Health and safety measures relating to Covid-19 have been confirmed for The Business Travel Conference 2021.
The intimate event, with a maximum of 200 buyer delegates, is being held at the Hilton London Bankside on September 14-15.
The programme and some of the top speakers have already been unveiled for the conference, with a theme of ‘Reconnect, Reset, Restart’.
This week the organisers confirmed the raft of measures being put into place for the safety of delegates, exhibitors and speakers.
Hilton is continuing to implement EventReady, its stringent global meetings and events programme designed to create event experiences that are clean, flexible, safe and socially responsible. This includes room seals for guest and meeting rooms, sanitising stations in public areas and meeting spaces and EventReady Room Checklist.
Hilton is also continuing to implement vigorous hygiene processes under its CleanStay programme.
Despite the relaxation of rules relating to face coverings, Hilton Bankside staff will continue to wear masks throughout the conference and will also be taking regular voluntary lateral flow tests for the benefit of their colleagues and guests.
There will be numerous hand sanitisation stations positioned throughout the venue and attendees will be encouraged to use them frequently.
In order to speed up the arrivals process and minimise queuing, conference registration will be open an hour early each morning (8am) and registration teams have been expanded.
Registration teams and all conference staff will also wear masks when interacting with attendees. They will also take daily lateral flow tests in the run-up to and during the event.
In order to make attendees feel more comfortable with social distancing, TBTC will offer optional wristbands in three colours based on a traffic light theme.
Wearing a green wristband will indicate to others that attendees are comfortable with hugs and physical contact, amber will show that any greetings should be restricted to fist or elbow pumps, while red signals that attendees are comfortable to chat but prefer to avoid any physical contact.
“We hope this will help all attendees relax and respect comfort levels and avoid any awkward moments!” said Kirsty Hicks, Publisher and Head of Business Travel for BMI Publishing, which organises the conference.
“Wristbands can be changed during the conference, so if you take a green wristband and decide to change to amber or red you can just come back to reception and pick up a new wristband, disposing of the other one in bins provided.”
In order to keep contact to a minimum, there will be no Silent Conference Headphones this year. Instead the conference sessions will be broadcast to the whole room, with sound deflectors in place to help contain noise.
“The event will only occupy 50% of capacity of the Hilton Bankside Ballroom and Balcony and with less exhibitors this year we are able to increase networking space to allow for comfortable movement throughout,” added Hicks.
Refreshments breaks and lunch service will be increased to accommodate more people and shorten queues.
Attendees will be encouraged to take a voluntary lateral flow test prior to attending which can be ordered free of charge.
Following Government guidelines, anyone displaying any of the following symptoms will be asked not to attend:
- a high temperature
- a new, continuous cough,
- a loss or change of sense of smell or taste
Hilton London Bankside has an NHS check-in/check-out code displayed at the entrance to the property.
If anyone presents with Covid symptoms at the conference there are plans in place with Hilton Bankside to protect them and others from the risk of transmission.
In collaboration with the Hilton London Bankside, The Business Travel Conference has completed a full risk assessment for the event.
