Various measures have been announced by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) on 4 May 2021 to be put in place for the period of 8 – 30 May 2021 to prevent a second outbreak from breaking loose in the country.
In light of these new regulations, your business might want to think through the following when it comes to events.
Firstly, what is the nature of your event? Different venues are subjected to different regulations and guidelines. For example, F&B outlets are not encouraged to host events at all whilst tourist attraction sites are required to “implement rigorous cleaning and disinfecting regimes, especially for high touch elements.” Bringing guests to F&B outlets even in separate groups of 5 are probably not going to cut well with them and your business might just want to give each participant a door gift and instructions and time to get their own meals instead.
Based on what the nature of your event is, different considerations must be addressed in your event proposal to the various authorities. Knowing which agency to liaise with is important. Singapore Tourism Board is the agency overseeing hotels, MICE, F&B, tour, and attractions related safe-distancing measures implementation. However for MICE events, proposals have to be cleared with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) as well.
Also, you might want to harness the power of the internet. Trying to conduct as much of the event online as possible will minimise your expenses and efforts to abide by safe distancing measures. There are a plethora of video conferencing apps out there but you might want to consider a few factors when determining which is the most appropriate for your use.
How many users does the platform allow you to use for your price point? Some platforms like Hopin offer unlimited concurrent video stream if you have a massive number of guests whereas Zoom only offers a maximum of 500 participants for its most premium plan. But obviously Hopin’s plans are also much more expensive than Zoom’s.
What data analytic features does the platform offer? Zoom doesn’t offer anything in this regard whereas Hopin provides a range of undisclosed statistics.
How accessible will the platform be for your guests? Will it require them to download a programme and are its features intuitive to learn? You might need to spend some time teaching your guests how to use the conferencing software if they are not familiar with it.
Other than that, specific features like providing post-event access to session recordings are things you may want to keep in mind in your search for the best platforms for your event.
But most importantly, know the purpose of your event. Is it mainly informative? Online platforms may be the best option. Is it meant to foster social relations? Then a hybrid or live event will be necessary. What is the theme or message you want to be at the forefront of your event? Could this be achieved in novel ways?
