Turning Covid Safety Measures into Attendee Engagement Opportunities

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TURNING COVID SAFETY MEASURES INTO ATTENDEE ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Author: Casey Gale, Associate Editor, Convene

Antigen rapid testing was key to ensuring the two-day, 300-person, PCMA Convening Leaders 2021 event in Singapore, could take place safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. But with additional safety measures came a longer check-in process; attendees needed to wait 20-30 minutes in designated holding areas at the event’s venue, Marina Bay Sands, for their rapid test results to be confirmed.

event that requires rapid testing: Make the environment welcoming. “Many event professionals are frequent fliers and will be familiar with airport lounges,” Pang commented. “What if the waiting areas could look and feel like that? Instead of a line of sterile chairs, have sofas, work pods, drinks, plants, light music, etc., that immediately changes one’s experience of what a waiting area can look like.”

Philip Pang, PCMA’s Singapore-based manager of marketing and events, realised that the holding areas and waiting period need not be empty downtime - they could be turned into opportunities to enhance participants’ overall event experience.

Jaga-Me, the rapid testing provider, rightly prioritised attendee care making sure safety guidelines were adhered to, however, Pang felt there were ways to strike a balance between safety and serving the needs of attendees. “We talk about customer centricity at our events,” he said, which in his mind means working within the safety guidelines while seeking “creative solutions around registration and rapid testing”.

Pang asked himself how event organisers might be able to make the waiting experience more comfortable in the future and “flip things around making the antigen rapid test part of the programme - or even better, to become something to look forward to”. Using HaiDiLao Hotpot - a restaurant chain that offers diners snacks, drinks, and manicures while they wait to be seated - as his inspiration, Pang brainstormed three forms of attendee engagement that organisers could add to any

Add entertainment. “There could be an exclusive performance that can only be watched or experienced at the waiting area. I’m thinking, instead of merely moving into a separate waiting area, attendees are treated to the tunes of a musician or better still, be allowed to select songs like a jukebox,” Pang suggested. “Perhaps the problem now becomes getting attendees to move out of the waiting area once their test results are delivered!”

Turn the rapid testing process into an educational moment. “It’s a first for many attendees to take the antigen rapid test,” Pang said. “Could we invite them to understand what went behind the test, critique the experience first-hand and how they would improve it, so that their event participants would ultimately benefit?”

Pang sees this as prime time in the participant journey, a way to warm them up for the positive experience that is just ahead of them — once they get the negative COVID result.

This article ran in Convene

8| April 2021