I’ve worked the event planning side of Executive Speakers Bureau for 21 years now, starting as an Event Coordinator and now serving as the Director of Global Events, and I’ve never seen our industry pivot so rapidly as it has in the past year and a half. With the events industry, there is always a slow and steady undercurrent of change pushing things along. We’ve seen speakers try new presentation techniques and clients shift event themes to follow overarching trends, but these changes happen gradually giving everyone in the industry time to adapt. 

When the pandemic hit things went into hyperspeed. Our industry had to completely transform overnight and it hasn’t slowed down. This pandemic has made a lot of aspects of an event planner's job much more difficult, but it has also sparked some truly incredible innovations. 

We’ve seen the event space fully move into the virtual realm. First Zoom took us by storm and we all adjusted to video conferencing. Now it’s progressed into complete virtual conferences with exciting new platforms where the attendees can walk in the front door of a mega venue, check the schedule board, find a seat next to their friend in the conference hall, and then move into a smaller, more intimate breakout session room...all from their laptops. The technology that has been created to support the events industry has opened up so many possibilities for the future. 

With all this change — good and bad — I’ve picked up some new methods for staying on top of the events I oversee, the latest procedures to help mitigate COVID-19, and my client’s specific needs. Here are four tips to help you, as an event coordinator, navigate this next phase of the pandemic. 

Be flexible with clients and rigid with procedures. 

With the latest COVID-19 information changing daily the only way to cope is to be incredibly flexible. Clients are in a very difficult spot. A significant number of my events this year are postponed events from 2020. These organizations are dying to get their people together, to share empowering knowledge, and to return to the company culture they once knew but are still facing much uncertainty as they move towards live events.

With rules and regulations changing by the day, it becomes our challenge as event coordinators to keep the show going and help our clients shift their events to fit whatever new stage we find ourselves in on the day of their event. We need to stay flexible and mold their event to whatever works best for their attendees. 

However, this flexibility is only made possible by creating a checklist of procedures by which to live. In any event — whether it is in person, virtual, or a hybrid of the two — it is imperative to have a customized set of logistical questions needed to make each event, whether in person or virtual seamless.

Through a few months of working through emerging event logistics, we realized what goes into each type of event and we are now able to shift between the event formats without a hiccup. For example, after an event where we had non-compatible tech issues, we realized virtual events will require a briefing call to discuss systems, roles, PPT transitions, and internet quality. Knowing what platform works best for your client in each scenario and being prepared with every event to enact whichever is most seamless is an ongoing challenge. 

When in doubt, make a hybrid. 

In the past year and a half, I’ve worked with clients whose feelings about COVID-19 have drastically varied. Not only do feelings about COVID-19 fluctuate, but also the spread of COVID-19 and the regulations have varied by region. I often hear clients saying they want to reach everyone in their organization within their comfort zone — those who desperately want to be together in person and those who are worried and would rather stay home. 

As we move into a stage of the pandemic where vaccinations are increasing, yet a new strain is spreading, each client is a mixed bag of wants and needs. We have found one way to handle situations like these is creating a hybrid event where an in-person conference is taking place, but a virtual option is used simultaneously for people who would rather participate from the safety of their home. 

These hybrid events have played a crucial role in the reopening of our economy and have allowed many of our clients to feel they are returning to some sort of normalcy. However wonderful hybrid, pre-records or virtual events may be, there are a few points to note for event coordinators navigating these types of events. 

In my experience, these events can be a product of the latest COVID-19 news which means they are largely pulled together without much notice. This can be stressful for everyone involved, so it’s incredibly important to lean on the procedures that have been put in place to ensure every detail is addressed. Run through your checklist to make sure everything is in place. Is your speaker’s flight booked? Does your client have an AV setup that can translate to a virtual video? It may feel like you’re doing double the work and hosting two separate events, but if you prepare for every outcome from the start you can trust in your process and create a great hybrid, virtual, or prerecorded event for everyone. 

Set expectations.

As the CDC’s regulations twist and turn, and state and federal government mandates change at the drop of a hat it is incredibly important to set expectations for the speaker and the client from the start and stay communicative throughout the entire process. 

Nothing is more jarring for a speaker or a client than to show up on the day of the event and realize everyone is on totally different pages about COVID procedures. As an event coordinator, you can help ease this tension by creating an open conversation with the client, speaker, and attendees about what is to be expected. 

Find out what the local regulations are where the event is being held. It varies in every country, state, city, and even the event venue. Once you know this, share the information with the client and speaker to make sure everyone is okay with the rules and see if they would like to suggest any other rules to make all parties more comfortable. After deciding on COVID safety procedures together, help your client communicate it out to the speaker with the caveat that they may change depending on how COVID changes. 

From there, make it a priority to stay on top of the current safety regulations for each of your events and share each update with the client and the speaker. Never leave anyone in the dark. 

In trying times, lean on customer service. 

As event coordinators, customer service has and will always be a priority to us. Now more than ever, we must remember that our industry was created to help our clients bring people together. Everything we do should be making our clients’ lives easier and when the pandemic throws a wrench in everything we, as an industry, need to be compassionate. 

Recently, I had a client who was thrilled to finally bring their team together for a conference that was supposed to have happened over a year ago. It seemed as though the pandemic was coming to an end and an in-person event would be possible. We quickly set up the event and booked the speaker with excitement and a sigh of relief that it was all coming together. 

Then, just three days before the event, the COVID variant cases were on the rise and my client had to postpone the event. However, due to the circumstances, this event did not fall under a force majeure and they were still on the hook for the venue space, the speaker, and all of the speaker's expenses they had already incurred.  

Nothing could be done to retrieve their deposit on the venue, and we were having a hard time stomaching this amount of loss for something so wildly out of the client’s control. We looked at the situation from every angle and in the end, we couldn’t let them lose money for the speaker, so we negotiated a future date for the event and speaker without any loss of investment.

Yes, we are a business, and yes, we need to make money as well, but at some point, you have to put profits aside and consider the people behind them. We all joined this industry with the intention of serving both our clients and our speakers well with optimal customer service, so when push comes to shove we wanted our clients to remember us for that and not for a giant hole in their pocket. 

With the pandemic now entering a new phase, it is astonishing to look back and see what our industry has been through and how we’ve handled it these past two years. I find myself in disbelief at how resilient we are as individuals, as a team, a company, and an industry. We’ve worked hard to create new methods for bringing people together, spreading knowledge, and giving everyone a little piece of normalcy in such a chaotic time. 

With these four tips in mind, I hope we all can continue to share our specialty with our clients and help navigate a post-pandemic world.