Keeping Up with the Covid Policies
If you feel like Covid policies are changing day to day at warp speed, you are not alone. While we don’t fault the national, state, and local governments for adapting their restrictions based on the latest coronavirus information and numbers, it is not the easiest to follow or stay on top of. This is especially true when your business spans multiple cities and states. For example, BLME has to follow and consider policies for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and separately, the city of Philadelphia. This doesn’t even touch on our cross-country or international clients.
“Especially as event planners, it is really difficult for us to be the advocates of our clients that we can be if we are concerned with what Jersey is doing versus Philly versus Pennsylvania as a whole,” says Beth Lawrence, Founder & Chief Experience Officer of BLME.
Trying to follow all of these changing policies, spanning across multiple places, can be very overwhelming. However, BLME has found some effective measures for doing so. Read on for our tips for keeping up with Covid policies for multiple locations.
Keeping Up with the Covid Policies
Find Your Vendor Circle - and Stick with It
While we typically love to collaborate with new vendors and expand our network, when it comes to following local Covid policies, we actually encourage the opposite. We recommend finding a small circle of vendors you trust (most likely ones you have worked with before) in each state/city/region. Try to work with them on any/all of your Covid-era projects and be sure to check in and touch base with each other to make sure you are all on the same page and have interpreted the latest policies the same way.
In addition, keeping your vendor circle in each area limited to those that you know well and trust can help ensure that your event’s team will follow the rules. Some vendors you don’t know very well may be keen on bending or breaking the rules. Though some people get away with this, it is not worth working with a rule-breaking vendor and getting in trouble with local authorities and putting your reputation at risk.
It takes a village to decipher some of these restrictions, so make sure yours is comprised of people you trust.
Subscribe to Updates from All Local Convention and Visitors Bureaus
One of the most important pieces of advice we can give when it comes to keeping up with multiple Covid policies is to follow all local Convention and Visitors Bureaus on social media, along with subscribing to their newsletters.
“A lot of the Convention and Visitors Bureaus are the ones that are putting out the news, at least to event planners and incentive travel planners,” says Beth.
Being on these bureau’s mailing lists and following their social media accounts is the most efficient and effective way to stay up-to-date on the latest restrictions for any given location. We recommend checking their accounts and websites regularly, as these policies are often changing.
Closely Monitor Current CDC Recommendations
The CDC has been a sort of guiding light in terms of what safety precautions we should all be taking, what information we should be believing, and how we should be behaving. Sometimes, state and local governments are slow to adapt to the latest CDC recommendations. Therefore, it is important to remember that just because you are technically allowed to do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.
For example, if your state doesn’t have an explicit rule about guests being socially distanced in an indoor setting but you know the CDC is still recommending we all practice distancing, it is okay (and encouraged!) for you to make the call to enforce this policy. BLME always advises event planners and other vendors to use their best judgement, take all of the available facts, information, and recommendations into account, and practice an abundance of caution. As the old adage goes, it is better to be safe than sorry.
We definitely acknowledge that keeping up with all of these ever-changing Covid restrictions has not been easy. However after almost a year of learning, growing, and adapting, these tips have helped us navigate these unprecedented circumstances and challenges.