration is no longer a consideration; it is a definite step. Pre-registrations help you with budgeting, preparation as well as finalizing your venue owing to the capacity. Depending on the strength of attendees, you can use the information for marketing. With the power of attendees known, you can safely plan for the upcoming event with complete resources and confidence. Adding additional products and gaining sponsorships are the other benefits of pre-registration.
When having the attendees to pre-register, make them involved in planning. You can offer them select seats or order catering to be collected or delivered at a specific time slot. Also, you can hand them over a particular entry and exit timing to bypass crowding and queues.
2. Contactless Check-ins
The check-in process is the next step. To have a contactless check-in is another essential while planning events. You can make the check-in process convenient via an app using the QR code. The QR scanning method was used before the pandemic time, but not everyone used to be keen on following. And, everyone carries their phone these days. So, no hassles or issues whatsoever.
3. Pre-prepare your Guests
Preparing your guests is always a plus. Be it a conference, a birthday party, an official meet, or a wedding; make sure to inform your guests of what they should expect and what is expected out of them. Inform them of the safety norms and procedures that the management is offering.
Basics like wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, pre-registering, etc., are some of what you need to pre-communicate to your attendees. One of the ideal ways to communicate with the attendees is via an event app or a website.
4. Zoning and Signage
Simplicity is the key when it comes to signage and zoning—directing people towards where to sit? Where to stand? How to enter? How to exit? etc. is best done with simplicity. Direct your attendees in an informative yet simple manner. Every guest, be it a child or a grown-up, must be comfortable with your indications. Everyone must understand the used signage. Using red and green colors as indicators can be helpful.
5. Keep the Basics Handy
Covid pandemic times are the ones when essentials like masks and sanitizers should be kept handy. Some of the attendees or staff members might forget their sanitizers or shows at home. Facing such a situation, you must have a bunch of unused spare masks to hand them over. You must have sanitizer stations installed at every few meters for the convenience of your guests. You can also offer a small sanitizer bottle to every attendee while entering the venue.
6. Open Cleaning
Have a lot of cleaning before and after use of space and furniture and keep them open and visible to your attendees. Your attendees would want to be sure of the cleaning procedures and would feel safe if they saw it in person now and then. Every evens has some hot zones where the gathering is maximum. You can have cleaners clean the hot zones in great frequency.
7. Give Importance to the Virtual Elements
Though the in-person events have begun, some people would like to be attentive virtually. There can be guests with unavailable dates on the day of the event. They might like to have the recorded feed after the event. Also, there would be people wanting to join the event via a live stream at home. In such a scenario, you must make sure to pay equal attention to the virtual elements of your event.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Q. How can I hold an In-person event?
A. You can hold an in-person event with restricted numbers and all social protocols in place. As an added measure, you could offer PPE suits/ face shields to all attendees.
Q. Do we need to follow all the covid 19 rules during an in-person event?
A. Yes, all the attendees as well the person, team, or company organizing the event need to follow all the guidelines in order to safely conduct the event.
Q. What is the difference between in-person events and virtual events?
A. In-Person events take place at an actual event location where people gather physically and attend the event. Whereas, virtual events happens virtually over a virtual platform where people attend the events virtual via phones, laptop, and other devices.