By Sue Sung
Go LIVE Together and the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA) partnered with Epistemix, a world leading provider of analytical tools designed to understand the spread of infectious diseases, to model anticipated risk levels for events planned in 2021. Using this model, they are able to:
–Forecast the potential level of immunity at a given date based on historical infection rates at a given 
location, different assumptions about vaccination rates, and future potential impact of new variants
–Estimate the likely number of infectious people who may attend based on the size of the event and origin of attendees
–Calculate the number of infections we might expect at the event given the range of protective measures that could be implemented
The Best News …
With the health and safety measures our industry has voluntarily adopted, and given current infection and vaccination rates and projections, the scientific model by Epistemix predicts nearly a 0% transmission rate of COVID-19 at an event hosting tens of thousands of people in various cities across the country including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and Orlando.
Business events around the world have leveraged current medical information and are actively working with local health officials to define what “safety” means in a post-COVID-19 world.
Go LIVE Together and the ECA are now taking these models to the top trade show cities in the country to request reopening plans. This effort comes at a critical time, when state leaders are beginning to define next steps for their local economies—including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently announced his plan for a June 15 reopening. While this is encouraging news, Newsom’s provided plan includes attendee caps and burdensome testing and vaccine-verification requirements that make hosting successful business events all but impossible. These restrictions put California and states with similar guidelines at risk of losing major events—as seen with the American Public Transportation Association’s recent decision to move their event from California to Florida. By outlining the economic impact of business events, our industry’s unified commitment to adhering to health and safety guidelines, and the planning required to produce an event, we’re asking for guidelines to allow us to prepare for reopening events.
Join us in this mission by sharing this overview of the economic impact of business events, encouraging evidence of our ability to reopen safely and the need to take action today in order to plan for events scheduled months from now.
Sue Sung is Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Freeman.
