The Meetings and Events Industry has been heavily impacted by the COVID pandemic. The experience has underscored the importance of Health Security, while providing new learnings for meeting professionals and the industry regarding the keys to a safe meeting.
For over 30 years InHouse Physicians has been providing Health Security and on-site medical support for meetings. Throughout the pandemic Jonathan Spero, M.D, CEO of iHP, has provided health security guidance to the industry. In a recent conversation with Dr. Spero we asked for his input on common questions from meeting professionals as they prepare for upcoming programs:
When is the time for the meetings industry to go back to “normal”? Is normal possible? Have we moved from pandemic to endemic?
We have not moved from the pandemic to the endemic stage yet. It may take another year or so.
As for normal...there is no going back. We will not see normal again as it pertains to health security. Why? Because COVID fundamentally changed our views of the world. Health security was always a 3rd world problem, not a 1st world problem. That changed with COVID. In addition to this, the meeting industry discovered that a pandemic, even one with a relatively low death rate could devastate the industry.
Tragically, over a million people died in the U.S. from COVID and that is a huge number. However, the average mortality rate of COVID is turning out to be around 0.5%. We could easily have another pandemic with a 5% mortality rate. Imagine a tenfold increase in mortality and what it would do to the meeting industry and the entire global economy.
Can you tell us more about why we can’t simply go back to the “old normal”?
Sure, there are 4 primary reasons:
- Countries, society, organizations, and individuals have fundamentally modified their perspective on health security threats.
- We will have more pandemics in our lifetime, perhaps even several more. Remember, we’ve already had two recent pandemics separated by only 11 years over the past two decades!
- The meeting industry is highly vulnerable to any type of global infectious outbreak.
- A commitment to Health Security is the only way to address the factors above.
How will Health Security evolve going forward?
Health Security measures have relaxed over the past few months as COVID stats have improved. However, as we move to an endemic situation in the future, the degree of health security standards may vary seasonally and regionally depending on the COVID trends. Importantly, new variants will create a sense of uncertainty and may abruptly change the level of health security standards.
What can planners do to promote attendee health and wellbeing?
Attendee well-being is directly promotional to the attendee experience. You can have a top-notch experiential design and the attendee experience can be dragged down by stress and physical complaints.
For at least the next few years, attendees will be hyper-aware of health risks with an emphasis on COVID-like illnesses. COVID is not going away, so stay vigilant with your health security measures, including convenient access to medical care and rapid, sensitive COVID testing.
Address the enormous stress your attendees are experiencing. They are in an unfamiliar setting, managing the high pressure of the meeting, and simultaneously dealing with their personal and regular professional responsibilities. I believe it is essential for planners who want to be successful to provide attendees with tools and resources to calm their minds and improve their experience in the program.
This can range from:
- Stress and sleep management apps for their phone or hotel TV
- Mind-enhancing nutritional options
- Recovery strategies during the day such as access to a restoration lounge or other recovery tools during breaks that are designed to get your attendees back into the “flow state”, the state of mind most closely correlated with optimal performance.
- And finally, health security measures that meet your responsibilities, and the expectations and potential concerns of your attendees.
To learn more about InHouse Physicians and Health Security for your events, visit our website at https://www.inhousephysicians.com/onsitemedical.
