The last year has affected almost every aspect of working life, including conferences and meetings. During the height of the pandemic, face-to-face conferences were cancelled and replaced with zoom meetings or teams chats that bought employees together on a screen and caused several problems in the tech department! Now, workplaces can finally open up their conference room doors once again and hold those important meetings that have been placed on hold for far too long!
Although things are slowly starting to normalise and restrictions on workplace conferences are being lifted, it is still essential that you maintain good health and safety practices. This includes each meeting and event to stop the virus from spreading. In setting up your workplace conferences correctly after Covid, you will allow employees and guests to experience normal working life without putting themselves in danger of catching Covid-19. This article will outline exactly why you should follow a correct conference setup and how you can go about doing this.
Why is it important to set up conferences correctly after Covid restrictions are lifted?
Whilst it may seem life Covid-19 is slowly fading away, the virus is still out there and could still be passed on through something as simple as a cough or an employee entering a building with symptoms that can’t be seen. Therefore, you should still take care to put measures in place that will make your conference room as Covid-safe as possible. Setting up a conference correctly after Covid restrictions will help to:
Prevent the spread of Covid-19 around the office
Ensure that conference guests feel comfortable when attending the event
Keep in line with government advice and Covid safety regulations
Allow the workplace to stay open and operate safely
How to Set up Conferences Correctly After Covid Restrictions Have Been Lifted
A good post-covid conference room set up will allow for social distancing and should provide guests/employees with products to sufficiently clean and sanitise any equipment that is used. The exact setup of your conference will depend on the size, shape and accessibility of your conference room.
Ventilation
To minimise the risk of spreading harmful bacteria/viruses around the conference room, you should ensure that the room is correctly ventilated. Ideally, your conference room should have at least one window that you could open to allow for good airflow and ventilation. A well-ventilated room will consistently flow fresh air into the conference area, which will stop the air that people breathe from being recycled and passed around the room. If someone in the room is carrying Covid without realising it, ventilation will minimise the chances of this being passed onto someone else.
Opening windows could mean that the conference room becomes cold. It is a good idea to ask guests to bring jackets or warm clothing to the conference to not become uncomfortable whilst sitting in the ventilated space.
Social Distancing
Social distancing is the practice of remaining 1 metre apart from any person who is not in the same household, or bubble, as yourself. Social distancing should be followed wherever possible to stop the spread of the virus between households, even after restrictions have been lifted. You will need to accommodate for social distancing measures, so your conference room layout should be fairly spread out. Try to place chairs further away from each other than usual and ensure that there are wide pathways for people to move around in without getting too close to others easily.
It is also a good idea to position all chairs so that they face in the same direction. This prevents people from breathing directly onto others which will reduce the spread of any viruses that could be in the room. Social distancing measures may mean that you must reduce conferences sizes. However, it is important to remember that this is all part of getting out of Covid restrictions entirely.
Sanitisation Availability
To ensure that those attending your conference feel safe when attending the event, you should provide correct sanitising products for each person to use after coming into contact with any equipment. You should also make sure that each conference room is fully cleaned and sanitised after every use to get rid of bacteria and create a clean space for those using the room afterwards.
You could provide hand gel, sanitising wipes, antibacterial spray or accessible hand-washing stations in your conference room. It would be best if you also supplied masks, visors and gloves to your guests so that they can keep themselves safe whilst attending your conference.
Correctly setting up your conference room will keep every person in attendance safe from Covid-19 and will allow your workplace to remain open after restrictions have been lifted. It is important that you continuously update your conference room setup plan to stay in line with government guidelines and to provide the best environment to everyone who attends the meeting.
For more information on conference production, please see https://brightvisionevents.co.uk/conferences/production/
