"They want to hold the event?"

It was January. The COVID Ghost of Christmas Past had just come to visit all of us. In January, cases were spiking in many regions.

“They want to hold the event? They’re 100% sure?” I asked.

“Yes,” my partner replied. 

We had been waiting for a cancel, and suddenly, I started the journey of my first live event, held in the middle of February. 300 attendees were invited. 294 RSVP’d yes within the first week of registration opening. The clients holding the event had become dear friends over 10 years, and we weren’t going to let them figure it out alone.

And so started the journey that called on every aspect of our CMP Domain areas. Our Strategic Plans each had a backup plan. Our Project Management was broken into monthly, weekly, and eventually, hourly and minute by minute plans – our checklists had checklists. Risk Management wove its way through every aspect of every single logistical movement. Human Resources became vital as we worked to protect our team and our partners onsite. Stakeholder Management started from the word “go”…  we had so many, with many different politics, critical priorities and expected deliverables, and we needed to keep all of those Stakeholders safe. Meeting and Event Design and Site Management were the tools we leveraged to make that happen. Marketing and Technology tools were vital to ensure we were adhering to the most critical of health and safety protocols, and Professionalism was a 24-hour-a-day requirement, all with a mask on – hiding the smile we knew attendees needed to see in the crinkles around our eyes.  

Events that had previously been held indoors moved outdoors. Security moved from overnight holds to each space we occupied, and it adapted to include gentle reminders to keep masks above noses, to stay 6 feet apart and to remind us, when we forgot, to avoid hugging, handshaking and getting too close when an old friend appeared and “friend-nesia” happened. Our AV team built stage sets that were originally slated for a ballroom into a garden – showing us just how many of them can switch from technical to creative in the blink of an eye. Our DMC partners waived their sanitisation wands to ensure that our attendees were transported safely when we needed to move them, and they had COVID cars at the ready, should we identify a sick participant that needed to be transported with extra care. They found us heat lamps for outdoor spaces with less than 24 hours' notice. A medic onsite went from a luxury to a necessity. Our hotel partner absolutely ROCKED IT with their daily staff testing, temperature checks at all entrances, advanced COVID safety protocols (from elevators to daily housekeeping with blue lights and the utmost care) to protect both their staff and our attendees, and food and beverage protocols that were tight and well-executed.

We had our first COVID case before the programme started. An early arrival attendee checked in and woke up the next morning feeling unusually tired. They got tested, it came back positive, and every plan we had fell into place. Thankfully, it was our first and last case of the programme. Now, a month later, I write this with zero reported cases from the programme, a fully recovered attendee, and a giant sense of relief.  If there was any team that could deliver it, it was the one we had. Every key player on that team was a CMP other than the medical staff (and they came ready with their RN and MDs), and at every step of the way, they were absolutely critical in the positive outcome.

We live in such a time of ping-pong news headlines. One day it’s COVID vaccines for all by May – YAY! The next day it is COVID variants that we fear will create delays. There is going to be this time right now… the in-between, where some of our stakeholders want to get back to meetings, and other stakeholders have valid concerns and fear of what we deem most basic, health and safety, where you are the most necessary. CMP Community, this is where you build the bridge back to meetings, in whatever form they take… Live, Hybrid or Virtual. We listen to our stakeholders, and we figure out how to navigate to the very best outcome with the very best results.    

Will unattended buffets ever be a thing again? Will onsite arrival and registration protocols change forever? Is a handshake on the tradeshow floor a thing of the past? Is Hybrid here forever? I don’t know the definitive answer to any of these questions. Humans seem to have short memories. I do know, for certain, that our community will navigate them together and help build what the “Next” Normal is going to look like. The only thing certain in life is change – but the talent, depth and creativity of this community will always be a reassuring constant for me. 

Until April, my friends!

Alisa Peters, CMP, CMM

Chair, CMP Governance Commission