In-Person Meetings in the Age of COVID-19
Video conferencing is great – and I suspect we will be using it more and more even after we get through the current crisis. That said – in the same way that not all jobs can be done remotely, not all meetings can be done that way indefinitely. At some point – probably before a vaccine is available but when R rates are down – physical meetings of some kind will be needed so there will need to be some thought about how to safely hold them.
I’m deliberately using the word meeting to differentiate it from an event or gathering since – at least in my opinion – event and gathering imply a larger scale, less controlled attendance. Events and gatherings will be, we can assume, much further down the road. But meetings – which for the purposes of this piece are invite-based, agenda-driven functions for work or organisational reasons – may well be needed sooner and they cannot be arranged or managed as they used to be.
Everything must now be arranged with an added awareness of COVID-19. This is the fact that underpins everything you, as a meeting or event organiser will do: There is a risk that attendee might – unwittingly – expose others to the COVID-19 virus. Clustered exposure can lead to hot spots and localised spikes – and for meetings where attendees come from any distance, broader spikes.
So, these are some steps you may wish to take: Continue reading “In-Person Meetings in the Age of COVID-19”
