Corporate Events Plus

Incredible

A year ago at this time we were preparing to go to an event in De Hague at the World Forum to technically deliver plenary and breakouts and a gala dinner for an audience of 2,000 company banking directors.

Today we are planning housekeeping, back office systems and clearing out the stores of past equipment and props that we will no longer need to use.

I think this knock to our industry is going to take a while to recover – some business will undoubtedly go to the wall.

We have been in such a fast moving world, not many people in the events industry have experienced the likes of bombing campaigns by terrorists, the death of Princess Diana and the events of 911 and the financial crisis which have all had a serious impact on our industry. Now a Virus Pandemic has put a complete halt to our industry and many other industries.

I am hopeful we will be able to limit the spread of the virus to save lives by stopping events and gatherings of people together.

If everyone plays their part by staying at home to flatten the curve to give the National Health Service the chance to treat those who are unfortunate to become ill, we may just return to work sooner.

When will this be?

This is a question everyone will be asking themselves.

What are the positives of the situation?

We can make sure we reduce stock and items we no longer need, we can back up our work systems, we can go though our company paperwork and update our processes, we can continue our learning and we can make ourselves available if others need help. We can contact our past and present customers to remain in contact for when work does recover. This could be the detox the industry has been needing for a while.

What are we hoping for?

A swift conclusion to the virus, a willingness of customers to return to work and communicate in a positive way to their staff that they are committed to a new future.

Personally I am hoping that our industry will be ready to return to work with a new creative enthusiasm and only time will tell but for now the Conference venues and Exhibition halls will remain closed.