In supporting American Event Workers, IAVM has signed and supported the following letter.

THE COALITION TO RESCUE AMERICAN EVENT WORKERS
March 19, 2020

The Honorable Steven T. Mnuchin
Secretary
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
United States Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Secretary Mnuchin, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader McConnell:

The Coalition to Rescue American Event Workers includes companies involved in the operation of public assembly venues and the presentation of events at those venues, together with labor unions representing the interests of employees in this sector who are being significantly and adversely impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. The public gathering spaces covered by our Members include arenas, stadiums, theaters, amphitheaters, music clubs, convention centers and festival sites which collectively employ over one million full- and part-time employees around the nation. We applaud the ongoing efforts of the Administration and Congress to pursue much-needed relief for the American people as this country endures an unprecedented crisis stemming from the fallout generated by COVID-19.

The devastation from these unfortunate circumstances is being felt far and wide across all sectors of the economy. However, certain businesses and employees are being hit disproportionately hard given the need for stringent social distancing measures, which are a necessary centerpiece of the public health response to mitigating the spread of the virus. Public assembly venues and the employees who earn their livelihood in those facilities have been hit hardest, as the measures implemented started impacting parts of our industry weeks ago and have now brought the sector to a complete halt. It has been estimated that the impact to this sector over a six-month period will be in excess of $10 billion. There remains great uncertainty over the duration of these measures, but it appears likely that they will last for a minimum of several months and potentially beyond, causing great uncertainty for impacted businesses and workers.

Unfortunately, Members of our coalition are suffering greatly as the extent and severity of this crisis has become apparent. Most immediately, the wide-scale postponement and cancellation of events has put countless event employees immediately out of work, with no revenue to support the continuation of their pay or benefits. Affected employees include ushers, ticket takers, ticket sellers, concession stand workers, food preparation and serving staff, event set-up and conversion personnel, janitorial staff, security officers, parking attendants and countless other working men and women who ensure the safe and successful operation of facilities hosting a wide variety of sports, entertainment, and other public assembly events at these venues.

Further, the indefinite cessation of the event business at public assembly facilities poses risk beyond the large population of immediately impacted event staff. Venues and their contractors employ a large workforce of full-time staff needed to operate these businesses. Operations, management, ticket sales, finance, marketing, human resources, risk management, IT, payroll, and a variety of other important administrative and business functions provide many employees stable jobs and good benefits. As the current extraordinary shuttering of the business continues through the spring and likely beyond, the massive loss of revenue suffered by venue and event employers creates an untenable situation that threatens the security of these employees and would have additional far reaching implications to the broader economy.

In the face of this unprecedented crisis and the economic downturn it has triggered, facility owners, operators and contractors will be under great duress to reduce costs and curtail business investment. In the absence of government assistance, many of their workers are facing curtailed wages and benefits, furloughs, layoffs, and similar hardship, as employers cannot sustain current levels of employment and compensation in the absence of revenue. Further, businesses seeking to protect their financial security must now reassess the prudence of continued business investment as they confront tremendous uncertainty regarding both the duration of the current emergency measures and poor economic prospects facing the business community once the immediate crisis subsides.

We commend the Department of the Treasury for recognizing in its recent Stage Three Proposal the need for additional financial support for other (non-airline industry) sectors of the U.S economy that are also severely distressed. In the face of the circumstances described above, we submit to you that the members of The Coalition to Rescue American Event Workers represent precisely such a sector. With a massive employee base across countless facilities and events serving every community throughout the country, there is little doubt that this sector is both critical and severely impacted.

With that background, we are seeking your support to explicitly identify public assembly venues and events as a critical sector severely impacted by this crisis and to designate up to $10 billion in grants to these businesses structured to allow them to continue to compensate their event employees in the absence of events, to avoid large-scale layoffs and to make continued business investment critical to preserving existing jobs and creating new jobs in the future. We are prepared to work with you to ensure that the government’s policy interests are protected in connection with these grants, including the imposition of conditions in determining eligibility for funds, criteria governing amounts disbursed to recipients and requirements imposed on the use of funds by recipients.

We believe such support is particularly warranted given that the venue closures and event cancellations mandated by current circumstances have been implemented to achieve a broader social objective of curtailing the spread of infection. The circumstances we find ourselves in are truly extraordinary and unprecedented and, as a result, were neither foreseeable nor susceptible to insurance coverage or other traditional means normally utilized by businesses to manage and mitigate their risks.

Since the beginning of time, individuals have gathered together to experience live entertainment communally. The same is true of Americans, who receive such joy from our industry. Though saddened by events that have unfolded in recent weeks, we remain committed to doing everything in our power to support our employees. As the backbone of this industry, they work every day to create an escape and lasting memories for our loyal patrons.

We greatly appreciate your consideration of our request for much needed assistance that would alleviate the hardship felt by workers, stimulate spending in the near term, and position our businesses to quickly ramp back up and act as a catalyst for growth as this crisis subsides.

Sincerely,

THE COALITON TO RESCUE AMERICAN EVENT WORKERS

By Amy Calvert and Paul Van Deventer

The reality of COVID-19 reminds us that we are a global community representing a rich and diverse fabric of talented and dedicated professionals. We are also reminded of our common humanity in our vulnerabilities. As individuals, now is the time to focus on what matters most: the collective wellbeing and safety of our workforce, event participants and communities.

These circumstances are deeply affecting our society as a whole. As stewards of our industry, we lift up and hold in our hearts all of those who have lost loved ones and who face new struggles as a result of this crisis. We know that our 26 million industry professionals are part of a global collective and that we are seeing disruptions that are unprecedented.

This is the time to support one another as best we can while the world health and economic systems work toward the path of recovery. We commend event professionals around the globe for maintaining their continued focus on supporting safe, healthy, and inclusive communities.

We do not yet know with any degree of certainty what the total impact will be on communities and the global economy; we do know that it will be significant. While we navigate this uncertainty, we counsel responsible, fact-based decision-making, grounded in empathy, delivered and received with kindness. We are a community that depends on one another, and indeed together we are stronger. Let us work together to the best of our abilities to honour our commitments to each other and the communities we serve.

As we have learned through experience, when we face these times together, we show our resilience and our resolve. We are with you. We stand with you at this time. We will bring our hearts and minds together with a steadfast commitment to focus on recovery and to continue offering resources to lift up this industry.

EIC, on behalf of our industry and in collaboration with our 33 members, has focused on sharing and delivering relevant educational resources, insights, and advocacy. We will continue to look for ways to serve, offering a unified voice in support of our industry, stakeholders, and mission.

EIC’s vision is to enrich lives and drive economic growth through the power of events worldwide. Our mission is to be the global voice of the business events industry on advocacy, research, professional recognition, and standards. With a mindset focused on our values, collaboration, and empathy, we are well positioned to focus our energies where they are best placed: in support of each other.

On behalf of the Events Industry Council’s member organisations,

Amy Calvert is CEO of the Events Industry Council (EIC) and Paul Van Deventer is Chair of the EIC Board and CEO, of MPI. IAVM is one of the supporting members of the EIC.

By Deb Churchill

Tyler Schyvinck, facilities manager at Starlight Theatre, and I had the opportunity to attend the 2020 Academy for Venue Safety & Security thanks to a grant funded by LYRASIS and Performing Arts Readiness (PAR). The Academy for Venue Safety & Security provides education and experiences to develop and enhance safety and security capabilities of venue managers and others who serve the venue and event industry.

The faculty was made up of experts including venue managers and industry leaders. The primary focus was intense training of best practices that equips attendees with information, tools and methodologies to protect guests, customers, employees, property, and assets through risk identification, implementation of risk management practices and procedures, emergency planning, preservation of economic viability, and facilitation of recovery.

The Year One curriculum specifically addressed incident reporting, risk assessment & management and related legal issues, planning for event medical services, creating event safety briefings, event security operations, facility security operations, tactical first aid and responding to mass casualties, risk-based venue emergency planning and the functional elements of a venue emergency plan, crowd management theory and practice, building and life safety codes, the principles of training, and how to create and deliver training programs. We also engaged in experiential exercises, viewed footage of actual occurrences to study trends, movements and making adjustments in real time, as well as toured and heard from various operational directors at the convention center.

We have a “Duty of Care” for those that attend events in our venue which means we have an obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm. So, in a preparedness cycle we should be able to prepare, prevent, respond, and recover from circumstances that have potential to occur. The physicality of the venue should always be monitored for safety and response preparedness, assuring repairs are complete and emergency and medical equipment is tested, properly signed and in its proper locations. Risk cannot be eliminated but with proactive planning and implementation, we can minimize our risks. Operational readiness and optimizing team performance through proper training is essential for our success and managing Starlight Theatre.

The knowledge that the instructors had and shared was so relevant and makes you think about whether you are truly prepared. We came back with many new ideas, the need to review existing emergency and medical equipment, to walk the venue with a renewed perspective, to train and reiterate emergency protocol and to rate ourselves on our readiness. The two key phrases of “See Something; Say Something” and “KISS: Keep It Simple Silly” can make safety and security something everyone can help with and relate to. Tyler and I were on the Spartans team and the network of the peers in our group and all those in attendance is invaluable. We look forward to Year Two – GO SPARTANS!”

Tyler’s comment on the experience was that, “The AVSS training was a fire hose of information, but all incredibly valuable and pertinent to our roles we have at Starlight. AVSS helped me highlight processes and procedures we can improve on and gave me the tools to work on them. The opportunity to connect with other like venues across the country also provided insight on how they are tackling the same issues.”

Deb Churchill is vice president of operations at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri.

By Becca Wilusz, Ph.D.

Things have been extremely busy as we all adjust to the new normal, especially for those of us on acollege/university campus and within my own realm of athletics.

It’s definitely surreal being on an empty campus with students gone and so many working remotely. We were a little bit unique here at Duke in that our cancellation of classes came after all of our students had departed for Spring Break. “Operation Ship My Stuff” organized by our Housing & Residential Life Team was phenomenal in the very short amount of time it had to come together. It was inspiring to work alongside so many from all walks of University life over the last 48 hours to achieve that monumental task.

Within Athletics, we’re facility & event managers with empty venues until Fall Sports resume in August – but also with an immediate end of operations. We’re working on end of season “close-out” of facilities while also following University guidelines for social distancing, etc., so it’s going to be a VERY slow process. In addition to helping the larger campus community, we’ve been trying to make sure that our venues are ready for limited occupancy, scaling down HVAC/Lighting wherever possible and building out facility check routine for our 1 staff per day on campus to be able to catch things like leaks, etc., before they become major problems.

Becca Wilusz, Ph.D., is Director of Game Operations & Championships for Duke University Athletics.

By Mary Tucker

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released preliminary projections of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on the U.S. business-to-business (B2B) exhibition industry in the coming months. These calculations were derived from cancellations reported to the organization by exhibition and event organizers.

“We have been closely monitoring the progress of COVID-19 in anticipation of how it will impact our industry for weeks,” noted CEIR CEO Cathy Breden, CMP, CAE, CEM. “Data collection and analysis takes time and we are pleased to have enough information now to answer some of the questions we have been receiving.”

“This information is incredibly helpful for communicating to federal legislators the economic impact of the B2B exhibitions industry,” added 2020 Chairperson of the CEIR Board of Directors Carrie Ferenac.

“The information is being shared with industry associations who are advocating on the importance of trade shows to the U.S. economy, and the tremendous negative impact COVID-19 has had on organizer companies, venues and service providers, and to the people they employ.”

CEIR reports that there are about 9,400 B2B exhibitions held in the U.S. annually. The updated figure for the industry’s total impact on the U.S. GDP is $101 billion in 2019, up from $97 billion in 2018.

As of 15 March 2020, 50 B2B events have announced their cancellations. Notable events that have canceled include:

• Inspired Home Show by the International Housewares Association (over 800,000 net square feet [NSF]);
• HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Global Health Conference and Exhibition (over 600,000 NSF);
• ASD (Affordable Shopping Destination) Market Week (about 600,000 NSF); and
• Natural Products Expo West (nearly 600,000 NSF).

These 50 events amounted to a total loss of 5.2 million NSF and $318 million in show organizer revenue. Taking into account direct spending of exhibitors and attendees, the loss to the economy stands at $1.8 billion.

New cancellation announcements are appearing daily, which is likely to increase with the recommendation made on 15 March 2020 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to cancel events that will attract 50 or more people for the next eight weeks. Readers should also note that simply counting the announced cancellations published in media reports significantly underestimates the actual number of cancellations, since the cancellation of many small- to medium-sized events does not typically attract media attention. This is especially true for events held in hotels.

There are about 2,500 B2B events held between 1 March and 15 May each year. CEIR believes that about 50% to 80% of those events have already canceled or will likely cancel in the coming weeks. Based on the cancellations reported as of 15 March 2020, CEIR calculates this will result in a loss of 41 to 65 million NSF and $2.3 billion to $3.6 billion in show organizer revenue. Combined with direct spending by exhibitors and attendees, CEIR estimates the total loss to the economy to be $14 billion to $22 billion.

“At this point, the decline in the exhibition industry is a one-off retraction of the industry’s size,” said
CEIR Economist Allen Shaw, Ph.D., Chief Economist for Global Economic Consulting Associates, Inc.

“Since this is a transitory event, we expect a full recovery for the exhibition industry in 2021.”

For a more in-depth analysis by Dr. Shaw on the market effects of COVID-19, read his article here.

Mary Tucker is Sr. PR/Communications Manager for IAEE