How Covid-19 disrupted and reinvented the event planning industry
When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our lives, the event planning industry one of the hardest hit sectors.
After suffering huge losses in revenue, event planning businesses had to reinvent and reimagine the way events were held, moving on to digital spheres to generate income.
In the event industry specifically, which was already moving into the digital sphere, the last year accelerated a move into virtual spaces from years to months.
Sinar Daily spoke to three event planners to find out more about how they fared during the height of the pandemic, when lockdowns plagued the event management industry.
Chief operating officer of Reka Teemor, Rozana Mumtaz said that the company experienced an 80 per cent drop in revenue in 2020, when the pandemic first hit.
Closing the business and reopening after several lockdowns took a toll on Reka Teemor, as there was no steady stream of income available.
“We did not want to look beyond Reka Teemor, so we took a break instead to do our research and strengthen the brand name through online marketing and social media,” she said.
As restrictions were lifted, couples who had postponed their wedding plans were eager to jump right back into planning the event. The sudden increase in the number of weddings was to expected, she said.
Constant SOP changes and rulings are a bit of a challenge, and undeniably a part of the new norm. Event management companies are expected to constantly be on their feet.
Much like any other event planning business, Helium & Konfetti Events was greatly affected by the pandemic.
“Thankfully, ever since events have been allowed to resume, we have managed to pick up where we left off and continue to do what we love,” said senior event manager of Helium & Konfetti Events, Valerie Chin,.
The company tried their best to work with the situation the pandemic had placed them in.
“We continued planning events but adapted our packages and services to cater for at-home celebrations, where we were not physically required to go and set the place up.
Pre-pandemic, the sky was the limit when it came to the sort of events that could be planned.
Now that restrictions have been lifted, Helium Konfetti & Events are able to slowly pick up where they left off, but the scale of events they could plan post-lockdown were not as big as they used to be.
Staff are made to take weekly self-kits as a precaution before coming to the office, and this practice extended to every event they needed to attend and set up.
Clients, on the other hand, are reminded not to be present while the event is being set up.
Hit hard by the pandemic, founder of Muas Mo Wedding & Event Stylist, Mohd Muas Sazwan Mohammad Mazlan shared how the company had to adapt to work from home arrangements, having lost their office space.
The biggest challenge for them was having to convince clientele to postpone the events that they have planned out instead of outright cancelling them.
“We were suffering huge losses during the height of MCO, so I started a small business selling and breeding Betta fish.
Muas, as he prefers to be called, said that the business had to start from scratch when restrictions were lifted and everything was reopened to the public.
One of the ways in which they did that was to hire interns instead of full-timers to cut costs and invest in a good onboarding process.
Last minute bookings, all three companies agreed, were something that they must learn to work with.
“Now, everything is on a first come, first served basis,” he added.
In spite of the challenges that came with Covid-19, it has forced the event planning industry to adopt new approaches in adapting to situations in times of crisis.
Now, as the country moves past the lockdown phase, a hybrid of virtual and physical events have become the new norm.
Check out Reka Teemor, Helium & Konfetti Events, and Muas Mo Wedding & Event Stylist if you’re planning for events .
