3 minute read
POST-EVENT REPORT
What do you do when a terrorist warning is issued the day before the congress you are planning is due to start? Larna Jackson, business owner of Event Options, shares her experience of just how she and her team navigated this unexpected challenge for the 22nd annual SA Heart Congress.
Hosting a congress after a terrorist threat
Advertisement
WEDNESDAY, 26 OCTOBER: SECURITY THREAT IS ANNOUNCED
We were aware of the media announcements on Wednesday, and immediately began consultations with the management at the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) – the venue for the 2022 SA Heart Congress. Our very first point of action was to let the suppliers know that we were still going ahead with the event, until further notice, but that we were investigating other options. (This decision was influenced by the fact that we had already started to load in and start build-up preparations.)
An email was also distributed to our entire attendee database on Wednesday evening to acknowledge that we had heard of the threat, high-level meetings were going to take place on Thursday, and that further communication would follow. THURSDAY MORNING, 27 OCTOBER: STRATEGISING THE OPTIONS
The pre-congress workshops at Discovery Place on 27 October went ahead, as scheduled, while our team discussed our options and how we would be able to quickly implement them, planning the various scenarios, cost implications and operations plans.
After security meetings, the SCC management team confirmed that they would not be closing the venue. They shared that they would implement a series of additional precautions, including the deployment of special security units in Sandton and non-invasive searches of all people entering the building (both physical and with a metal detector). This provided the basis for our immediate next steps.
THURSDAY 13:00, 27 OCTOBER: MAKING THE DECISION
The Board and Risk Audit Committee within SA Heart convened an urgent meeting to discuss our options. We decided to move the event to a hybrid platform and give all delegates and speakers the option to select attendance in person or virtually.
Communicating to all stakeholders was critical. Contact was made with our exhibitors and partners to explain the situation personally, where possible. An email was prepared for all attendees, which explained the multiple steps that the venue, together with the South African Police Services, had undertaken to increase security to ensure the safety of all on-site.
THURSDAY EVENING, 27 OCTOBER: GOING HYBRID
During lockdown, we moved our business to virtual events, so setting up a functional, easy-to-use platform within a few hours was made easy because of our recent experience and active licence with EventsCase. We were able to offer the congress a secure, accesscontrolled virtual platform that offered attendee engagement features together with detailed attendee reports for CPD points.
This is not to underplay the extent of work involved. We had to build an entirely different web portal to allow virtual participation in each lecture hall for over 600 potential delegates. Pulling through hundreds of lectures with videos, transferring existing pre-recordings through to the new portal, creating new individual feeds linked to live on-site HD cameras, creating user-specific login permissions with passwords and payment verification, notifying all registered participants with the updated format, and tracking all participants online were just some of the activities that were designed in less than half a day to completely change the format of the congress.
We also needed to assist with flight rerouting, hotel bookings, security upgrades and logistics. I’m proud to say that my team did this without rest or complaint, and were able to ensure that each and every participant was informed, assured and motivated to attend through whatever medium necessary.
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY, 28-30 OCTOBER: SUCCESS!
The congress officially started on 28 October, as originally planned. It went off smoothly, across both formats, and was very well received.
