Significant doubts are weighing on the event industry and on the recovery in September.

Currently, it is impossible to reschedule activities with certainty when decrees are issued one after another, postponing dates announced just weeks earlier.

Bertrand Briard (LEVENEMENT) was a guest on BFM BUSINESS’s HEURE H and summarized the situation very well.

Uncertainty, vagueness, … but also a wake-up call: an event organized and supervised by professionals is safe.
Health protocols have been validated and integrated, professionals are ready…

Germany chose in June to distinguish between mass events and professional events such as trade shows.

(source: https://www.exhibitionworld.co.uk/germany-separates-exhibitions-from-mass-gatherings?amp)

On the other hand, all barometers and surveys indicate that visitors and exhibitors are also ready to return to trade shows:

92% of exhibitors wish to participate in a trade show in France in 2021. The desire to exhibit and generate revenue outweighs the fear of COVID-19 measured in 2020.

On June 5, exhibitors stated that nearly 60% of the trade shows they wished to attend are maintained or postponed to the current year.

Source: Leads survey conducted among 2,500 exhibitors from May 25 to June 15.

What are we waiting for?

Let’s be courageous and commit to recovery… safely!

To watch the full interview:

https://bfmbusiness.bfmtv.com/mediaplayer/video/bertrand-biard-levenement-comment-se-porte-le-secteur-evenementiel-cet-ete-2307-1264904.html

It cannot be said often enough… The time has come for communication, for taking a stand, and for returning to structured, professional meetings.

If you missed our previous article: “Communicate in times of crisis… Otherwise, when?”

However,

• there are still many sceptics
• many have cut their communications budget;
• And finally, there are those who do not have the time and will address their marketing & communication issues later.

Be bold and make the most of it!

That is the entire message Patrice Bégay, Executive Director at BPI France, seeks to convey in his op-ed for Union des Marques: “No economic recovery without a recovery in communication.”

He sees the drop in communications budgets as “an opportunity to launch an offensive, secure market share for the long term and begin laying the foundations for the future recovery.”

“The recovery will benefit first and foremost those who invest and, above all, show boldness,[…].
Communicating now is a great opportunity to reaffirm loud and clear, by every means, each of our identities and the contribution each advertiser is capable of making at this specific stage that is “the beginning of an after”.
When there is a dip, there is room to be taken, and it is the boldest who make the most of it. ”
read more…

In short, communicate starting today, commit now to your event projects to gain ground and ensure the rebound!

For several weeks, the Prologue Team has been conducting research to understand the situation and its evolution through the lens of events and public space reception.

One aspect of this work has led us to identify solutions designed to ensure the safety and reassurance of everyone in public spaces.

The WelcomeGate

Designed and manufactured by a French company, the WelcomeGate is a sanitary device intended for public reception, whether at the entrance to stores, shopping centers, or trade shows & fairs.

Electronic wristband or device for maintaining distance

Called Romware Covid Radius, the Belgian company Rombit has developed an electronic wristband that vibrates and beeps when social distances are not respected. It is currently being tested at the Port of Antwerp.

Based on the same principle as the Belgian wristband, the French start-up Ubudu has created a “social distancing assistant” – the Ubudu Social Distancing Assistant (SDA) – in the form of a small device that vibrates if two people are too close.

Both innovations also enable contact tracing if a case is detected.

Space disinfection

An alliance between several French companies has created a robot for disinfecting air and surfaces capable of moving autonomously.

“A collaborative project conducted between Tarn and Gard. This robot will meet the needs for sanitizing medical, professional, or public-facing premises. By design, the proposed solution ensures surface disinfection (floors, walls, equipment, furniture) and ambient air for the safety of people in hospitals, at industrial sites, in commercial premises and offices.” according to actu.fr

Another French innovation in the field of disinfection, the UV scanner from the company Bio-UV. A device equipped with two UV-C lamps that disinfects a space without using chemicals. Time savings and environmental advancement according to the president-founder of Bio-UV.

Antiviral coating

Innovations in antibacterial/antiviral coatings are multiplying, making the use of small objects much less restrictive and avoiding the use of disposable items.

MAP-1 coating: one spray for 90 days of effectiveness

Developed by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the MAP-1 coating helps fight bacteria and viruses.
It consists of millions of disinfectant nanocapsules, which activate and release disinfectant upon contact in response to heat.

to learn more: 20minutes article or futurascience

You will also find a large number of everyday objects treated with antibacterial/antiviral coatings (be careful with antibacterial alone, which has not proven effective against coronavirus!) as well as effective and affordable systems such as the use of antibacterial/antimicrobial adhesive.

Masks

And if, like us, you find it complicated to have a conversation while masked…

To avoid awkwardness when faced with a questionable joke, here is a mask that replicates mouth movements using LEDs…

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEwyzHFwqp/?igshid=12bbjpxcfofh8

Combine the useful with… the essential?

We also found on Nicolas Olive‘s blog, strategic and creative designer: the Madge ©, a combination of a mask and a badge…
since you have to wear a mask anyway, why not go the ecological route and abandon our polluting plastic badges!

Sources:

https://welcomegate.fr/https://www.myeventnetwork.com/newsroom/news/welcome-gate-un-espace-nouveau-qui-participe-la-reassurance

https://rombit.be/le-bracelet-electronique-pour-endiguer-la-propagation-du-covid-19/https://www.ubudu.com/fr/un-assistant-de-distanciation-sociale-pour-aider-les-entreprises-a-securiser-le-lieu-de-travail-pendant-lepidemie-covid-19/

https://actu.fr/occitanie/nimes_30189/innovation-deconfinement-robot-desinfection-made-in-occitanie_33484626.html

https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/un-scanner-uv-contre-le-covid-19-07-05-2020-8312376.php

https://www.20minutes.fr/high-tech/2771659-20200502-un-revetement-miracle-pourrait-proteger-du-coronavirus-pendant-90-jours

https://www.futura-sciences.com/sante/breves/medecine-coronavirus-desinfectant-protege-surfaces-pendant-3-mois-2482/

Weezevent, a major player in the events industry, commissioned IFOP to conduct a study entitled: The French and the resumption of leisure activities following COVID-19.

This study was conducted with a representative sample of 1,017 individuals in May and published in early June.
It highlights how “the French envision engaging in leisure activities and attending events at the time of the lifting of lockdown restrictions”.

Some figures caught our attention:

• 90% of French people have taken part in an event-based leisure activity over the past 3 years, and 41% of them attend trade shows & fairs
• 100% of respondents plan to resume their activities again, sooner or later
• 1 in 5 French people is willing to pay to attend a digital version of an event
  • but specifically regarding trade shows & fairs, 91% of respondents would refuse to pay to attend a digital version of a trade show

These figures are very reassuring for the future of the events industry. At a time when we are talking a great deal about the digitalization of events, these figures show the desire and interest of the French for “in-person” events.

Another figure worth noting:

• 53% of the French people surveyed “rank the health measures taken by organizers among the 2 most important criteria for attending again”.

In other words, if organizers manage to reassure their audience by communicating about all the health measures put in place, the public will return.

At Prologue, we welcome Weezevent‘s initiative: this very interesting study comes at just the right time and provides us with many key insights for the recovery.
We can clearly see the French people’s desire to return to events, their desire to enjoy an experience other than a digital one.
However, this will not happen under just any conditions: in other words, events professionals must define new post-COVID reception measures in order to reassure their audience.

But events industry stakeholders are ready!

Like GL-EVENTS, which published its “health guidelines” and sets out all the measures and resources implemented across all of its event venues worldwide.

Health guidelines – GL events

Sources:

https://www.ifop.com/publication/les-francais-et-les-activites-de-divertissement-evenementiel-post-confinement/

https://weezevent.com/fr/

https://www.gl-events.com/sites/default/files/CORONAVIRUS/Guide%20communication%20-%20R%C3%A9f%C3%A9rentiel%20Sanitaire%20Manifestations%20Accueillies%20-%20GL%20events%20Venues%20-%20Juin%202020.pdf

In times of crisis, the first budgets to be affected are communications budgets.
Who would have bet that our TV channels would suffer from the crisis when audiences have never been as high as during lockdown?

Does that seem crazy to you? Not so much…

In reality, two views clash:

• On the one hand, there are those who believe that communicating in times of crisis is—or will appear to their customers or employees to be—… indecent.
  As the short-term profitability of their campaigns or events is not obvious, the communications budget will become the post-COVID economic adjustment variable.
• And those who believe we should ‘take advantage’ of this crisis to engage and communicate differently, and be closer to their customers.

Communicating in times of crisis means continuing to build your presence, showing that you are (still) here.

The post-COVID world will never be the same again. You must prove that you prepared for it, and that you were able to adapt and adapt your offering.

It also means working on your brand image and being able to align yourself with positive values, showing empathy and kindness.
Building a brand takes years. In times of crisis, creating meaning, building connections, and creating a purpose becomes much more straightforward.

It is an opportunity to embody the brand’s stated values and send the right signals.

Ultimately, the question is not “should we communicate?”… but “what should we communicate?”

Would you like a few ideas? KissTheBride has compiled many examples of statements from major brands on social media (read here)

SOURCES:

https://www.ladn.eu/entreprises-innovantes/la-communication-des-marques-a-t-elle-du-sens-en-periode-de-crise/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/quelle-strat%C3%A9gie-de-marketing-et-communication-mettre-de-koninck/

https://theconversation.com/covid-19-la-relation-client-le-grand-defi-des-marques-135827