Event Safety and Security

This has been a planned blog topic/post since last December, well before the Global COVID-19 outbreak. Unfortunately, the event world has changed significantly over the past few months and safety and security measures continue to change on the daily so this post has been edited a few times!

At this point, I would encourage anyone working on hosting an in-person event to research your own’s community health guidelines. But if you are in the Fraser Valley or Greater Vancouver area, the BC Meetings & Events Industry Working Group has developed a comprehensive, high-level guidelines document that sets out best practice recommendations for companies that are safely planning, implementing and servicing meetings & events during and post COVID-19. You can view the entire document at the link below and here are a few highlights to share:

1. Before holding a meeting or event during the COVID-19 pandemic, a COVID-19 Risk Assessment should be conducted by all parties involved in the planning and execution of the event to determine the inherent level of risk, and areas where the risk of transmission can be reduced including setup, execution and load-out of the event.
2. Standard planning practice for meetings & events includes the development of an Event Emergency Response Plan (ERP) which outlines protocols and communication trees in the event of an unforeseen emergency circumstance. Planners will evolve ERPs to integrate COVID-19 public health guidelines through the development of a COVID-19 Risk Mitigation and Response Plan.
3. Pre-event communication is critical in mitigating risk at meetings & events. Communicating as much information using on-line technology (e.g. registration and event apps) in advance will reduce the need for personal touch and contact points onsite.

BC Event Industry Covid Restart Guidelines