EDITOR’S COMMENT

Trust us – we are ready!

The world has changed so much over the last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic; and yet there is still a desperate need for face-to-face engagement.

I am ready! This is a sentiment I feel strongly about. I am ready to go to meetings, I’m ready to share knowledge, I’m ready to network again with industry colleagues. I’m just ready!

I almost feel like I’ve been in a state of hibernation and am now waking up to this new world of opportunities.

For the first time in a long time, I feel like things are returning to some semblance of normality. I have been to more face-to-face meetings in one month than I have over a year.

It has been wonderful to reconnect and yes, the fear of the unknown, including the invisible virus, is still there; but I have switched my own mindset. It has been wonderful to see industry colleagues in person after a year of being separated.

Let’s get going. The venues want to welcome you back, the organisers want to get back on site and the suppliers are ready. We all want to get back to the business of doing business.

It is time!

Fear, for me, is the lack of trust. Our sector has always been ahead in health and safety and ensuring safe environments for delegates to enjoy a conference, an event, an exhibition or incentive programme.

The SA Events Council has launched the #TRUSTUS campaign, as the events industry has been crippled by the pandemic globally. In South Africa, where very few businesses have received any support, it is critical to get the industry operational again.

Messages about ‘events as superspreaders’ and ‘gatherings are dangerous’, have eroded confidence amongst our own practitioners, our clients and our audiences. If we are ever to safely resume, we need to build trust in the ability of the event industry to present solutions and resume safely.

The #TRUSTUS campaign has the aim of dispelling the negative messaging around events that will leave a legacy of misapprehension and mistrust that could damage our sector, even after Covid has died away.

The aim is to rebuild confidence in the professionalism and capabilities of the events industry among our clients, audiences and our own industry.

This campaign is spot-on and will hopefully get the traction required to persuade government to reconsider its current number restrictions (100 indoors and 250 outdoors), which prohibit our sector from opening fully.

We have a long way to go and – like it or not – hybrid is here to stay. Hybrid means a combination of in-person events with a virtual component, so delegates have the choice of how they attend.

During this month I have attended several webinars and hybrid conferences. What is clear from the various discussions is that our industry is very ready to resume and welcome delegates back.

As a destination, we have several challenges; the slow vaccine rollout is a major concern as inoculation will certainly provide a ‘trust value’ for international travellers, and while they will be the last to return, domestic is going to be primary in getting our sector up and running, followed by regional travel into the rest of Africa.

Air travel into the rest of Africa and visa restrictions remain our biggest problems here. However, let’s see this as an opportunity to make the dream of open skies in Africa a reality and look at a way of simplifying visa regulations when flying within the continent. If anything, this should be a priority now.

I am ready! Are you ready?

Irene

Email: gomesi@iafrica.com