3 tips for planning a return to live events

At this time of year, I often spend my spare moments glancing out the window of my home office and planning a spring garden. This enjoyable exercise reminds me of planning for another “garden” expected to bloom again in spring as we attempt to navigate a new world forever altered by the pandemic.

This “garden” is the return of in-person tradeshows.

Now is the time of year for comms pros to think about 2022 media relations strategies for industry events, many of which will be live once again after a two-year hiatus. The recently-held HIMSS conference, healthcare technology’s largest trade show, gave me a good sense of what’s both probable and possible.

HIMSS was held at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas with 17,000 healthcare professionals, vendor representatives, comms pros, press, and media attending, all fully vaccinated and strictly masked. For perspective, this impressive total was approximately one third the size of HIMSS’s Annual Conferences in the past.

Most evening receptions were cancelled, and exhibit hall buffet lines remained closed. Even with these stringent safeguards, several important exhibitors and press outlets pulled 11th-hour exits.