HOW SAFETY IS EVOLVING AT EVENTS

In this episode, we’re talking with Renee Black, the Principal and Senior Meeting Planner of planit inc. about the evolution of safety at live events. This conversation covers everything from how to make events safer, to how to include health and wellness at events, to what events will look like post-pandemic.

You can read the transcript below or listen to Episode 5 on the episode page, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 5 Transcript 

JEREMY: Alright, so I am here with the principal and senior meeting planner of planet inc., Renee Black. Today we want to talk primarily about safety, and I know that's something, particularly with the pandemic, that planet inc. has been working on quite a bit.

I have a question, might be a stupid question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. When we talk about safety at live events, what are we actually talking about? What is unsafe? What kind of problems actually come up at these sorts of conferences?

RENEE: It is not a stupid question at all, Jeremy. We have the pleasure of doing many of these events alongside your team, as well. When we're talking about safety at events, use the words event health & safety or we're using event wellness & safety. I think making that distinction is extremely important.

At planet, we knew there was going to be a return to live events and live experiences.

Did we foresee that we'd be sitting here today both talking about and dealing with this? Absolutely not but believe it or not, about 30 days after the world came to a stop at the end of April, we came up with a program called Meet Well Meet Safe.

Basically, we knew that there is a global pandemic occurring, knew it could happen again, knew about airborne illnesses, and all the other things that are symptoms of disruptions that can affect an event crowd of any size, so we wanted to put something in play that was a program that could keep attendees safe, clients safe, and protect the brand.

When you ask, what does safety mean? We want to protect our clients so that their attendees know that everything has been done to keep them safe, protected, and that everything was done to reduce liability and exposure.

JEREMY: Taking the pandemic out of it because you've been doing this for a long time before the pandemic started.

What are we talking about in terms of safety? I mean, do people get sick? Do people get hurt? Do they fall in the pool? Do they get hit with a barbecue skewer? What happens at these kinds of conferences that you're trying to mitigate against?

RENEE: Another great question. We're talking about the optics of having safety protocols, and what we typically call our emergency action plan, has now turned into a pandemic response plan. It is a blended strategy document that not only talks about you physically getting hurt, food poisoning, or a barbecue skewer hitting you in the head. Those things have now been folded into a bigger pandemic response plan.

This is about dealing with an airborne illness and being able to quarantine or be removed from the show floor. Also, what does that mean? Does that stop the show? Does that mean that the show stops temporarily, and you go through a deep clean? There are a lot of facets to a PR and communication strategy.

One of the things that we've done is we have a preplan, an on-site plan, and a post-show plan, meaning you must have different facets determined in your planning phase that you do on-site. There are quite a few differences. The way that you communicate in the pre-event communications and how you communicate on-site are messages that need to be predetermined.

We didn't do that as much before there was COVID, and now we're talking about what happens when not what happens if. This is a huge turn in our perspective with the kinds of recommendations we make to our clients.

JEREMY: Have you ever had to stop a show over a safety or health issue?

RENEE: We did once and it was very brief, but we have not stopped a show yet because of COVID. We've learned from that experience that we had to put a delay on a show because of a power issue. We didn't want anyone to get hurt from being in the dark, not being able to do the things that you normally would do like provide food & beverage, and doors locking.

That show was delayed for about an hour and thirty minutes, but that actually taught us a lot that helped us build strong policies in regard to the pandemic. One of the things that we do when we go into a show, regardless of the size, is we look at what are the opportunities to not only do that contact tracing that's happening with the pandemic but see how fast we can stop to deep clean a space.

What are those options and resources that the client is willing to spend to deep clean a space so the program can return to normal while we extract the attendee that may be ill or that has tested positive for COVID? Then, how do you continue without closing the show down completely?

JEREMY: Let's take COVID out of it for a second. Do attendees at these events feel safe or unsafe compared to how safe or unsafe you think they are?

RENEE: Prior to the pandemic, I think attendees did not think about airborne illness. They did not think about influenza. They did not think about food poisoning. They did not think about falling down an escalator. They did not think about becoming so intoxicated you became ill.

What the pandemic has done has shown light on all the different possibilities where something can go wrong. When you shine a light on what can go wrong, the strength of your event planner or your team should be orientated around your contingency planning for when something does go wrong.

We were given a lot of generic answers in our emergency action plan, and those generic answers are now gone. We must be very specific, and we have to have a plan for anything that could go wrong. How we solve that is very different today than it was two years ago.

JEREMY: You're making me tense.

[JEREMY LAUGHS]

RENEE: Sorry.

[RENEE LAUGHS]

JEREMY: This is a lot. How does Meet Well Meet Safe play into that? Again, you've been dealing with safety forever, but now it's a whole new ball game.

What are you doing now to deal with all of these new procedures that are different?

RENEE: I appreciate you asking that. I would say there is a difference now, right? Pre-pandemic, they felt safe because they just didn't think about it. They have a completely different mindset, and they're looking at the conference, the show, or the concert they're attending to tell them how they're going to be safe.

What the Meet Well Meet Safe does is extremely psychological. It's behavioral science at its finest. What it's basically doing is we’ve created a seal and communication that clients can use. This basically says that our program is following this set of very high standards, so you know that everything that we're doing as a client and everything we are asking the venue to participate in are done under the umbrella of this Meet Well Meet Safe program.

We've had national press because of this. We've had multiple stories on us simply because we're not coming at it from somewhere like Hyatt's commitment to clean or any type of a global standard from a hotel property. We're coming at it from a whole different lens. We're coming at it from the attendees’ perspective. We want attendees not just to feel good about sleeping in a hotel room that's been cleaned. We want attendees to know the minute that they board a plane or a car to go to an event, that everything is being done to keep them safe, and there's some type of standard being upheld or communicated.

Again, it's optics. It's a little bit of COVID theater. It's a little bit of safety theatre, but it's there, it's real, and it works. The sooner that you can get in front of it and make those attendees feel like you've done something on their behalf, the better. By using the pictures and selfies that show up on social media, you can advocate for your PR standards because you've got a program that allows you to come out to show to see John and Paul hugging and taking a selfie in front of the step and read.

There's a Meet Well Meet Safe program in play, and there are so many standards that have been put in place that you're able to capitalize on whether it's with vaccinations, testing, medical rooms, or screenings.

JEREMY: What I think is so brilliant about this is that, before COVID, you're saying people thought they were safer than they were. They're not thinking about all the different mishaps that might befall them. Post-COVID, people might be safer than they think. If you can show them that we have this protocol, it'll make them feel as safe as they think they are which is what will allow these events to happen. That's incredible.

RENEE: A hundred percent. The other thing that Meet Well Meet Safe does is regard the optics. This insurance policy of event safety is regarding vaccination status, sharing vaccination status, or overall health. By a client being able to provide event standards and being upfront in the beginning, it takes a little bit of the sting of wherever you might be in this whole concept about COVID.

If you get in front of it, do it properly, have standards, have this program, and use some of our preset communications, people that might not be in full agreement with you can have a lot more understanding. Also, when they do decline to attend your event, they're not so angry because you were so upfront with what your program standards were.

JEREMY: Yeah, you're absolutely right and it is amazing, right? It's true with everything. If you communicate upfront about what your intentions are with why and what you're doing, you save yourself so much hassle later.

RENEE: One of the big things that we've been doing, Jeremy, is we have been asking our clients to consider putting a health and wellness room on their sites. That is not just there for testing.

Everyone thinks it's just there so that they can do their return-to-market testing. They can get a rapid test and know that they're okay to go home. Yes, that's one facet of it, but that's actually not why it's there. It's a wellness room. For any reason that you feel ill, you can make sure that your cold is not COVID.

The reasons could be endless, but the fact is that you have a solution that's provided by the client.

We're getting a measurable amount of positive feedback from people that put this safety and wellness room on their sites because the room just makes people feel safe, and they have a resource.

They have a place to go if anything doesn't seem right, and I think this is going to stay. In the foreseeable future, even when the global pandemic ends, I foresee us talking about health and safety just like having a security guard to guard equipment or the entrances & exits to doors.

I think you're going to have a production assistant or an EMT on-site simply to be there to help your team.

JEREMY: Adding that safety and wellness room is a great tip for people in terms of how to make their events safer. I'm curious if you have any other tips.

RENEE: Planet is a full-service meeting and logistics agency. One of the great things that we can also offer clients is a product where they can register their attendees. They can let us know if they've been vaccinated and upload a vaccine card. They can tell us that they're not vaccinated and upload the result of a test.

We can send a rapid test and then have them upload those results. We have so many different options for how to successfully get someone to an event that's in that preplanning & pre-communication stage. We love to offer that to people on-site.

The wellness room is huge. One of our other tips is to get rid of SRO so there are no more standing rooms in banquets and general sessions. Everyone has a seat, an area, and an option to mask up. We just try to keep doors and exits clean and clear. It just seems to make sense when you look at it.

The other tip that I would say that we're doing is we're talking to clients more about high protein & healthier menus. One of the things that we all know is when you travel, you don't always eat the best. You don't have the opportunity to exercise like you might in your home market, but I think that it’s the client’s responsibility to offer healthy menu choices to their attendees.

It's a preventative possibly to avoid getting ill, cold, sick, or catching the flu besides COVID on the show floor. I think that's an important thing to keep in mind when looking at the whole picture. It’s that whole perspective of an event’s health across the board.

JEREMY: Those are great tips, anything that can make the event healthier and increase people's wellness. I love it. When events have a yoga room, a meditation, or a stretching before the event, I know a lot of people don't necessarily do it, but for those who do want to do it, I think it can make a big difference towards your overall wellness.

RENEE: Yes, or even just offering the ability for some outdoor activity to get some additional fresh air at some point through the conference convention.

The other thing that we just try to take into consideration too, is talking to a hotel about the last time they shampooed the carpet, changed the filters on their air vent, or what is their air system doing.

JEREMY: Those are probably things people never even think of or don't even know that you're doing this behind the scenes, but it'll make a big difference before.

RENEE: Absolutely.

JEREMY: About the other side of it, are there any mistakes that you see people making that you just think that's a trap, there is an easy way out, or it's cost-effective but it's not safe? Anything like that?

RENEE: I don't know that I would call it a mistake. I would maybe call this more human nature. We have a wonderful client that was adamant. Even when you were drinking or eating, you would just lower your mask when you were eating or drinking. You would put your mask back on regardless of what the mask mandate in the city we were in had.

Everything was great and wonderful until the president of North America decided that she didn't want to wear her mask anymore because she wanted to network and wanted to drink. She was like, this is the first time I've seen my colleagues and my clients, and this is amazing. What happens when she removes her mask? Her direct reporters removed their masks, and everyone started to remove their masks. The mask mandate goes out the window and then you get a compliance or a legal person on site that comes up to us and says, “We have a mask mandate.”

That was true but your leadership decided not to abide by your mask mandate. Now the change that we've made is what we had in an agreement with our clients so that we understand the level of enforcement when they decide what restrictions are in play. This might not necessarily be that of the venue, the city, state, and governance that they're in.

This made it so that we're all on the same page. In the event that we go up to that senior leader and say we have a mask mandate, we can say we've agreed upon this already. What do you want to do?

JEREMY: That makes so much sense. It's always behavior from the top down, for sure. You mentioned that the wellness rooms are very likely to stick around even post-pandemic.

Are there other things that you think are happening that we're doing because of the pandemic that is going to continue?

RENEE: I think that's a big one. I think wellness activities like outdoor activities will continue. I think the healthy menus will continue. I know for us there will be things that we will do with hand sanitizer stations, even at registration, too.

I know that we are going to do everything in our power to not have the masses hit registration at the same time. To try and do some staggering type things with it, as well. I see those conversations continuing, probably not to the tightness that they are today, but continuing because people are going to have too many questions if you don't have an answer to the problems of events safety.

JEREMY: I love this because everybody's talking about when we come back, we're not coming back to where we were. We're coming back to somewhere different. On this podcast, I feel like I've talked to several people that have just made me feel that when we come back, we'll be coming back better.

All these things you're talking about are improvements that we never would have done without the pandemic. I'm not saying that makes a pandemic a good thing, but when we come back, it's going to be better. I think that's exciting.

RENEE: I agree with you. We have said in the past, it's unfortunate in many ways that we had to come up with Meet Well Meet Safe to meet the requirements of a global pandemic. Then you take a step back and notice that we just probably made our client's brand stronger. We made their attendees more loyal. We made people feel safe. How is that a bad thing?

JEREMY: Yeah, I agree. I'd love to move on to the Lightning Round. Are you up for three quick lightning questions?

RENEE: Let’s do it!

JEREMY: Great. The first one is who's your biggest get? A speaker, entertainer, or subject matter expert that you would either love to see at a live event or someone who you would love to coach.

RENEE: Ooh, I love this question. I'd like to mention the event. We were able to do a corporate sponsorship for the U.S. Open in San Diego this summer. We were able to apply Meet Well Meet Safe, along with doing basic event support. It was really fun to do a Marquee golf event that the world was watching.

JEREMY: Nice. Was there a particular celebrity or anything or was it just the event itself?

RENEE: Just the event itself.

JEREMY: Alright second question, what is one thing you wish presenters did more of or less of?

RENEE: That is a great question too. I think presenters are always the best when they're humble, funny, and human. One of the things that I think that I'm over, as an event planner that's been around for a long time, is you wouldn't be asked to be a presenter if you weren't an expert in your field, industry, or the topic. You wouldn't even be asked to be on the stage if that wasn't the case. It's okay to talk about mistakes. It's okay to talk about failures. It's okay to talk about growth.

JEREMY: That's great. I love it. I love your three words if you change funny to humor. You've got a humble human. I'm going to make a Post-it sticker.

RENEE: There it is.

JEREMY: That's great advice. Last question, what is something, could be a book, a movie, a song, whatever you like, that was a big influence on you and particularly, if possible, influenced your professional career?

RENEE: I might flip this a little bit on you. I will tell you that when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a Radio City Rockettes. I was only five foot three, so I couldn't be a rocket.

BETHANY: This is behind the scenes Bethany breaking in with a fact-check. The Rockettes range in height from 5’6” to 5’10.5,” so sadly, Renee will never be a Rockette.

RENEE: I think that's part of the reason why I'm an event planner today. It's all about precision. I feel like events are all about precision and you only have one chance. I think that is the reason why, when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a Rockette.

I think that's why, in my adult phase, I still want to be a meeting and event planner. I love precision, the team, and the group. I think that's probably the biggest influence on me.

JEREMY: That's a great answer. The pressure of having one chance really is you must get it right. There are no previews. This is it.

RENEE: There's not a do-over button.

JEREMY: No do-over button at all. This has been delightful and very informative. That feeling that we're going to be safer is really meaningful and really inspiring as things start to open up and come back.

Thank you for giving me that warm feeling of hope. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.

RENEE: It was great to visit with you and always love talking with you, Jeremy.

JEREMY: Well, that was so great, getting to talk with Renee about how to make corporate live events safer. For me, there were four top takeaways, and these are the four tops.

                   • Number four, you need to have a pre-meeting on-site, post-meeting communications plan, and outline contingency plans for things that can go wrong.

                   • Number three, make sure your event has a health and safety procedure.

                   • Number two attendees need clear signs at every step of the event to demonstrate that they are safe. It even helps to smooth over political differences.

                   • Number one, it's not just about safety. It's also about health and wellness. When we come back from the pandemic, new safety procedures will be in place that                         will make everyone not just safer but also about health and wellness.

Look, I could talk about this stuff all day. If you want to talk to us about today's topic or anything about live events, check out our episode notes for more information or just go to proscenium.com to drop us a line. Send us a guest suggestion or tell us why you would make a good guest. We would love to hear from you because at Proscenium, we help presenters do their best in front of their most important audiences. As we like to say, we help brands perform. I have a sneaking suspicion that we can help your brand perform.