With no end in site to social distancing restrictions, are 2020 events a lost cause? It has been almost five months since we were forced to postpone one of our biggest events of the year – The Twin Cities Women’s Expo. Since then, we’ve been monitoring all the COVID-19 updates to determine if and when we can reschedule the Expo or any of our events for 2020.
Unfortunately, while the status of live events remains uncertain, so do we. As an entertainment social enterprise with a mission to put women on stage – live events are what we do! So, what do we do?
Well, we decided that the best option would be to ask you what YOU think! So, we put together a survey to ask our followers how they feel about live events right now. Additionally, if they would be interested in attending an Expo event at the State Fairgrounds this Fall. Here’s what we found!
THE SURVEY RESULTS
Out of 155 total responses, we discovered that 52.9% of respondents said they would be moderately comfortable or very comfortable attending a mainly outdoor event in 2020. Another 28.4% of respondents said they would be comfortable with it depending on favorable COVID updates. Only 19.4% of respondents indicated they would be slightly uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, or other when it came to attending an event this year.
When asked whether they had other (non-Rock What You Got) events scheduled for 2020, the majority of survey takers responded positively. 67.3% of respondents said they were either open to attending events or already had events on their calendar that they planned to attend.
Out of eight potential safety precautions, respondents ranked hand sanitizer stations, regular exhibit booth sanitization, and spread out exhibitor booths as the top 3 most important precautions in their decision to attend an event.
The safety precautions ranked as following:
- Hand sanitizer stations
- Regular exhibit booth sanitization
- Spread out Exhibitor booths
- Venue predominantly outside
- Significant reduction in confirmed cases
- Physical distancing enforced with traffic flow and floor stickers
- Face masks required
- Governor relaxes social gathering restrictions
OTHER COMMENTS & FEEDBACK
At the end of our survey we asked for respondents to submit their comments and concerns. Out of roughly 80 responses, the three most common concerns were about large crowd sizes, how RWYG would enforce safety precautions, and the unpredictable October weather.
Additionally, we asked respondents if there were any safety precautions missing from our list (above) that would help them feel comfortable attending an event. Top suggestions included mandatory temperature checks at the door and bathroom sanitization.
ARE 2020 EVENTS A LOST CAUSE?
So, what does this all mean for Rock What You Got? Are 2020 events a lost cause? For one, we were surprised to find that the majority of our followers are open to the idea of attending an in-person event in 2020! At the same time, we received several comments from those who would not be comfortable attending any large event this year regardless of safety precautions.
For now, we are taking it all in to account and working on a few new ideas. If we do have the opportunity to host an event this year, we will be working closely with Minnesota health experts and venue personnel to ensure the safety of our attendees. Stay tuned for more updates to come!
Want to add your voice to the mix? We are still welcoming responses for this survey! CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY
