The events industry, along with the rest of the world, has been through a trying two years navigating a global pandemic, only to be faced with more obstacles presented by the war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, event organizations and venues have risen to the challenge and have continuously pitched in to aid the global community, despite the potential economic consequences.
When the pandemic first hit, convention centers all over the world built out temporary Covid field hospitals to support the overwhelmed healthcare system. New York’s Javits Center, for example, enabled over 1000 people to be treated at its facility between March and April of 2020.
When the pandemic entered its next phase and vaccines became available, Javits Center was transformed again, this time into a mass vaccination site — the largest in the country at one point — administering over 600,000 vaccines to New Yorkers.
Eventprofs also tried to do their part — George P. Johnson co-founded a Covid-19 coalition, called LiveForLife, with other event industry companies to provide support to government and healthcare agencies building out these temporary testing and treatment spaces.
Just as the pandemic finally seemed to be fading from view, the world was plunged into another crisis. The war in Ukraine has prompted outcry from around the events industry, with organizations like IMEX and SISO banning Russian participation in their events.
Many event companies are going beyond issuing statements and restricting business to actually getting involved in humanitarian efforts. Notably, convention centers in Europe — including Poland’s PTAK Warsaw Expo, Germany’s Deutsche Messe, and Moldova’s MoldExpo — are once again using their event space for good as they prepare to take in thousands of refugees that have fled Ukraine in the last two weeks.
"We feel a great need to help the people fleeing from Ukraine, to offer them protection and refuge in their distress. Therefore, we provide the infrastructure and set up Hall 27 on our exhibition grounds for 1,152 people in close coordination with the City of Hanover and the Hanover Fire Department,” says Dr. Jochen Koeckler, CEO of Deutsche Messe.
The German Red Cross runs the emergency shelter at the exhibition center. Over the past week, 36 tent villages have been set up throughout the space, each with 32 cots spread between four tents, as well as beds for babies and toddlers. The tent villages are complete with tables, chairs, and lockers, and showers, washers, and dryers have also been made available.
Event tech companies are joining the cause as well. Last week, Eric Holmen, CEO of event marketing company Splash, announced that the company will be providing Splash for free to companies helping Ukraine and Ukranians. Those who would like to submit an organization that could benefit from event software to help Ukraine can do so via this form.
“I believe in the power of people coming together to learn and to solve big problems, and it’s a core part of what we deliver for our customers at Splash. We want to support and take a stand,” said Holmen in his announcement. In addition, Splash will be matching employee donations to charitable organizations assisting with the relief effort.
Swapcard has taken a similar step in making its platform available to organizers supporting refugee initiatives around the world. “The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has instilled fear and concern for many across the world. As a human-first company, Swapcard believes actions speak louder than words,” says Swapcard’s Head of Content Mia Masson.
She notes that this will be an ongoing program that will continue to be updated and developed over time. The Swapcard team also collected items at its Paris office for Ukrainain football club Hoverla, which is delivering them to Poland to be taken across the border to those affected by the war.
Meanwhile, Bizzabo has publicly shared the code for a bot it has developed to automate daily check-ins with its team in Ukraine so that other companies can implement it as well.
Everyone’s hope is that this devastating conflict comes to an end as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, the events community can be proud of the initiatives it has implemented to help those in need.