The Events Industry Council (EIC) has issued the Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide, intended as a resource and educational tool for industry professionals.
In response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19, which has brought the industry to a standstill and led to sector job losses, canceled and postponed events, and decreased travel, the Events Industry Council has formed the APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force.
The EIC task force’s work groups are focused on aggregating and curating accepted practices across the events eco-system, and providing a framework for recovery and resilience as the industry adapts to current challenges.
“We must, as individuals and organizations, take the responsibility to own the assessment and mitigation of risk, taking into account guidance from global, national, regional and local public health officials,” said Amy Calvert, CEO, Events Industry Council, in a press release statement. “If we do so consistently, and communicate these steps effectively, we will make considerable strides toward reestablishing trust. Trust with organizational decision-makers, event organizers, participants and all stakeholder groups is an essential element in the process of recovery and ensuring our future relevance. These materials represent a living workstream and as new information and knowledge is gathered, we will update this guidance so that trust is renewed and reinforced.”
The Meeting and Event Design Accepted Practices Guide is intended to help rebuild trust that meetings and events can happen safely. It is intended to be global in nature, and the work will continue to evolve through regional workshops led by task force members to ensure it is applicable and customized to each region.
The EIC Guide Offers Customizable Tools
The guide consists of customizable tools such as a meeting and event decision grid; guidelines and a code of conduct for pre-event, onsite and post-event; meeting and event success metrics (pre- and post-vaccine); attendee communication considerations and a resource guide.
“Included in the Accepted Practices Guide is a code of conduct, meant to serve as a tool for event organizers to engage all meeting participants in the health and safety of our events. Community buy-in by all participants at the event level serves to advocate for the well-being of our fellow global citizens and our industry,” said Meeting and Event Design work group member and APEX commission chair Allison Kinsley, CMM, CMP, CED, chief meeting architect, Kinsley Meetings.
The code of conduct can be downloaded here.
The APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force is led by co-chairs Michael Dominguez, president and CEO, Associated Luxury Hotels International (ALHI), and Kristin Horstman, senior director, strategic events, Salesforce. It consists of representation from across the many sectors and regions of the global events ecosystem, and provides a voice in planning, preparing and participating in the industry’s recovery.
The task force is following two parallel paths. The first path focuses on the immediate need for accepted practices related to health and safety protocols, support for the industry’s global workforce, as well as risk assessment and mitigation tools. While the second path addresses the long-term need to examine adaptation and transformation to ensure the future resiliency of the industry.
For more information, visit eventscouncil.org.
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