Category: Expert Insights

Posted on

Planning your Crisis Communication Plan

Crisis Communication PR Plan for events industry

With the events industry currently facing uncertain times trying to plan for the future is not as straight forward as we once enjoyed. However, we will come out of this situation and now is the time to ensure that we are better equipped to deal with unprecedented changes in the future. We have put together advice to help shape your Crisis Communication Plan for the events industry.

Knowing what to do at a time of crisis has never been more relevant. If you are an event planner you may already have your own crisis management policy to follow, and the venues you use for events will have their own crisis plans and health and safety policies to adhere to. But what is equally important, now more than ever before is having a carefully prepared crisis communication plan. 

A crisis communication plan is critical to aid in any incident from terrorist attacks, to fire outbreaks, illness, natural disasters or incidents such as the Coronavirus outbreak that we are facing currently. As the virus has spread over the past few weeks causing mass cancellations and uncertainty about how businesses have communicated has varied significantly. The ones that have done it best have been well prepared and rehearsed, so we shouldn’t leave it to chance. Putting the work into your crisis communication plan now will serve you well in the future and it should be a crucial part of your overall event strategy. 

Who are your key audiences

Firstly, when thinking about drawing up your plan think about the different audiences you will be dealing with including on-site suppliers, security, speakers, exhibitors as well as press and attendees. Once you have identified the groups assign one of your staff to relationship manage these so they are then responsible for communicating to them in the event of a crisis – this ensures that you will not leave anyone out if it is an emergency. These key audiences should have the contact information which needs to regularly updated. 

Communication channels

How will you communicate with your audience? Quick access to concise information is vital in a crisis and will protect your reputation if you are seen to respond quickly. Social media is at the touch of a button 24/7 and is great to communicate with but you need to bear in mind that although your reach may be wide, it may not reach YOUR specific audience so other forms of communication are required such as phone calls, emails, and your website. Ensure you have access to any display screens at the event itself so you can communicate immediately to your event attendees. For PR, your website and social media is the best method to reach journalists who will be able to spread your messages widely. In the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster, mobile networks may be down so it is crucial to identify alternative communication channels and have contingency plans in place for every potential situation. 

Your crisis communication plan 

Once you have done your research into what is going to work, now is the time to put your plan together. In such fast-paced and changing times, there is no way to predict what challenges you will face so have your crisis communications plans pre-approved for each potential situation. For each situation collate the key messages that you need to communicate with each audience and how you are going to do it. 

Lastly, build these scenarios into your team training by getting them to rehearse real-life simulations of the different crisis situations outlined in your plan. This will help your staff be prepared to act calmly and confidently if the situation arises in the future and will help you grow together as a team. 

Keep up-to-date with all the latest industry insights and news by reading our EDGE news section.

Posted on

Maintaining good mental health when working at home

maintaining-good-mental-health-whilst-working-at-home

The Coronavirus COVID-19 has brought great changes to our lives and in the event industry we are under immense pressure to keep our businesses going. Our first priority is to postpone or change our events into virtual meetings wherever possible, rather than cancel them. We can’t risk anyone’s health by proceeding with conferences, but at the same time a lot of hard work has gone into the planning of events and we’d all like them to take place in one form or another if possible.

Our industry is particularly sociable and we are used to travelling and meeting people, so working from home or being furloughed is quite a change of lifestyle. However, we are also used to working on the move, from hotels, venues, airports and lots of us are set up to work whenever we need to and wherever we are. We usually have contact and encouragement from colleagues and now that this has been removed, we need to maintain good social connections, through the increased use of technology.

The current situation is likely to increase stress in an industry where it is thought 70-80% of employees already feel that they are constantly worried. So, what should we look out for? Stress is not an illness, it is a mental, emotional and physical state where we feel overwhelmed and unable to cope as the result of unmanageable pressures. This can cause an increased risk of depression, substance abuse, alcohol consumption, lack of sleep and other effects.

Working from home

The first thing to do is change your mindset and plan a routine:

  • Set a start and finish time and when the working day is over, put your devices and work away to make the most of your downtime
  • Schedule tasks that are manageable and don’t get overwhelmed
  • Take a lunch break and coffee breaks, not only will you work better afterwards but it will stop your mind thinking about work all day
  • Look after yourself. Find an exercise to make yourself feel good, because keeping physically find will help your mental health. There are lots of different classes online, YouTube videos, zoom, Instagram and Facebook sessions that you can do on your own or join a virtual group. Or would a mindfulness session help?
  • Remember you are not alone – keep in touch with your colleagues in virtual meetings or speak to friends and relatives
  • Do what is in your control and keep the things outside your control in perspective
  • Achieve some of the things that you normally don’t find the time to tackle
  • Solve the little problems first, so that you get jobs ticked off the list
  • Take time to review your social media platforms and websites, which need peace and quiet and are difficult to do in the normal working day. What works and what doesn’t, can you streamline your messaging and make it work better?
  • Find ways of planning and developing for when the events industry does bounce back

If you do need help, talk to a professional immediately and get the guidance you need. But in the meantime, the way we can get through this is to accept the situation, talk about our problems to people who will support us and only worry about the things we can control.

The HBAA is running two mental health webinars in April 2020, for more information take a look at their website.

Keep up-to-date with all the latest industry insights and news by reading our EDGE news section.

Posted on

Keep your staff occupied, whilst they’re working from home

Working from home venue sourcing by EDGE Venues

None of us want staff who don’t have enough work to do, whether they’re in the office or at home and we feel the best way is to set a routine and make the most of your time while Coronavirus COVID-19 has changed the normal working day. No-one wants to be bored even if we’re not working, so these are also ideas for events staff who’ve been furloughed and can take the opportunity to further their careers.

Training

There are plenty of resources online and people are being very imaginative and generous with their knowledge. Pick a topic and research it. Does anyone know enough about virtual conferencing, augmented reality or just the best event app to use. When you’ve made yourself an expert in the subject, write a report for your colleagues or a blog for your company’s website and share the information, it will come in useful later.You could also focus on a destination in the UK or overseas and research it for future events and plan a site visit for a later date. All the conference bureau have websites with lots of information or how about learning a language the Open University and Open Culture have free courses.

Or it’s easy to learn from each other, plan a weekly meeting with Microsoft Teams or Zoom to share best practice and pass on tips or advice.

TED Talks

There are more than 3,300 online on a wide range of topics to make you think or behave differently, improve your career or just learn about something new. Or there’s a TED Talks daily podcast.

Podcasts

Podcasts are growing massively. Listen to business leaders talking about how they developed their companies or how about ‘Everything You Need to Know About Working from Home (But Were Too Afraid to Ask!)’. Or there are the conference and events industry podcasts such as EventIcons, Event Brew, The Event Tech Podcast or Event Industry News Podcast.

Blogs

A Backward Glance at 5 Trends that Changed Events in the ’10s
The C2 conference in Montreal is a business event that combines combine progressive and inspiring content in a highly creative, festival-like setting. In this article they look at the 5 key trends that changed events in the 2010s.

Online magazines

When do we really have time to read these thoroughly, maybe there’s time to catchup on the latest industry news on a regular basis. Check out Conference News, Conference & Incentive Travel and M&IT magazine.

Posted on

Marketing agency Patch launches Virtually London Live

Venues may be temporarily closed, but the majority of the industry hasn’t stopped working.

Data from venues and buyers is signalling that despite the sudden slowdown, coupled with postponements and cancellations, they are still receiving enquiries for later in the year and even receiving bookings.

But while the industry carries on, we’re all still confined to our homes other than for food, medicine or exercise. This puts site visits out of the question, but they are an important step in the venue buying process and will play a part in making sure the industry returns to its full glory. After all, would you risk choosing an event space you hadn’t seen first?

Aiming to find a solution for buyers, the event, leisure and hospitality marketing agency Patch started talking to its network of venue clients and buyers to find out what they were looking for. Jackson Clark, Managing Director of Patch said: “What I’m hearing from buyers and venues is that without events taking place, they have more time than ever for training and research. The industry’s sentiment over the last few weeks has been very much about sticking together and helping each other during these tough times. There’s no cost for venues or buyers to attend Virtually London Live as it’s designed in the spirit of the industry to provide a lifeline for both venues and agents.”

Hosted on Zoom, the Virtual Fam Trip of London (named “Virtually Live London”) will give those venue buyers working from home the chance to see several London venues, discover the surrounding neighbourhoods and get familiar with their transport links.

Patch will take the crowd of buyers on the virtual tube, down virtual streets, until they arrive at a venue’s virtual door. Then it’s over to the venue to present, using their own 3D tours to walk participants through their venue room by room.

So far there are 15 venues confirmed, including; Congress Centre, Central Hall Westminster, the Barbican, the HAC, 10 – 11 Carlton House Terrace, The RSA, Old Royal Naval College and Prince Philip House. Confirmed buyers include Hire Space, Canvas Events and Trinity Event Solutions who in addition to their own team will be inviting their agent partners who use their Edge platform.

Co-founder of Hire Space Edward Poland said “We’re still placing bookings for later in the year through Hire Space Professional so the need for our Venue Experts to keep learning about new venues hasn’t gone away. We’re really excited to be a part of this and hope it’s something that will bring the whole industry together.”

CEO of Trinity Event Holdings Ltd, Jacqui Kavanagh said “It’s a great initiative and will enable our Agents to continue expanding their venue knowledge at a time when they otherwise couldn’t. Every Trinity agent needs to visit 100 venues per year so this will contribute to that continuous knowledge building that is essential to us as an agency”. 

Virtually Live London takes place at 11:00 on both Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd April 2020 and will last for approximately one hour and a half. If you’d like to register as a buyer or venue get in touch with Patch on virtuallylivelondon@patchmedia.co.uk

Posted on

Standing together as one

In the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak which is affecting us all, it is becoming apparent that this is not only a huge challenge on us professionally but personally as well. The very nature of our industry means that we are social creatures used to speaking to numerous people, attending events and being part of a busy office environment with our lively team across the two companies.

Adjusting to working from home hasn’t been easy but team updates, daily video conferencing and supporting each other are helping us through this process. 

We, as a company are continuing to develop and grow our business and lay the foundations to ensure we emerge together, stronger than ever. Although we are facing challenging short term issues we are confident that being technologically advanced and better connected we can pull together as a team to continue ‘business as normal’. 

Alongside developing our business, we are taking the time to speak to each and every one of our customers to see how we can support them and work together as one industry. Our industry has a vast supply chain involved and it is important we reach out and support each link to the chain where possible. 

Let us all stand together as an industry and encourage each other to move forward through this challenging time. 

Posted on

Marketing in challenging times. Retain your existing customers.

Marketing tactics during Coronavirus needs to be reactive to changing situations and creative using existing resources rather than external paid sources. With Coronavirus causing such uncertainty our businesses are all facing challenging times as the impact is starting to bite. Friday’s Government announcement regarding the support they will be providing to businesses will help ease the situation.  As the financial aid packages unfold over the course of the next few weeks now is the time to start planning your marketing strategy for the long haul.

It is time to work smarter, be creative with our resources and get ready to tackle the challenges ahead.

Five steps every business MUST take to prepare marketing activity during the Coronavirus downturn:

  1. Retain your existing customer base
  2. Be visible in front of your target audiences
  3. Drive conversions (business is still being placed for the future, even in this challenging time)
  4. Measure results
  5. Learn and test

Over the coming days, we will be going through each step and providing you with marketing advice to help shape your strategy to get your business ready for the future, so you are at the forefront of your competitive marketplace. These marketing steps do not have to eat up what will be a very reduced marketing budget, instead, it utilises free tools, tactics you will already have in place and existing staff to carry out the activities.

Retain your existing customer base

It is cheaper to keep an existing customer who values and engages with your products than to attract new customers – the relationship is already there; they know your business and they know your product, so customer engagement and loyalty is higher with existing customers. Therefore, these are your most valuable customers, let’s not lose sight of them and turn to panic marketing to try and attract new business just yet.

Out of sight means out of mind for many – over the coming weeks, your competitors will be looking at you and their other competitors and waging their own marketing war. If you are not prepared, they may be able to entice your existing customer base away.

The easiest marketing function to help retain existing customers is marketing automation. Personalised, contextualised targeted messages sent to existing customers who want to hear your news and future developments. Email campaigns, if used correctly, are a great marketing resource and many email platforms allow you to send a certain amount of emails per month free of charge.

We are not talking broad brush sales messages or generic mass campaigns; we are talking personal. Your customers will not be thinking about buying in this present period of uncertainty, but they will value your loyalty and your support. We are all in this together so engage with your customers and let them know you are thinking of them. Building brand loyalty and engagement will almost certainly lead to a higher retention level than a mass sales campaign in the current climate.

It is worth checking with email automation companies to see if they can offer discounted services in this time. Hubspot have announced that for the next 90 days they are suspending marketing email limits to help businesses stay in touch with their customers.

Content

This is essential right now. Your existing customers are likely to be browsing your website anyway so ensure they have a valuable reason to visit by providing relevant content. Share updates, industry news and also what developments your business is making that will make you better than your competitors. If you can share offers or new products and services then go for it. Sales focused content on a website will be better received than in an email campaign as it will appear on the website in your customers journey – not pushed upon them.

Social Media

No doubt you have all seen the rise in social media engagement recently. With people working from home, self-isolating and social distancing social media platforms have become a valuable resource for conducting business and staying in touch. Engage in conversations with your existing customers on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook – these are where your customers will be reviewing your products, looking at what you are doing right now and speaking to like-minded contacts.

If you can become a voice of reason and support to your existing base it will again build your brand loyalty. Social media doesn’t have to be about paid advertising to reach the masses, utilising hashtags and creating valuable and thought-provoking content will reach your audience if you plan correctly. Engagement is critical to building awareness and will help to contribute to the reach of your content allowing you to break into new audiences.

Marketing during the Coronavirus phase is going to be tough but we are building the foundations for a solid future. We will be exploring more ideas over the coming weeks to help your marketing tactics during the Coronavirus. If you would like to sign up to our newsletter to get up-to-date industry news and advice please contact us.

Posted on

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan is now accepting applications.

The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan is now open for applications from small and medium sized businesses with a turnover of up to £45m. Eligible businesses will be able to access government-backed finance of up to £5m and interest payments on these loans will be covered by the government for an initial period of up to 1 year.

The scheme is available through a large list of lenders which can be found on the British Business Bank website. For larger firms, the Bank of England has a new lending facility called The Covid Corporate Financing Facility that is also open for applications from today.

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England Governor comments, “On Monday [23 March] a new lending scheme, the Covid Corporate Financing Facility, will open to help businesses manage through this period of uncertainty. Combined with steps taken by the Government, this will help companies through this difficult time and support the needs of the people of this country.” 

Information on both the Covid Corporate Financing Facility and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan is available on the British Business Bank website.

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity EDGE Holdings Ltd comments, “After such an uncertain week it is a great relief to see that the Government are listening to us and putting procedures in place for businesses to access vital funds to help ease the pressure during these challenging times. We can only hope that the financial support continues to allow us to concentrate on getting our businesses ready for the future to bounce back from the Coronavirus impact. ” 

Posted on

Do not let the UK lose its competitive EDGE support our SME’s now!

We are all watching the recovery of the Chinese, and we should all be very aware that our markets will be a target for all of these economies as they emerge post virus. Let our business invest in the future by keeping our workforces. We need our staff to get ready for the future to make our economy great again post virus and ensure businesses are ready to fight off fierce competition. Both demand and supply will be high, which will result in a fiercely competitive world – if our industry loses our workforce, we will not be in a position to fight for our market share and contribute to the UK economy. 

Posted on

Grants not Debt. Hospitality and Events businesses need support NOW!

As a company that wants to survive this uncertain time, our biggest incentive is to lay off staff. But what the Government is failing to realise is that this decision will impact far more lives and hurt the Government more than providing us with cash to keep going. Unemployment, recession, mental health, and suicide will undoubtedly be the outcome of many individuals that are facing reduced hours or loss of jobs – does the Government want that on their hands? We need help now before it is too late! 

Posted on

Government help for the Hospitality Industry. Open letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister, 

We are writing to you to request urgent cash injections into the hospitality industry to support our staff. Our industry is worth around £43 billion per annum and employs over 700,000 people throughout its vast supply chain. 

For those that are not in the ‘mainstream’ hospitality industry and work in an office or other setting, that may be seen as support services are not yet receiving any help from the Government. EDGE Venues, is a venue procurement platform and Trinity Event Solutions is a venue finding agency that operates out of offices – therefore we are not eligible for any financial help yet and there will be many more businesses like us, that work in this industry that cannot currently get help.

This is a worrying time as we are being penalised by the Government for working in an office setting. 

We do not want to lay our staff off, but we need cash injections to keep them and so far, the hospitality industry has received very little support from the Government. With the current Employment Laws, a good employer who shies away from zero-hour contracts only has the option of laying their staff off in this current situation. 

If we lay off our staff, they will then need to claim benefits and may get into serious financial problems.

Several of our staff have children to support. They are faced with the daunting prospect of going without basic provisions, such as food, to ensure their children are provided for while they’re on reduced hours or unable to keep their job. Universal Credits and other benefits will only cover up to a certain level, and the delay in getting benefits set up will mean our staff will suffer. Rather than the Government having to pick up the pieces, support our staff through means-tested benefits, long term debt and wade through the considerable administration burden – let us look after our staff. We just need cash now!!

Please do not give us complicated processes to apply through. We do not have the time or the resources, and neither do you. Make it a simple cash payment or access to cash per job-based on an average wage bill for the last four months to help us survive and care for our staff.

Don’t give us Debt give us Grants otherwise we have an incentive to lay people off

Make it simple; it could be a 50:50 split of debt and grants. The money can be controlled and only to be paid into salaries, so you know that the money is going directly to the people who need it. This will release the money to enable us to pay our bills, thus allowing our suppliers to survive. This simple act rolled out across other companies will ensure staff job survival, protection of the economy through our supply chain, and less burden on your Government. 

We are at the front line on week 5 of event cancellations, we cannot wait. This is causing us to make decisions against our wishes, and all we want to do is look after our staff.

Please can the Government step in and help us and make this a reality. We implore you not to stand by and let our staff who are highly skilled and pretty brilliant lose their jobs. We want to contribute to economic growth not be a burden to it. 

I have concluded that if my company receives an injection of £10,000 per employee to ensure a minimum of six months’ work of a 3 day week, I could achieve this in my sector. And I would happily pay my bills on time, supporting the local economy, and pay back £5,000 per employee within 12 months of Virus-free world. 

What I don’t want is small amounts of money that the whole process of achieving creates a distraction to me while I fight to keep my business, my customers, suppliers, and my staff. 

Jacqui Kavanagh, CEO of Trinity EDGE Holdings Ltd

Keep updated with our latest news, including daily updates on the Coronavirus virus here