What to Expect in Hawai’i Event Planning Industry in the Age of COVID-19

The islands have long depended on hosting local & international events. Here’s a look at how the Hawai’i event planning industry must adapt to new & uncertain times.

Dina Pinos

Ari Pereira event planner based in Honolulu, HI. (photo by @ijfkephoto)

As cities and states are capping gatherings, large scale events such as festivals, expos, conferences, and tradeshows are facing an uncertain future that will continue into 2021 and beyond. This is especially relevant here in the islands. Hawai’i event planning activities may get smaller with fewer attendees yet these also require much planning and added costs with sanitizing venues, enforcing social spacing, and maintaining appropriate food and beverage stations. These challenges have translated to skipping such events in the near term replacing them with solely virtual online events. Hybrid events are also a consideration where there will be both in-person and remote audiences and speakers. Entering such event forums online loses the face-to-face personal interaction of live events where enticing techniques such as a give away, a live session, or a smile to attract an attendee’s attention is at the forefront. Now consumers of online events have to come up with ways and teach themselves to interact online to look for their prospective customers.

Ari Pereira, with 20 years of experience as an international event planner speaks to Honolulu Vibes about the future of marketing events. Ari started her career in promotional marketing for radio, hospitality, and even a major league soccer team. She then transitioned into the corporate world, planning internal & external events for technology companies. Ari’s other specialties include executive retreats, incentive travel, mindfulness, and remote events.

How has the event planning world changed since the pandemic?

The meeting and events industry has all gone digital for the time being. It is critical that companies and people still interact with one another so instead of going silent and canceling all events, nowadays, and for the immediate future, meetings and events have become remote. As more and more people are working from home and with worldwide travel bans in place, events had no other choice but to go online. Luckily with today’s technology, numerous industries have been able to pivot towards virtual events. A constantly changing and exciting new environment has flourished and we in the industry are learning new methods that have resulted from this new event planning world. Bottom line is that the digital world of events is still evolving.

How have you as a professional event planner prepared yourself for this new reality?

It’s honestly a day by day trial. As the world evolves, we need to be open-minded and flexible as planners to evolve with the rules and regulations of the CDC, in addition to each city’s changing circumstances around the world. For this reason, hotels, venues, airlines, and agencies are offering generous clauses in contracts for postponements and cancellations. We also need to remember to be mindful and respectful of others as everyone has a different viewpoint on the current world pandemic. I personally believe all meetings & events should inspire wellness and create movement.

What do you see as the future of the Hawai’i event planning industry and the world at large?

Due to the new restrictions and to ensure everyone’s safety, I foresee future events having seven different elements. Meetings and events need to rethink food and beverage planning – buffets are long gone and new options will have to be pre-plated foods or serving food on bar carts. Other necessary elements include social distancing, seating arrangements, digitally engaging technologies, creating fitness and sporting activities whether remote or in person, content diverse agendas, meditation aspects, and online community engagements.

In addition to reshaping events, we need to realize that the experience of attending an event begins at home. If an attendee needs to take a COVID-19 test prior to traveling, how do you “white glove” that experience by having the event planner take the steps for them? Providing such new personalized services to facilitating the participant’s attendance can be all part of the new event planning experience.

While at the event, whether it is a trade fair or a conference, another idea is to have attendees wear different color wristbands and lanyards based on their comfort level for the contact between participants. For example, red means please stand 6 ft. apart from me, yellow means it is okay to shake my hand and green means it is okay to hug me. And of course, having PPE on-site for attendees will be an enforced must.

At the end of the day, the future of work is anywhere. Meetings and events will eventually make a comeback. As for now, they are remaining in the comfort of one’s own home. As the pandemic starts to wane, you will see events coming back on a smaller scale, meaning regional and localized, taking into consideration each city’s or state’s particular circumstances.

Explore the world of online events with olympianmeeting.com

by Dina Pinos

Dina Pinos is a Canadian-born Greek, former UH graduate student and EastWest Center grantee. Thriving world traveler, seeking to uncover passionate stories to share with and serve the community.