Contactless events could be the new normal, with fewer physical touch points to minimize the spread of germs. That also goes for events held at fairgrounds. Reducing points of contact between guests, vendors, and staff is something that event planners can achieve with the right safety precautions and tech solutions.
Go digital and reduce touch points
Lean on tech to help reduce touch points throughout your venue. Three of the best ways to do it are selling tickets online, contactless check-ins, and digital wayfinding.
Online ticket sales. Phase out physical tickets by selling digital tickets on your website or event app. Not only does it reduce the number of people gathering close together in line – creating a potential social distancing nightmare – but if you set up a presale, it can also be a clever strategy to gather data insights and build buzz for your event.
Presales are the first wave of ticket sales and can give event planners opportunities to create multiple buzz-worthy moments during the earliest stages. When tickets are on sale for a limited amount of time, it creates a sense of urgency among your customers. With social media being such an integral part of today’s marketing, you can create exclusive opportunities to those who follow you and are active on your channels. In addition, presales let you capture data about your audience so you can drive greater sales opportunities by focusing your marketing efforts.
Contactless check-ins. Traditional check-ins are risky because 1. Even if you mark safe social distancing guides on the ground, people can still miss them; and 2. Physical check-in tools like paper tickets, wristbands, and hand stamps can increase the risk of virus transmission through touch.
A virtual check-in system is the answer. When attendees buy their tickets online, they’re emailed or texted a QR code to scan at the venue to check themselves in. Ungerboeck’s Registration Check-In solution offers everything you need for a quick and organized digital check-in process.
Digital wayfinding. This is an area where having an event app is especially useful. An app enabled with digital navigation can act as a map, replacing helpdesks. Integrating GPS into the map allows people to see exactly where they are and find their way around the fairgrounds. It’s also a great idea to provide a searchable FAQ section or a chatbot on the app as a “virtual helpdesk.”
Digital signage placed prominently throughout the event space is another best practice. Digital signs provide an easy way to communicate event details, last-minute changes, or other important announcements all at once to your attendees.
Keep Fairgrounds Clean
A focused effort on cleaning and sanitation must be in place when you plan an event, even one that’s contactless. You can maintain a healthy environment by stocking up your restrooms and providing sanitation stations around the fairgrounds.
Sanitation stations. Place stations with hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol throughout the venue accompanied by highly visible signs.
Fully stocked restrooms. All restrooms need sinks and supplies for people to wash their hands. Supplies should include soap, water, paper towels, and covered foot-pedal trash cans. Rope off queues and clearly mark six-foot dividers to encourage social distancing for people waiting in line.
It’s important to partner with venue staff to ensure health regulations are followed. Build mobile to-do lists with Ungerboeck’s Operations Suite to help staff members stay ahead of sanitation and daily safety operations. The Mobile Inventory Management feature is an especially valuable asset. Use it to track items without the need for doing inventory counts by hand. It also makes it much easier to transfer inventory between locations, boosts accuracy, and simplifies the management of item costs. You can get more ideas about how to maximize your fairgrounds finances here.
Food Safety
Some people come to the fairgrounds just for the food, and there’s no reason why you can’t continue to deliver what your attendees want. Rethink the way you serve it up by saying no to buffets, using contactless payments, and setting up outdoor seating.
No buffets. Unfortunately, buffets everywhere might be a thing of the past. It’s just not possible to keep an eye on cleanliness when people can serve themselves using the same utensils over and over. Let your staff handle the serving and replace shared objects between uses. If replacement isn’t possible, clean and disinfect shared objects or use disposable utensils, plates, and napkins that can be recycled.
Contactless service. QR codes can be used as digital menus. Attendees scan the codes to order food and then get the food themselves when it’s ready. Make it a policy for food vendors to accept contactless payments using a cashless point of sale service, such as Square, Revel, or Clover.
Outdoor seating. Since people don’t wear masks while they eat, it’s much safer to place eating areas outside. Diners will have more room to spread out, you’ll have more room to keep seating separate, and better ventilation will lower the risk of airborne sickness. Room diagramming solutions offered by Ungerboeck can help you lay out the best way to set up your space.
Organizing contactless fairgrounds events are possible when you take the right safety precautions and adopt the best digital solutions. You can take it a step further with Ungerboeck’s all-encompassing Exhibitor Portal for event and venue management. Manage vendors, design space layouts, and centralize information sharing while you’re on the road using your phone or mobile device. Free up time for you and your exhibitors to focus on more important things. Hands-free pie eating contest, anyone?
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