Collaboration Drives Innovation: Hard Event Decisions – Event 360

By Slade Thompson

Spring and Summer 2020 have brought a plethora of difficult decisions to the desks of event planners around the world. Should we postpone? Should we cancel? Should we do a virtual event? You probably have tackled many of those questions already. But maybe you have not had time to look ahead and ask yourself, “When can we hold an in-person event?” Here are a few questions you should consider when you start the discussion with your team about resuming live events.

Is it legal?

This may seem like a cut and dry answer. Of course, nothing in our new normal is that easy. Your city, county, or state officials may have an easy answer for you. Or perhaps they defer to federal guidelines. In reality, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. The real question may be “Does your organization have the proper protection in place to have a live event, if such an event is allowed?”

Is it safe?

While perhaps you can legally produce a live event in accordance with CDC guidelines, is it actually safe to do so? If your clients are health-related organizations, like the majority of Event 360’s clients are health-related organizations, many participants at your event may be immunocompromised or have other underlying health issues that put them at a higher risk.

Is it right?

Finding an answer to this question may be the most difficult for your event. It is highly subjective and will require some difficult conversations with multiple stakeholders. One element we think is critical to consider here is, “How will your event impact resources within the community?”

Nobody is looking forward to the return of live events more than the team at Event 360. Providing people an opportunity to be a part of making the world a better place is our passion. We love building the space and opportunity for individuals to connect with others and with organizations they are passionate about. We cannot wait until the day the answer to these questions and many more is a resounding “YES!”

If you need help fulfilling your goals until we can be together in person, we are happy to help. And if you need help exploring these questions, we would gladly be a part of that discussion as well. And when you feel comfortable getting your community together in person, we definitely want to be a part of that celebration, too.

Slade Thompson has been with Event 360 for more than 15 years and has played a role in planning and executing more than 100 events ranging from a 5K for a few hundred people to multi-day events for thousands of participants.