By now you have seen that events are still happening for us; even if they aren’t quite like they used to be, we are active in the pursuit of celebrating life’s best moments. If you’re uncertain about how to navigate events these days, consider this your blueprint to planning events in 2020 and beyond.
Picking a venue, considering safety first.
Safety, gathering sizes, and appropriate distancing have all become a greater concern in the recent months, directly impacting how we conduct events. Whether you choose to celebrate at a stunning outdoor venue in the Bay Area, or inside a beautiful church, always consider guest count before picking a venue. You’ll want to be sure the square footage provides enough space for guests to distance if they’d like.
Photo: Danny Dong Photography
Additionally, elements such as safe access to clean water, catering procedures, frequently sanitized restrooms and dining locations are now on the forefront of minds now more than ever before. Even if you do not attend a traditional walkthrough, make sure to address these items when speaking with a venue representative. If they do not provide in house catering, you may ask if they have a preferred list or recommendations.
If food is involved, you must hire the professionals.
The importance of safety is crucial when it comes to food serving and consumption. Professional event caterers know this and take it very seriously. Your guests deserve to enjoy the evening without worry. If food is part of your event, it should be provided by a professional considering the health and wellbeing of all in attendance.
We’d suggest having a catering team that is willing to safely prepare plates in the kitchen to serve to guests individually. If you’d rather enjoy the meal station style, we recommend hiring attendants to assist, prepared with the tools to serve and monitor.
Photo: Augie Chang Photography
If there is a dessert bar, or favor table, consider offering the goodies individually wrapped so guests can grab a serving without contaminating others.
Cookies: Snickerdoodle Sweets & Events
Provide no touch entertainment that keeps guests engaged.
Yes, you can absolutely keep guests engaged without offering traditional lawn games, or a self serve beer tap. If that is your desire, of course you can add an element of class to the event by providing someone to service the beer wall. However, we can’t hire someone to play corn hole for us, so you may consider offering alternative entertainment instead.
For a less traditional guest experience, consider something like Pour Girl Bartending. They offer made to order craft cocktails safely through an exceptional bartending experience for guests.
Live music has become even more meaningful these days, allowing bands and DJ performances to become more sought after than ever before. Music sets the mood, lifts spirits, and offers an unmatched element of entertainment to events, whether or not there is a dance floor present. It can also be a wonderful way to tie in culture into an event.
If you really want to wow your guests, aerialists are sure to leave an impression! AVL Entertainment provides a wide range of entertainment from disc jockeys to aerialists. All of these entertainment options can be broadcasted live for a virtual or hybrid event, which leaves a very different impression and experience for all of your guests beyond just watching it on TV.
Offer a way for guests to attend the event virtually.
Offering the option for guests to attend virtually is almost a given. Even if you plan to invite a small, safe group to join in person, having an option for guests to still participate remotely allows people to attend within their own comfort level.
Check out the full blog post outlining our audio visual recommendations to stream your event, if this is something you are interested in providing for guests.
It’s an honor to continue to provide the same exceptional service.
Whether it’s for an intimate dinner party to safely celebrate a 70th birthday, a virtual baby shower for a first time mom, or an elopement for a couple deeply in love; life’s worth it. There’s clearly so much to celebrate, but there’s also a lot to consider when planning events in 2020 and beyond. We are here to help you do so, safely.
