4 Ways For Meeting Planners to Prepare for Flu Season

The Following Blog written by Sarah Larkins was featured at blog.cvent.com/blog/event-planners on October 22nd, 2009 - I thought it was important enough to re- post for your information:

As the meetings industry prepares for the H1N1 flu virus, are you ready for handling events during flu season? Check out these 4 tips for how to be prepared:

1. Stock up on hand sanitizers.

Hand sanitizers are a decent safeguard to spreading diseases from hand to mouth. Though they don't replace hand washing, they are especially helpful at meetings and events where your guests cannot always run to the bathroom for soap and water. Just make sure to purchase sanitziers that contain an alcohol (ehtyl alcohol, ethanol, etc.) in a concentration of at least 60 percent. Studies have shown that anything less than this is not effective.

2. Educate your guests.

Provide your attendees with helpful information on how they can keep themselves and others healthy. Washing hands frequently, avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth, and coughing into a sleeve or elbow—not hands—are among the best tips to stay healthy. Share these with your attendees on your event website or in your email marketing.

3. Stay informed.

Just as your guests should be in the loop, event planners should make sure to regularly visit reliable websites such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep current on the flu vaccine, influenza activity in the United States and more.

Additionally, it also helps to be familiar with the symptoms of the flu, which include fever, sore throat, headache, body and muscle aches, dry cough, runny or stuffy nose and fatigue. Note that for adults, symptoms such as difficulty breahting or shortness of breath, sudden dizziness and severe vomiting warrant urgent medical attention. Establish a plan of action should an event guest, or one of your staff members, fall sick. Designate a contact person to whom guests can turn for medical assistance.

4. Have a back-up plan.

Last year, many event planners were caught unawares by the pandemonium brought on by the flu. Make sure to establish procedures for attendee cancellations, speaker cancellations, etc. Have a policy in place when it comes to refunding event fees for your attendees. This also holds true for your event venue and suppliers—go over how payments/refunds will be handled should you need to cancel or change locations at the last minute.