We feature three events that have creatively responded to challenges during the pandemic. From navigating travel restrictions to tackling tight event spaces, discover how they demonstrated that the ‘show must go on’.

Newsheadlines of a new Covid variant are all it takes for everything to go down hill. Last week, Team Raintree received yet another phone call from one of our established event partners. “My event is in three days. We’ve spent hundreds of hours planning this but now half of my team is in quarantine. What should I do?”

Given how rapidly the situation is evolving, we’re no longer surprised to receive phone calls of this nature. Once a multi-billion dollar industry, the global event business took a major blow as large events such as festivals, conferences, and professional sports went missing in action. When bouncing back, we thought it was interesting that organisations in Cambodia and around the world adopted creative methods to recreate event experiences. The most interesting one that came to mind was how the Boeung Ket and Soltilo Angkor football leagues attracted the ‘crowds’ to the Cambodia Airways Stadium earlier last year.

*Cutout fans @ Cambodia Airway Stadium, showing their support for Boueng Ket and Solito Angkor football leagues.*

We want to be helpful to everyone in our community regardless of where or how they’re holding their events. So we looked at how three events in Phnom Penh and the region tackled some of the most common challenges that come up during Covid.

Challenge #1: Keynote speaker in self-isolation at home
Sa Sa Art Project addressed a speaker in quarantine by adopting a hybrid format in their panel discussion ‘The Master of Lands and Waters’. The event featured a live-recording of the conversation, plus a small number of guests at the exhibition space. The artist-run space aspiried to shed a light on the moving backstories behind their exhibited works that have a special focus on supernatural beliefs in the country.

The programme allowed both speaker and organisers to take part in the event in whichever format they felt most comfortable. It also meant that the artists could reach a much wider audience as the discussion was live-streamed to facebook, the most used platform in the country.

*Current exhibtion at Sa Sa Art Project. Opening event. Photos courtesy of Sa Sa Art Project*

Other efforts were made to minimise exposure for people at the event venue. Especially because the speakers were using microphones within proximity to each other, all four keynote speakers and the team took a rapid Covid test 24 hours before the event. Held outdoors for better ventilation, the event was also limited to 15 guests in-person, to allow for reasonable physical distancing. Participants were also required to wear a mask for the duration of the event.

Watch the recording here to relive the event. If you’d like to discover more, head over to Sa Sa Art Project where the public exhibition runs until Thursday 31st March 2022.

Challenge #2: Limited public guidance on safety measures for gatherings
It’s hard to play by the rules when they aren’t established yet, but that was the reality that our education partner Teach For Cambodia faced in 2020. In the run up to their orientation of new recruits, recommendations about capacity limits and ways to minimise risks were only available from global institutions like WHO and CDC. In order to make it work for their workshop in Cambodia, they had to work closely with their staff, suppliers, and guests on planning and preventative measures.

By administering a self-reported pre-event survey to assess participants' wellbeing and travel history, they were able to confirm the final count of the participants and admit everyone to the hall with more confidence. This meant excluding some guests for health or travel-related reasons, such as post-flight self-isolation. They also kept a record of individuals who attended the event in order to ensure that they had what they needed to activate contact tracing procedures if anyone later tested positive for Covid after the event. Organisers also opted for pre-served meals over buffets for catering in order to minimise risks of crowds or transmission through sharing food. With Raintree as their venue of choice, they were also alleviated of their burden to disinfect the event space prior to use as it was already part of our health and safety measures.

Challenge #3: Complex annual event for 2,000+ participants from different countries with varying travel restrictions
The Singapore International Energy Week 2021 exemplified how sophisticated event design and technology can create a remarkable experience for everyone regardless of Covid. Recognising that it’s not in our natural instincts to keep social distance at all times, organisers required participants to wear a dongle that would alert individuals immediately if guidelines were breached. Organisers also introduced physical zoning measures and ‘meeting pods’ to manage exposure and control crowds. By giving people dedicated places to connect, organisers were able to regulate how the spaces could be used - instead of hoping for the best that people wouldn’t violate guidance. The use of physical zones also helped organisers to have a clearer understanding of where each individual was and who they were exposed to for the duration of the event for potential contact tracing.

*Photos courtesy of Singapore Energy Week*

The organiser took it a step further to create a bespoke digital platform so that participants could take part in different panel discussions and see demonstrations based on their interests and schedules. We understand that not every institution has the resources to go to the extent that Energy Markets Association did for the 2021 SIEW, but we included this event to showcase how events can still be rich experiences in spite of the pandemic.
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We hope these diverse methods go some way to support you in running your programmes. Above learnings are just a few of the many that we’ve been accumulating over the last three years of working amidst Covid. For organisations and professionals who are thinking of planning larger and sexier events again this year, watch the space as Team Raintree will be publishing these learnings soon. With easy-to-use frameworks that walk event organisers through the process of designing format and putting together relevant health and safety practices, this free resource will allow everyone to fast-track their event planning in a more creative way during these ever-evolving times. Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know. In the meantime, call us on +085 385 728 for all your event needs.