UK professionals are you prepared and ready to re-open your events?

With the permission given by the UK government to reopen business events, conferences, exhibitions and events centers from 1st October, here are some safety measures to consider when planning business and consumer trade events:

Contactless registration systems: Attendees should be made to pre-book and pre-register to attend events with paper handouts and gifts no longer being offered. Organisers should adopt a digital-first approach to eliminate the need for physical badges, lanyards and to reduce waiting times in order to limit contact between organisers and guests.

Crowd Density Standard: Entrance to an event or conference spaces should be staggered to reduce queuing and overall capacity should be limited to ensure social distancing can be maintained at a capacity allowing for compliance with the social distancing of 2m, or 1m with mitigation (approximately equivalent to a density of 10㎡ per person).

Socially distanced seating: Assigning appropriately distanced seating where events have a seated element and encourage seated events.

Enhanced Cleaning Procedures: Encouraging attendees to use hand washing and sanitising facilities at frequent intervals and holding meetings outdoors or in well-ventilated rooms whenever possible to reduce the risk of transmission by touching surfaces. Ensuring that meeting rooms are cleaned thoroughly between users and frequent touch-points such as door handles and surfaces are continuously kept clean throughout the event.

Controlled flow during an event: Introducing one-way systems and timed tickets to control flow and alleviate congestion.

Providing floor signages: Floor markings to remind both workers and attendees to follow social distancing wherever possible.