{"id":136058,"date":"2021-07-23T11:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T10:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=136058"},"modified":"2021-07-23T11:27:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T10:27:00","slug":"in-the-event-of-an-emergency-communicating-a-summer-of-live-events-webinar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/in-the-event-of-an-emergency-communicating-a-summer-of-live-events-webinar\/","title":{"rendered":"In the event of an emergency \u2013 communicating a summer of live events webinar"},"content":{"rendered":"

For our latest webinar we spoke to the people behind the planning as we ready for the return of in-person events. Sharing the big challenges from the last year were Cheltenham Festival\u2019s PR and communications manager Bairbre Lloyd and ME Travel founder Hannah Mursal, who have successfully battled through cancellations, changing restrictions and internationally-inconsistent rules on travel and event attendance<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part of the relaxation of social-distancing rules in the UK is the uncertainty over what is to come over the next few months. Read on for practical advice on how to prepare for every eventuality regarding events.<\/p>\n

Challenges of the last 18 months<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018It\u2019s been tricky!\u2019 said Hannah. Looking after every element of booking for ME Travel\u2019s entertainment clients, their bands and their crew has required increased flexibility as well as patience.<\/p>\n

\u2018In the UK and across Europe, it\u2019s been quiet \u2013 people have been doing music videos and virtual performances instead of touring. In the US, it\u2019s been more focused on domestic travel. They haven\u2019t really stopped; people were still travelling to do gigs. We\u2019re looking at the bulk of events coming back in September. It\u2019s been a waiting game to book tours in and find new venue dates.<\/p>\n

\u2018Restrictions are changing constantly, but it all depends on who\u2019s going where. I\u2019ve got Jamaican artists, but their crews are American, English, German. There are times where you could only get half of the crew there.
\n\u2018You have to know what every country is allowing in. Do they need forms, vaccination \u2013 you can\u2019t really book in advance, either. You can\u2019t book today to fly next week, because it will change by mid-week.\u2019<\/p>\n

Plus points of the pandemic (there have been a few)<\/span><\/strong>
\nFor Bairbre, juggling different priorities has brought positives as well as challenges.<\/p>\n

\u2018When you\u2019re a location putting on a festival, you can make your own decisions but you have to think about the audience if you want people to come.<\/p>\n

\u2018Some of our speakers were delighted to get out of where they were, and others were\u2026 not so keen. What it has opened up to us is the idea of dialling in. Our Literature Festival was a hybrid of a socially-distanced audience and streaming online. There were people on stage while guests from the US were able to join digitally. That will have repercussions in the future – when this all finally lifts. It\u2019s another string to our bow. It worked for us.<\/p>\n

\u2018Like a lot of our fellow cultural organisations found, there was a huge appetite for us to provide support for the community. Our Science Festival was a godsend to lots of parents schooling from home. Our audience has increased enormously and that\u2019s something we want to develop.<\/p>\n

\u2018It has been difficult, but it\u2019s jump-started our digital ambitions. We had to do all of this in five weeks \u2013 it would otherwise have probably taken us about five years.\u2019<\/p>\n

Lessons learned<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018We were making decisions as late as possible to have maximum flexibility – we were on tenterhooks waiting for the go-head for things,\u2019 said Bairbre.<\/p>\n

\u2018While we brought in lots of technology, there wasn\u2019t really time to test it. We could have done with more user experience for next time. It worked, but it was hairy.\u2019<\/p>\n

For Hannah, the importance of communication and relationships has been a main takeaway:
\n\u2018We were all in it together, we became a family – I know how my clients\u2019 mums are doing, their dads. It was panic stations in the beginning, so it was good to keep that communication going. In terms of hotels, the entertainment reps were the first to lose their jobs. My contacts all got made redundant. It was important to keep in the loop of what everyone was doing.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was useful to know when someone was in the studio recording \u2013 it tells me when things lift, they have an album to tour. Building these relationships lets me know when are going back to work.\u2019<\/p>\n

Contingency plans<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018We\u2019re planning for a full capacity without social distancing for our next Literature Festival in October \u2013 we made that call fairly early on,\u2019 shared Bairbre.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think if restrictions are put back in place, however, we will go back to what we\u2019ve done before. This will be the eighth festival we\u2019ve done in lockdown – we can bring in distancing and Covid-secure measures. Our senior management team will be in HQ cooking up plans. We were lucky last year because we slipped in between lockdowns. And I think we were the first literary festival to do a hybrid version.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Not to sound complacent, but I\u2019ve done so many cancellation announcements that we have our contingency plan for if it\u2019s needed. If you\u2019ve got a plan written and ready to go, you roll that out; you know that it works. Having those comms ready to run, is the key for me.<\/p>\n

\u2018People are still going to be a bit insecure with events. One of the things we were conscious of were that some people were going to be really gung-ho and ready to come out, some would be more cautious. You need to be really clear with everybody with how you\u2019re managing your event. If the audience knows what to expert \u2013 that they\u2019ve got to sit in bubbles, wash their hands, have e-tickets and wear masks \u2013 they will accept it. It\u2019s the not-knowing that makes people angry.\u2019<\/p>\n

Practical tips for planning events during COVID-19<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018Have your communications plan ready in advance,\u2019 advises Bairbre.<\/p>\n

\u2018We went through looking at scenarios, what negative reactions we could potentially have to safety onsite. We thought about all the things that could be picked up on and made sure we were proactive with our safety measures. And with sending comms out, make sure your stakeholders are onboard and informed – artists, staff and suppliers.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Insurance has been huge in my world,\u2019 Hannah added. \u2018It\u2019s hard to get event insurance that covers COVID now. Make sure you\u2019re covered with your suppliers.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Be prepared; have that contingency plan. The rug may be pulled from under you at any moment.\u2019<\/p>\n

For more trends to prepare for when it comes to getting back outside, download our white paper PR & Media Travel Trends 2021<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For our latest webinar we spoke to the people behind the planning as we ready for the return of in-person events. Sharing the big challenges from the last year were Cheltenham Festival\u2019s PR and communications …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":136059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3636,3725,7260],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136058"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136068,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136058\/revisions\/136068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}