DALLAS — Freeman recently released a resource page on its website, called “The Future of LIVE”, which is designed to give professionals a glimpse of what business events and other mass gatherings will look like in the wake of COVID-19. The site includes tips and tools to help show organizers create events that make health and safety a top priority—thus instilling confidence in attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors alike. The information presented on the site is not only the result of the effects COVID-19 has had on events, but also the culmination of ideas that have circulated around the industry for some time.
“As an industry, we have the rare chance to make changes we have long wanted to make,” said Freeman’s CEO Bob Priest-Heck. “We can enhance the entire experience for our attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors. We can surprise them when they return. By incorporating small changes to event strategy, technology and experience design, events can become more intimate, meaningful, and personal.”
Among the resources included on Freeman’s site is a video, “The Event of the Future”, which outlines how post-COVID-19 events will maintain safety procedures while still creating a satisfying experience that appeals to the social nature of everyone involved. This vision of future events addresses entry strategies that prevent crowding in registration areas, regulating the flow of traffic on the showroom floor to facilitate social distancing, access to sessions that may be available in person or via the Internet, and safe networking opportunities that allow attendees to connect with each other while keeping health considerations top of mind.
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“This video succinctly shows how we can make face-to-face events safer and comfortable for our customers,” said Ken McAvoy, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at Informa. “It quickly brings together best practices and strategies that we can easily implement for a stronger event experience. Watching the video gives me confidence that our industry can recover with great success.”
In order to further help with the successful recovery of the event industry, Freeman also released a report called “The [New] Normal: Considerations for Business Events in a Post-COVID World”, which includes information on how organizers can rethink the way they approach their events from content delivery to space usage to sponsorship opportunities. For example, the report addresses how to effectively use calculations so the capacity of an event venue can be determined with physical distancing in mind. Also, there are tips that companies can use to rework their marketing strategies, including messaging on event size, on-site preparedness, and utilizing hybrid events effectively.
Other resources that can be found on Freeman’s website include a report that addresses design considerations for post-COVID-19 events, a checklist to help show organizers determine how prepared they are for the industry’s new normal, and a guide that provides information on the latest recommended hygiene protocols.
As events begin to resume in locations around the world, Freeman’s resources will help professionals manage their shows and create protocols that will protect participants while still fostering an enjoyable experience.
“This is a moment of incredible opportunity for our industry. We have always designed and produced controlled, strategically-targeted, meaningful experiences that influence people. We have always been able to control attendee density, people flows, and experience,” said Mo Husseini, SVP of Design at Freeman. “We are now taking the time to focus on what is truly important and bringing all of that to bear on the attendee experience—space-planning, hybrid technology integrations, choreographed show floors, touchless registration, even new best practices for exhibits. All to reimagine an enhanced and elevated event design that exceeds all expectations and delivers a safer, better, more powerful, and truly resonant experience.”
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Freeman’s “The Future of LIVE” resources can be accessed at http://www.freeman.com/insights/the-future-of-live.
Reach Bob Priest-Heck at bph@freemanco.com; Ken McAvoy at ken.mcavoy@informa.com.
