Features
Operational Learnings From UK Events Research Programme
PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images – A concert-goers shows a negative Covid-19 result on their phone as well as their driving license as they arrive at the venue, a big top in Sefton Park, Liverpool.
The event, promoted by Festival Republic, welcomed 5,000 guests and a lineup led by Blossoms.
The UK government published the results of phase one of its Events Research Programme (ERP). These are the operational learnings it gained so far.
– the country’s testing, data and contact tracing infrastructure is currently not able to provide testing to significant numbers of events
– there’s no standard yet for streamlining people’s tickets and health information in a fool-proof, easily accessible manner. Going forward, government expects, that “directors of public health may develop data sharing agreements with major venues”
– testing requirements introduce friction to the going-out experience, which may stop people from going out in the first place, in particular when it comes to events “driven by impromptu decisions such as cinemas, nightclubs and day-trip attractions,” as the UK government puts it.
In one case, an ERP pilot that got cancelled in the end, potential customers spent “an average of three minutes and 15 seconds reading the terms of entry specifying supervised testing requirements, but only 1.7% of users then bought a ticket, when previously, without testing requirements, their conversion rate was 18%.
“There were also higher than usual ‘no-shows’ at Wembley Stadium, which may indicate that people received their tickets and then didn’t want to follow through with the home or supervised testing requirements,” a summary of the ERP results states.
The drop-outs and no-shows will likely increase, once customers are asked to pay for tests, which will additionally impact certain demographics disproportionately.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images – Members of staff install a sign ahead of a 5,000-capacity one-day festival in Liverpool, May 2, which formed part of phase one of the UK
The initial ERP data shows no significant outbreaks at any of the pilot events conducted so far.
– there’s opposition to health status certification becoming a regular part of the going-out experience, although government describes this opposition as a “vocal minority”
– the initial results also allude to two more ways of creating “safe events”,
the use of separate zones to reduce numbers of potential contacts as well as staggered ingress and egress.
The former may not be possible in all types of venues, the latter could result in significant delays, especially at larger events, “which could both reduce the attendees’ enjoyment of events and increase the amount of time people spend at events,” the government concludes.
It is, for example, common for fans to leave soccer matches early, in cases where the result has been decided prior to the final whistle. If this process needs to be controlled going forward, it will result in increased staffing costs.