How were you able to adapt during COVID-19 when the meeting and events industry got disrupted?
1. With our inability to host fans for our home games, our team decided to offer a Gameday To-Go concept. The new initiative had two goals:
- To provide a higher-end, minimal effort, and customer-focused tailgating solution
- Generate revenue on gamedays
This concept entailed pre-cooked food options in tiered packages for customers in a to-go fashion on gamedays. The food options were traditionally only offered to attendees in our premium suites, but with this new initiative, the premium food was available to everyone.
2. Our Events Team made it a priority to focus on employee engagement and personal and professional improvement. To do this, our team members individually outlined 30, 60, and 90+ day plans and shared them with the entire department. In addition, our events team participated in a book study on the following books: Great by Choice by Jim Collins and The Richest Man in Town by V.J. Smith. The book study exercise involved reading and reflecting on questions each Friday during our weekly team call. We also had two additional books that our team read at their leisure. These two books are: Find Your Yellow Tux by Jesse Cole and Principles by Ray Dalio. Finally, our events team members completed a 40-hour training to earn a Hospitality and Tourism Certificate from Florida Atlantic University.
This post is part of the HopSkip Planner Spotlight Series where we celebrate the positivity and optimism shown by planners across the industry when navigating the turbulent waters that COVID-19 has brought to the meetings and events industry. Keep an eye out as we release more stories like this over the next few months.