Members of the SA Events Council share why we cannot let our guard down on health and safety protocols.
Few industries suffered under the ongoing South African Covid-19 lockdown to the same extent as the beleaguered events and exhibitions industries. Finally, after 20 long months, we have arrived at Alert Level 1 where capacities have been relaxed to accommodate 750 people indoor and 2 000 outdoors, spectators are being allowed into sporting events and pilot projects for larger capacities are in the planning stages.
The industry and its diverse supply chain of organisers, production teams, entertainers and speakers, venues, technical production and accommodation partners, finally have the opportunity to resume work, albeit on a reduced scale. The excitement is palpable as planning starts to resume and stakeholders discuss what 2022 might hold for events.
However, the lockdown has been in place for so long, we must ensure that the focus on safety awareness is not diluted in the wave of excitement, that Covid-fatigue has set in and as tired as we are of hearing what we should, or shouldn’t, be done. If we do not stand together as an industry, remain vigilant, vaccinate and help each other; we run the risk of suffering a major setback by damaging client and attendee confidence or worse still, inadvertently causing a spreader event.
Creating confidence
Across the board, our clients want to feel secure when mounting an event. Ellen Oosthuizen, chairperson of the Professional Conference Organisers Alliance, highlighted this new trend surfacing amongst corporate clients.
Meanwhile, the exhibition industry is prepped and ready for lift-off but is awaiting the go-ahead from the government.
Justin Van Wyk, CEO of Big Concerts, deals with much larger live entertainment events and has been working closely with Business4SA to make vaccinations easily accessible to all.
“Our clients trust us to implement, and comply with, all appropriate and reasonable safety measures recommended by any relevant government or competent authority (relating to Covid-19) in connection with our respective obligations to safeguard the health, safety, and well-being of all attendees, personnel, representatives, and invitees,” he says.
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