A Reality Check for the Global Business Events Sector from Martin Sirk

Martin Sirk is International Advisor for Iceberg partner GAH (Global Association Hubs). In a sharp reality check for the business events sector, he warns that successful reopening relies on a much wider containment of the pandemic than the industry on its own can ever achieve.

The economy and health are not zero-sum trade-offs or parallel-track policy areas. The former can only re-emerge and evolve into a new kind of normal if the pandemic is under control and if there are close to zero new daily cases in that country or region.

Venue and organiser health safety protocols are necessary but insufficient conditions for successful reopening. A super-spreader incident in a market, factory or bar can easily close down the whole city, with no regard or reference to our well-protected, well-behaved delegates in the local convention centre.

A country which has virtually reached zero daily cases, has an effective Test/Trace/Isolate system, and is able to swiftly stomp on small new outbreaks can only be successful in hosting international meetings if the delegate- and exhibitor-source countries are in the same boat. Strong national policy is necessary but insufficient: helping neighbours get to the same safe status isn’t altruistic, it should actually be seen as hard-nosed self-interest.

Face-masks aren’t political. They’re essential for dramatically reducing the number of cases in countries where the number of daily cases remains in the high-hundreds or thousands, so that Test/Trace/Isolate can be successfully implemented with manageable numbers. If you’re trying to reopen business events, you should be lobbying and advocating for face-masks and T/T/I.

Fear isn’t actually related to the venue or attending the event itself. It’s the taxi ride, the airport check-in, the stag party getting one more round of beers in before boarding via the next gate, the reduced-frequency-so-still-full plane, the local Uber, hotel cleaners, the crowded bar, etc, etc. Fear isn’t felt for yourself (most delegates are frequent travellers, hardy and resilient) but for your pregnant wife or post-op husband, your elderly relatives, your best friend who suffers from diabetes, none of whom have any connection with business events whatsoever. Overall confidence in the host country’s health status absolutely trumps event-specific risk.

There is no “magic ratchet”. Reopening does not preclude the very real possibility of reclosing. The pandemic isn’t over until it’s over, but getting a country down close to zero is demonstrably feasible. But it’s going to take a huge amount of ongoing work to keep cities and countries and regional groupings of countries safe once the initial hard work has been done, and most of the critical action will take place outside the business events bubble. Industry advocates have to start supporting general elimination and containment policies, since these will determine how successful any business events sector reopening will be.

It’s great that the UK now has a target date for reopening, and that countries which have been successful in their elimination strategies are already running live business events for domestic delegates (China, Czech Republic, etc). But we need to act with our eyes wide open, and to support every effort to get to zero, in every country that is involved in our globally connected business.

Martin Sirk, International Adviser, Iceberg partner Global Associations Hubs

Further reading from Martin Sirk:

We need great data, with objective country and city comparisons.

Coronavirus Tracked – The Latest Figures as Countries Reopen (Financial Times article)

Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) (Our World in Data Statistics and Research)

We need to really understand the policy options: why successful countries have been so successful, and why others are struggling.

Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance (Medium article)

(The above written in March 2020 and still brilliant today, which isn’t the case with much of what has been written about the pandemic!)

A Multi-Disciplinary Effort to Eliminate COVID-19 (EndCoronavirus.org compilation)

(The above not only great analysis, but a commitment to action, with masses of practical advice.)

And we need to continue communicating the huge positive societal and economic value of the business events sector, of course!

The JMIC Global Manifesto: Speaking with One Voice (Iceberg video)