How Technology Can Help Keep Your Event Safe

May 6, 2021

Matt Laws

Matt Laws is President and CEO of Safe Expo, which offers pre-event health planning support, onsite implementation and post-event health monitoring for live meetings and events. Born in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was founded by event and medical professionals to help educate producers and planners and prepare them to deal with the new health safety concerns that events are facing. 

 

 

The rollout of more and more vaccines will help large venues reopen and allow our industry to bring back in-person events in the coming months. It will be critical for event organizers and venues to work together to deliver events where attendees feel safe participating. Technology plays a key role in this effort and can streamline health safety measures for event organizers.

Here are four ways technology takes event health safety plans beyond sanitizing stations and facial coverings:

Technology Allows Participants to Easily Attest to Their Health

Mobile, web-based technology allows event organizers to easily meet government mandates requiring them to obtain registrant health information. The technology solution can be automated, customized and digitally distributed to registrants on a daily basis. Once registrants complete the health form, event organizers receive the information in daily attendance reports.

There are also additional options coming available as technology firms develop new tools to help large events return. For example, event organizers can use new technology solutions to add features that track vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests conducted within a certain time frame before they arrive onsite to the event. They can also conduct additional health surveys entirely online.

Technology Can Integrate Temperature Screening into Overall Health Tracking Data Systems

Conducting temperature checks has quickly become routine to enter many facilities, but what happens after a participant gets the all-clear to enter? With technology, each participant’s pass/fail result is captured and maintained securely. Event organizers can receive daily reports to ensure their health objectives are being met.

Technology Can Bring Onsite Testing to Fruition

It has become increasingly common for organizers to offer onsite COVID-19 testing options at their events. Testing can take many forms and event organizers can customize their approach based on their needs by implementing hybrid options to allow greater flexibility for satisfying the testing requirement.  Some event organizers might opt to allow registrants to bring their own negative test report while allowing others to choose the onsite testing option which can include rapid testing. Other event organizers may choose only to use testing as a secondary mitigation factor when a participant shows symptoms onsite or does not pass the daily health attestation or temperature screening procedures.

Technology Can Improve Contact Tracing

Not many things are harder than locating hundreds of individuals after they’ve left an event and scattered across the country. Should someone test positive after an event, the data that event organizers obtained and securely stored digitally can help local health departments in their contact tracing efforts. By incorporating technology and multiple mitigation factors into the overall event health and safety plan, the events industry can help limit exposure and reduce major outbreaks.

By bringing back in-person events as safely as possible, our industry can be a big part of the solution for a safe economic recovery. Technology makes this job so much easier and more effective while also prioritizing participants’ privacy. More technology solutions are being developed every day which will only improve our ability to create the safest environments possible for all of our participants.

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HERE, hosting responsible meetings and caring for our communities are top priorities. Through its 'Focused on What Matters: Embracing Humanity and Protecting the Planet' philosophy, MGM Resorts commits to creating a more sustainable future, while striving to make an impact in the lives of employees, guests, and the communities in which it operates. Water Stewardship Efforts MGM Resorts understands the importance of using water efficiently, especially in the desert destination of Las Vegas. Conserving water has always been part of the mission, but MGM Resorts has expanded its ambition into water stewardship. In 2022, MGM Resorts President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle signed the CEO Water Mandate—a UN Global Compact initiative mobilizing business leaders to advance water stewardship. MGM Resorts International was the first gaming company to take this important step. MGM Resorts replaced 200,000 square feet of real grass with drought-tolerant landscaping in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts pledges to reduce water withdrawal intensity by 33% by 2025 and by 35% by 2030. From 2007-2021, use of more than 5.6 billion gallons of water was avoided because of conservation efforts. Caring for One Another MGM Resorts’ Food Donations Program collects and preserves unserved food from conventions held at MGM Resorts properties, then safely donates to food insecure people in the community. Since the program’s launch in 2016, more than 3.7 million meals toward a 2025 goal of 5 million meals have been donated into the community. Donations include: Unserved perishable prepared foods from events Perishable unprepared food from MGM Resorts’ kitchens Nonperishable food items from minibars and warehouses The collaboration with Southern Nevada’s primary food bank, Three Square, has developed the infrastructure needed to safely collect, transport, and store food from MGM Resorts properties in Las Vegas, reducing food waste while serving the community. Fostering Diversity and Inclusion To MGM Resorts, a diverse and talented workforce is essential to success. By cultivating innovative strategies that consider multiple perspectives and viewpoints, the company creates an inclusive workplace culture that benefits its employees and community. MGM Resorts takes pride in being a welcoming home for veterans, individuals with disabilities, people from diverse backgrounds, LGBTQ+ community members, and more. This commitment to inclusion is reflected in the company's recruitment and hiring practices and its social responsibility initiatives. From the workplace to the community, MGM Resorts' commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion remains unwavering, and its efforts continue to create a more equitable and sustainable world for all. MGM Resorts understands its responsibility to contribute to the social and economic progress of the communities in which it operates. HERE, we embrace humanity.