Coronavirus Canceled Your Event: What Do You Do Now?

Coronavirus Canceled Your Event: What Do You Do Now?

COVID-19 has officially been named a pandemic and is affecting businesses across the globe. Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and Broadway have all canceled upcoming events - and they’re not the only ones. Many organizations are canceling trade shows and conferences as well in order to prevent the spread of this flu-like virus. While this is an important step in containment, there’s no question that it’s difficult for businesses.

What Are Your Next Steps?

If you were supposed to exhibit at a trade show or conference, a cancellation can be stressful. It can also feel like a lost opportunity to make important.connections with potential clients and business partners.

However, just because you aren’t able to attend the trade show doesn’t mean you can’t still connect with the attendees, especially if you’ve already purchased branded items for the event. Below are a few ways you can make up for the lost time.

Send Promotional Products to the Guests 

If you contact the organization that was hosting the trade show, you should be able to get access to the guest list. Instead of sitting on all of the items that you ordered for the show, send them out to each of the companies on the list.

This is a great way to initiate contact with them while commiserating about the fact that the event was canceled. Include a personalized note to each of the companies letting them know that you’re sorry you weren’t able to get together this time but that you’re looking forward to the next industry event and you’d be open to connecting in the meantime.

Offer Discounted Services or Vouchers

If sending your promotional products to all of the guests isn’t something that’s feasible for your business, consider sending out a voucher or coupon instead. You can put together a “special bag” or kit of the items that you were originally planning on giving out and send an email letting the companies know that these will be available specifically for them next time. 

You could also let them know that you value their business and they can get their bag sooner by setting up a no-strings-attached call to discuss a potential partnership. Just make sure that the offer is genuine and don’t set any expectations other than a quick call before sending out their products.

Contact Skylight 

If you’ve already purchased items through Skylight for your event or trade show, we’re here to help. We can work with you to figure out the best solution to still distribute your promotional products to companies who were supposed to attend the event.

We care about our clients and want to make sure that you can still get the most out of your event, even if you aren’t able to physically attend. Our goal is always to provide top-notch service and to give our clients personalized attention in stressful situations. 

If you have questions or need to discuss your recent order, give us a call at (410)-879-8401 or contact your sales representative.