So...what's the plan?
While the situation of COVID-19 continues to develop in our lives and communities, it is increasingly evident that the pandemic has had, and will continue to have for some time to come, a far reaching impact on all people throughout the world. Specifically, six months in and there is still no sure sign of events coming back anytime soon.
No one in our industry needs to be reminded of the effect that we have on the world, and the people events touch. The connections and effects that are made during live events cannot be replicated in the online world, so the sooner we all get back to what we do best the better.
For those of you reading this who are not part of the events industry, or aren’t aware of the Canadian Meeting and Business Events Industry economic impact (source Meetings Mean Business Canada):
$33 Billion generated through direct spending
Sustains 229,000 direct jobs
$19.3 Billion directly contributed to GDP
Canada business events industry ranked 6th/50 countries in economic impact
These are staggering numbers, and let’s remember that these numbers don’t include the social events side of our industry. That is why we are all seeing many groups coming together to advocate on our behalf. In the US, advocacy groups are easier to find and many are large enough to make noise but that isn’t the case here in Canada.
We need to have a plan to come back, do you agree?
Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent some time gathering information on what is happening across Canada regarding advocating for the events industry. Why? Because the more noise we make in our communities the more we will be heard by those at the top - and hopefully some change will happen allowing events to come back strong, confidently…and safely.
While this isn’t an exhaustive list, we hope that putting these resources together will help you with where to start in your area.
*Updated November 17, 2020
Our team across Canada will be joining in with writing letters to our governments, and joining coalitions where we can. Yes, we will also be joining in on activations when they happen...but we all need to do more than show off our talents.