We are well past adjusting…

Now that we have spent six months in a pandemic filled world, we are well past “how will we adjust” and are now living with “how well did the adjustments work?” This past weekend I worked a bridal show in San Antonio that is used to packing a meeting center well past capacity with thousands of brides and hundreds of vendors.

 Rather, they had less than 80 vendors and just over a thousand brides. This proved to be a steep decline in their usual amount of business. Once all the changes were made to the event to make sure it was a safe environment in the face of COVID, it turned out many of the higher-ups and vendors actually enjoyed the changes that were made.

At the conclusion of the show, many planners are considering moving forward with future shows having all of the pandemic induced modifications rather than going back to how the shows used to work.

A few examples of the adjustments made were QR codes for each booth to minimize the touch of papers, walking arrows to guide the guests and reduce contact, and spacing out the vendors to avoid crowding of bridal parties. It was exciting for all the workers to see their adaptation suggestions come to life, but even more rewarding to see that their ideas proved to be more beneficial than they could have expected when they had to replan the entire show.

We are well past adjusting, we are witnessing our industry change in numerous ways in front of our eyes.

Everyone in the world is learning how to move forward without understanding the future these days, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. To learn more about how businesses are handling these new restrictions/environments, tune into Mass Comm Week, November 9-13!