100 days of COVID-19 in Ghana: Chief Director of GMA shares learnings in events management

Chief Director of Global Media Alliance, Emma Wenani has shared that the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way things are done in the events industry and it is important that events companies adjust to these changes.
Speaking at a virtual discussion on the theme ‘100 days of COVID-19 in Ghana: Learnings in the entertainment industry’, Ms. Wenani disclosed how her company, Global Media Alliance has been affected by the COVID-19 disease.
“I do remember we had to cancel about 7 major events just before the lockdown because the numbers were increasing and we knew that people would not be willing to attend events because of the fear of the virus”.
She, however, noted that the company has adopted few measures to survive in these COVID-19 times.
“One of the things that we have had to do is to adjust to the new landscape. It’s been said that we really don’t know when COVID-19 is going to end. This could be our new normal. Which means we need to be able to work in a system where we are putting things into place to ensure that we are safe and sound.
“Another thing is that we are assessing how we deliver these events. For example, we had the Ghana Beverage Awards event over the weekend which we have organized over the last four years and this particular event was one of the events we had to postpone because of the pandemic.”
“We had to weigh the options and think that at the end of the day, there will be a different edition for GBA next year. We don’t want to postpone the event and affect the event in future. So we decided to go virtual. And we were able to deliver it with the same standards that our stakeholders are used to”, she divulged.
She advised that event management industries will have to have some sort of partnerships with organizations so that they can execute their events digitally before proceeding to physical events. This, she said will help sell the benefits to the stakeholders.
She added that events companies, going forward, will have to get health personnel at their events to respond to any health concerns.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah