Hello Everyone,

Back in the hazy days of summer, 2020 BC (before-Covid), if I’d met an epidemiologist whilst waiting in line for a flat-white at my local café, I don’t think I would have had a clue what their job entailed. Acronyms such as PPE, WHO, WFH and CDC meant nothing to me, whilst the concepts of self-isolation and social distancing would have sounded like themes of a dystopian science-fiction movie. As our world has changed rapidly over the past couple of months, we’ve had no choice but to become familiar with terms such as clusters, bubbles and contact tracing. We’ve found the people centric work that we do in our sector suddenly referred to as ‘mass gatherings’, and the very essence of what we do in the venue management world- bringing together groups of people for a shared experience- locked down and under threat.

Whilst I’m just as susceptible as the next person to being sucked into the constant newsfeed of this infodemic, and like so many New Zealanders, my day now revolves around making sure I catch the next episode of my favourite reality programme, The Ashley Bloomfield Show, (screening daily at 1pm); I’m trying hard to tune into the other language of lockdown- kindness, connection and recovery.

It’s kindness, connection and recovery that have been the themes emerging from our EVANZ webinar series over the past few weeks. This week’s industry panel shared practical advice and ideas with great generosity, as we heard some great insight about planning for recovery, keeping staff engaged through this crisis and thinking into what our audiences, hirers and attendees might expect of us when the time is right to be able to return to our venues. The highlight of yesterday’s webinar was learning about ‘fogging’, and Electro-Static spray guns- already I’ve had my team at Baycourt asking if we can purchase one, and if it comes with a Ghost-buster’s style backpack and boiler suit. Tuning in to the support, collaboration and sharing that makes our industry such a great place to work has been a real lifeline to me during this lockdown. It’s great to have the opportunity to talk with other venues around the country who are navigating the same challenges and connect in with colleagues- even if it is just to be nosey and check out what books are on the shelf behind them on the zoom call.

Connection and Collaboration is what makes our sector strong. If you are struggling to see the light at the end of this tunnel, or if self-isolation is getting you down, I’d urge you to reach out to your EVANZ colleagues. I know that all my fellow board members would be more than happy to chat with any members who are finding this tough. It’s great to be part of an industry that is not frightened to share knowledge, experience and ideas with each other, so now is the time to check in on your colleagues and keep connected, bubble to bubble. A little kindness can go a long way.

The EVANZ membership is wide and diverse, and we are keen to hear from as may perspectives as possible through our COVID-19 webinar series. We’ve got some great guests lined up for next week, where we’ll hear from both commercial and not-for-profit venues on how they are planning for recovery, outside of the support that many of our Council operated venues around the country have been able to draw on. Do let us know if there are any topics in particular that you would like to see covered in this webinar, or in future editions.

It’s Friday, which in our household, means curry night. In a genius piece of pre-lockdown planning, my wonderful wife headed to our local Indian on the eve of the lockdown and purchased four weeks worth of takeaways, which went into the freezer. Add in some home-made Naan bread, Mango chutney, and we’ll be celebrating the end of the week in style!

Stay safe everyone, and I look forward to catching up with you all online soon.

Arohanui,

James.