Event Industry and COVID-19!
The effect of COVID-19 on event industry.
An Insiders point of view.
by Girish Tirthwani
Recently the world has experienced a severe virus called COVID-19, which has affected millions of lives already, bringing a lot of businesses and industries to a stand-still, causing disruptions to our daily lives, on how we engage, socialize and even our buying behavior. International stock markets have crashed, multi-national businesses have filed for bankruptcy and situations have gone out of control for many major key players in various industries who have already seen a massive set-back, but the worst hit industry is the one where we bring people together, its our Events Industry!
Those of you familiar with our industry know how creative, influencing, engaging and innovative it is, but behind every successful event, there are many sleepless nights, countless hours of hard work and emotions by talented event professionals, managers & crew who are always behind the scenes making things happen. They put up a great show, but never take any credits. They simply embrace their passion & love for events, but the sad reality is that they often go unnoticed, and so has our industry during these times of global pandemic.
One of the reasons, why our industry is very important for the economy is due to the fact that we bring together a lot of other industries and resources together and without our existence the demand for a lot of products and services would fall. An event usually comprises of multiple vendors like Staging, Decor, Audio-Visual, Entertainment, Photography, Furniture, Fabrication, Design & Print, Content Creation, Logistics, Technical team, Operations Crew, Emcees, Hostesses, Temporary Staff, Valet, Security, Service staff, Cleaners and much more. Without real events, all these industries & professionals will be out of sync, out of jobs.
The crises has taught us not only to adapt new changes, but also to continue innovation. Although, everyone is racing thru these times, to develop innovative solutions like Online & Virtual Events to fulfill the needs of our clients, to create new opportunities and to revive the industry, the real question is whether will it be the same like before? Will virtual events take over physical events? How will the operators, technicians & work-force who are the backbone of any live show adapt the new normal? Will they have to change their professions or be forced to take new challenges?
To be honest, the industry experts don’t know the answers. However, we all our doing our parts, learning new skills, broadening our horizons, adapting the change to sustain this time and evolve much stronger. Face-to-face events cannot be forgotten, as the interaction and human experience play a very important role for event success and will return sooner or later.