Contact Tracing

Some countries are very focussed on contact tracing. This might be something that could be a part of new event formats with both benefits for our clients, as well as potentially for complying with Government regulations.

Contact Tracing: Being able to track who a person came in contact with.

Past - This could be something that could be asked for during the registration process. Apart from checking whether someone has felt ill in the last 14 days, they could also ask for a list of people they were in contact with outside their household, or whether they were abroad in the last xy amount of days.

(That way it is insured that everyone attending has a clean bill of health and isn't infecting anyone onsite)

Present - Tracking who the delegate comes into contact with. The WHO addresses contacts that last around 15 minutes in time, which could be delegates talking at an exhibition stand, or sitting in a keynote next to other people, or just networking with colleagues. If we look at contact tracing in terms of usage of apps, delegate movements, and a sort of exchange of information between delegates via their phone or badge for example, then this information can be gathered on the delegates (obviously requires their permission), and with that if an infection comes up, it is easier to track all delegates that came in contact with the infected person.

For clients this is also positive, since this can be used to establish which products work well (where was most footfall), who came to see which stand and was interested in which product (exchange of business cards for further contact), and can overall help to manage customer flow, (i.e. staggering catering times etc. with live data).

Future - having data for the next event to work with, allowing clients to do follow ups on certain delegates and being able to track back all contacts made with the delegate to also see whether these contacts are showing signs of infection, or whether this was just one individual.

Whether this is done via the event app, or via badges with certain chips, that can exchange information in the face to face experiences to avoid human touch, or whether that is tracking people with beacons, it provides reassurance and a bit of containment.

How much this conflicts with GDPR and overall information gathering is another questions that needs a bit of discussion.