Back in Business: Your Guide to Conference Hosting in 2021

This post was written with the Life According to Steph audience in mind by James Daniels, a freelance writer, business enthusiast, a bit of a tech buff, and an overall geek. He is also an avid reader, who can while away hours reading and knowing about the latest gadgets and tech, whilst offering views and opinions on these topics.

 

It’s been a bizarre year for businesses. Handshakes on huge contracts have had to give way to virtual agreements over email. Essential meetings with contractors and clients have had to take place over Zoom. Conferences have been performed remotely, as has the bulk of your office work - as staff have retreated into their homes to remain safe from the virus. But with a vaccine well on the way, it’s time to turn your attention to 2021 and the conference that you’re looking forward to hosting - and this article offers tips to help you plan a successful, memorable meeting of minds. 

Follow Vaccine News

It would be irresponsible to plan a conference early in 2021. The vaccine that has been recently announced will be flying across the world in extra-quick time, but it’ll still take some months before it’s completely safe to host a conference - meaning that your guests will turn up. 

As you plan, make sure that you’re in contact with the relevant health authorities and that you can be confident that the date you select will see the world becoming increasingly COVID-free. It’s recommended that you don’t book at all until you see news from your local government that provides a road map for vaccinations in your area. 

Venue and Location

Conferences are still going to be a little different in 2021, despite the slight decrease in the prevalence of the virus in our lives. You’re going to find that people are less enthused about flying to a conference - and that others will be grateful to have a conference that’s not in a city center, where they’ll be exposed to hundreds of different people a day - some with the coronavirus.

As such, look to an out-of-town venue in which to host your conference - somewhere quiet, isolated, and perfect for meetings between industry representatives. If you’re in Australia, you have a wealth of natural, peaceful retreats to choose from. Search for conference venues Adelaide to find perfect spots to host a conference in the hills surrounding the city - rather than in the center of this busy commercial hub. 

Health and Ease

It will take a while for conferences to feel completely normal. After all, we’ll have gone over a year without meeting up in large groups - and this will take some getting used to. To make your guests feel more at ease and comfortable, it’s worth making sure that you’re focusing on health and transmission reduction - even if your conference attendees are all vaccinated. 

One example of this is in catering. Some guests will be put off by tables of food that hundreds of people are having over - and instead, you should find a way to provide food that guests can be sure is clean and healthy. The same can be said of spaces in which people can sit or stand to talk - and the accommodation if your conference will spread over more than one day. Remember that we’re still mentally recovering from the impact of the virus - so be careful to account for this in your plans. 

There you have it: three key tips for planning your conference for the summer of next year. 

Awkward writing about not writing

It's weird to write here at least three but often four to five times a week since 2011 then to abruptly stop doing so in March, like most other things abruptly stopped. To know I can come and do that, to want to do that, to think about doing that, but to end up most days not doing that. 

My friend Janet commented on one of my post shares on facebook asking if she was missing posts or if I wasn't sharing them as frequently. It got me thinking why I'm not showing up here. 

All of my fellow bloggers know one of the things I hate is when bloggers are like omg so sorry I haven't been showing up to this little space ugh, fucking gross. No one cares. 

That is true in this case also, but I have been working through why I'm not writing. It is a huge part of who I am and what I do, and always has been. I have always been writing to myself, as early as I can remember. Stupid things like what I wore that day and what I thought about x. I don't care if the writing is good or has a point, and once I started putting it out publicly on this blog, that held. This just happens to be where I write now. I don't know why I am interested in capturing absolute minutia, but it makes me happy. It's comforting. It gets out what I need to get out, even when it's awkward like this is. 

This has been the place I've shared so much shit, and not all of it is pretty or interesting or consequential. This has been how I've publicly journaled a lot of what I'm doing - which I still do, because TWTW and Thursday Thoughts are about the only things that have by and large survived the coronavirus - but I've stopped capturing a lot of the little things. No one is missing a post about how the light frames my porch in the early evening, but I miss writing that. It's not about what I'm not sharing with the world. It's about hiding from myself. 

At first it was a lack of creativity, from pandemic brain, and I had to save whatever I had for work. That is still the case a little, and it is absolutely also an issue of I don't want to stare at any screen for another minute, but it's also an issue of existing in a state of self-induced task oriented days to avoid thinking and feeling too much. 

Because I've stopped capturing a lot of the big things too, and part of that is how many times can I write about the same shit. Even if it is shit that really, really matters. That I should at least write about in how it relates to my thoughts and feelings, because I am not the same as I was in March. None of us are. I don't want to miss out on this version of myself because it's too exhausting to look at the world around me. 

Like what a mindfuck this pandemic world continues to be, in a roller coaster fashion, so that I'm feeling fine and then, as my friend Lisa said in a comment on IG, something triggers it and it rears its ugly head. None of us have lived through a global pandemic before. We don't know how to be or feel. We don't know what the fuck we're doing. 

The country burning, literally and figuratively, is something I can barely even mention in Thursday Thoughts anymore. I remember back in 2016, telling myself to just pace myself and not get outrage fatigue. I've had that a million times over. No matter what happens people still support an administration that does really fucking terrible shit daily, either in an aggressive fashion like performing hysterectomies on women they have detained in squalid cells or in a silent but deadly fashion like disbanding every damn law and rule and practice that protects the environment or deals with any way in the climate crisis and we all suffer. Writing about that is either shouting into an echo chamber or talking to a wall. No one who likes donald trump or the hideous conservative agenda we entered starting back in the tea party years gives a fuck about anything I say, they just want to win over the libs at all costs. 

And the cost is so fucking high. I see the strain on my face from all of it every time I look in the mirror. I see the strain on the faces around me, masks or not. A lot of it is in the eyes and the brow. 

I spent much of 2018 talking about MFD's run for office, and the toll it was taking on all aspects of our lives. I have spent the past few months avoiding writing about that, but that does not mean the strain is not there. 

Many days I feel like I am traveling along a long road of fine lines to not push myself over the million edges we're all walking along right now. I know many people feel the same. I see you out there. 

I have spent years talking about registering to vote, and actually voting in every election (not just presidential), and being involved in the community and how to get involved on a local or national level with making a change if you want to see one. How to register to vote if you have never registered, whether you are 18 or 49. How to help in the next under 50 days if you don't want to make phone calls or knock on doors. Whatever you want to do or are interested in, please email me. I am happy to talk to anyone at any time about any of these things. How can I help you help? 

I need to show up for myself somehow in this space, because not doing so feels like I am missing. This is a foray into that. If you happened to read it, hi, and happy Wednesday (right?), and how are you? 

Hello from The In Between

That's what I've been calling where we are now.  The In Between. Still applicable: Life in the Time of Corona. Quarantine Diaries.

So The In Between, where we are certainly adrift. We're allegedly out of quarantine, but not really. Nothing is as it was before March. Not for me, anyway. You wouldn't know that in a lot of places. 

Over four months in, we have the people who have still not left their homes and judged others who have done anything. 

That’s not realistic.

We also have many who think they're the only ones doing it right, even if they're doing it like this: ANOTHER DULL QUARANTINE WEEKEND AT HOME, TARGET, CHIPOTLE, HOME DEPOT, AND OUR NIECE’S GRADUATION PARTY

That’s not realistic either.

I think most of us are doing the best we can, calculating risk and cautiously moving about in this world. There are some slip ups. There will be. This is the most realistic.

Some people are doing the worst they can,  sharing shit from a doctor that thinks demons cause illnesses and touting her as a Covid authority. Including your president and his son. 

We're at war over masks. Americans who are anti-mask (lol) seem to think this global pandemic is only happening in America. They say this is political, and planned. They cannot see the rest of the world, or they don't want to. 

We also have the mask police, who think anyone in their line of vision should have a mask on regardless of their proximity or lack thereof to other people. 

We're at war over school and expectations of teachers and students to be physically placed in situations the White House, federal and state governments, major league sports, and most companies will not place themselves, their employees, or their patrons in. I feel like constantly screaming. Yes, Karen, kids DO belong in school, and that's where they would be if there had been some sort of coordinated federal response on a level of other countries, but we are America and we bucked the system and kept having parties and refused to wear masks and here we are with a fucked up and uncertain fall looming. Thanks for that, everyone who has been kicking and screaming like toddlers. 

We think we're headed for another shut down over flu season. 

Some small businesses remain shuttered - I was in Liberty Place yesterday in Philly, and most food court restaurants are still closed, some it looks like for good - so this is still hitting the people at the lower end of the pay scale the hardest. Many people are still not back to full time or full earning potential. And the federal government has done nothing to prolong extra unemployment benefits or pivot or create jobs or fucking anything. People are still out of work with no prospects and it's not because of the goddamn Governors that are trying to keep people safe. We should have done literally everything differently in this country. Our government is failing us. The White House is a black hole. What has Congress been doing? People cannot afford to live and eat right now, and a lot of us are ignoring that so we can fight with each other online over wearing masks.

And of course people are still sick, recovering, dying, getting, spreading. We are years away from knowing the ins and outs of Covid.

We think 2020 is absolute shit but also we've learned some things and loved some things. 

Me personally? The last time I wrote about coronaland in depth was Things I Want to Remember on June 10, and if you type quarantine in the search box on the left if you're on a computer, you'll find more. I usually recall what I've written, but one of the side effects of this is not great recall. 

My brain is working better than it was. 

My mood has evened out. There's a lot less fight or flight happening. 

I've gained weight that I probably won't lose. 

I'm drinking less coffee than I was. 

I'm reading more. 

When I buy something, I'm trying to buy from a black person, black women in particular. 

I'm flexing work hours more. 

Still feeling lucky to have a job where I can work from home, and to do so for a company that's been extra great throughout. 

I'm so fucking furious at a lot of things in this country. The fury increases as we approach Election Day. Please make sure your voter registration is solid, and that you  have a plan to vote in person or via mail on Election Day. 

I'm in Philly until tomorrow, my first time since June 22 or 23. I had a dentist appointment yesterday and TODAY IS MY MOTHERFUCKING HAIR APPOINTMENT. My last one was February 26. To say I am looking forward to this is the understatement of the year.

But being in Philly itself is disorienting. 

I head back to the shore tomorrow until 8/8, when I'm back in Philly for a week with plans to whip this house into shape since I'll go back to the shore in mid-August and stay there for the fall. As of this week, my office is closed to in-person operations indefinitely - until the Governor lifts telecommuting recommendations which I don't think will happen this year. 

I've settled into a TWTW post on Monday and Thursday Thoughts on Thursday with a few other posts peppered in here or there. I always link to them in my Instagram profile and share them on FB as well. This is an extra for this week, and Frank will be here Friday to share his annual birthday blog post - his actual birthday is today. Happy birthday Fronk! 

I'm trying to appreciate the good that has come from this and just operate as best as I can. How are you doing? Really?

Thursday Thoughts - as free as the wind and hopefully learning

1. A series of unfortunate events: Tuesday, lunchtime. I had been putting errands off because it's been too hot. I thought it was bearable and set out to do them by bike but alas, it was not. Sweating like mad. The sign I was picking up was so big I had to balance it on my handlebars. I have been wanting to get a Bungalow Bowl for months, but the one near me cut its hours due to Corona and the order times were always super long for pickup and I kept forgetting and not placing orders in enough time to stave off hanger. Tuesday was my lucky day, I chose an off hours time and ordered well ahead, everything was beautiful. I put my precious Here Comes the Sun bowl in my bike basket but due to the aforementioned sign I could not ride with my hand on it like I normally would so it bounced and spilled within seconds. Two blocks later I tied my bike to my porch, ran inside like my ass was on fire to corona wash my hands, ran back outside, scooped that shit back into the bowl, threw it in the freezer, and freaking ate it. Later I poured hot water and dish soap in my bike basket and called it a day.  Josie Grossy reporting for duty. Also. I freaking hit my head on my counter, saw stars, and had to lay down for a half hour in a dark room. It was all worth it. 

2. Did you like that one, with the fuckery? Yes? People always like stories when things go wrong because as long as it doesn't result in serious loss or injury, it's amusing. Let's do another. Yesterday I fed Bruce and Ben around 4 like normal. A half hour later, I was stepping to the left to grab a box cutter and my heel went in Bruce's ceramic bowl and started to slide swiftly on the vinyl floors, not nearly as gracefully as Dottie Hinson. I swear my life flashed before my eyes. I am sort of okay. Twenty years ago I would have been totally okay. 

3. Speaking of floors, every year since 2012 has been the year we were going to redo the floors in the Philly house. And never did. Something always came up. They got worse and worse, literally without varnish in most spots. This was going to be the year! Then coronavirus. WELL we finally got them done for a song this week, just took them back to natural wood. I am super pleased and can't wait to see them in person next week. The photos are not true before and afters because MFD is not a blogger. Sorry about it. 

Done! The dark spot is the dining room chandelier shadow.

The kitchen was mostly inaccessible during this project.

Kudos to MFD on managing his floor and shed projects up there this week - the shed project was also supposed to be done back in February in anticipation of his mom moving in but coronavirus and my mother-in-law passed away and here we are in July but in any case we have our shed situation sorted which we also mentioned doing soon when we moved in in...2009. The guys who did the floors? They came and took our old plastic sheds, so it was an awesome neighborhood connection for a great price and the spur of the moment job worked out well. Which is totally compliments in MFD's favor - I do not do well with "oh, can you have everything on your first floor moved out in less than 24 hours?" But he does and he did. 

4.  Mask Monday or Friday is one of my favorite WFH life things. No longer taking up weekend time on that shit. I can do my work with a mask on just as easy as without. I love this mask but it's the first time you're seeing it because I look like I have just assisted Dexter with a murder project but then I thought it's corona land, give the people something WTF to laugh at. It's good, I swear. Frightening but good.  

5. Wednesdays are on the rise for my favorite weekday day of the week because I've been flexing 10-6 work hours and going to the farmers market and taking care of some other biz. This week that was getting OPC, taking a long walk and checking out all the blooms, enjoying farm fresh eggs from my neighbors, cutting up fruit and replenishing my lemons/limes I go through like crazy, chilling with Natalie Merchant and incense like it was 1992, wiping down the bath, dropping cardboard at the recycle center and laundry at the wash & fold. It breaks up my week and I like the groove. I feel accomplished before I start work and that bleeds over into accomplishments during the day. 

6.  How to tell my niece has been around: my crystals and sea glass are out.

7. Have you heard of the people doubling down on all lives matter and blue lives matter and have no problem saying either but still can't say black lives matter? Keep going. 

8. I don't know why people do not understand why governors are requiring food sales and not just booze. Booze makes you looser, unable to see what six feet is, forgetful. Don't act like you don't fucking know that and make a hurrhurr the government is fucking crazy and we are smart like OMG so you don't get covid if you eat AND drink but you can get it if you only drink sure government you are killing America, God. Welp, someone is stupid, and you can probably look closer than further for that person. Come the fuck on, everyone. It does spread much easier standing shoulder to shoulder with people with no masks and you can't wear them when you're drinking. Don't be giving bars that are doing proper distancing and what they need to do food-sales wise to remain open a fucking bad name by acting a fool. Also Fearless Leader now says covid is bad and to wear masks so wear a fucking mask. Another also. If you wanted kids back in school and sports back in the fall you should have fucking listened in the spring and kept being careful through summer and worn a goddamn mask without endless bitching and not busted out like hyenas and maybe they'd be back in school safely for everyone. You should also vote for people who put people in charge of the Department of Ed that don't fucking defund schools. I am tired of people not connecting any of the dots. It's not that hard. We had to cancel fall girls weekend and I am fucking livid that everyone couldn't just buckle down at any point and this shit is just going to go on and on - here. In America. Because we cannot look around the world and take fucking notes on how to stop the spread. 

9. Reminder 

10. E-cards 

What's good?

The words following the hyphen are the song I am listening to when I start the Thursday Thoughts post. This week is More Than This by Roxy Music

I was once a productive person

I started writing this in my head a week ago. I actually thought I wrote it this weekend. I figured I'd do it this morning when I got up at 6:30. Here we are after 5. It may or may not say what I sat down to write. The grammar is probably questionable even for the conversational style I adopt here. My typical writing and posting times and checks are a little off I guess.

What the hell is NOT off?

Raise your hand if that sounds familiar in your Corona Land.

Even if what sounds familiar is just something being off. We're all coming to this quarantine or essential worker pandemic shitshow party with different thoughts, beliefs, fears, support systems, health, living situations, responsibilities, expectations, experiences, bank accounts. None of us is going through this coronavirus pandemic in the same way. We keep hearing and saying we're all in this together but we're not. I'm not sure if we all recognize that aspect.

I have it good. I am healthy. I can work from home. I have a home to work from that is fully stocked with food and necessities with all utilities on and current and of course dogs. I have a yard I can sit in, a neighborhood safe to walk in, a car I can escape to nowhere in. My husband can't work by order of the governor and the summer at the shore is up in the air rental-wise and my creativity has done a runner which makes working and writing difficult but by and large we are in a good spot. We have a lot to lose. 

Me being me and knowing myself and how I have always operated through everything life has thrown my way, at the beginning of this I was like cool cool, I'm going to get all the house projects done, and then all the shore projects done, and cook all the meals, and do all the beauty treatments, and catch up on all the correspondence, and clean all the corners of the house, and do all the work stuff I want to do but never have time to do, and exercise every day, and do so much writing on this blog and so much writing I am not ready to share with anyone yet. I am productive as fuck when I have very little spare time so the amount of things I was going to be able to do filled me with a small bit of glee. Okay, corona! This is your silver lining. That, and I will read eleventy billion books because all I have is time.

Two days into this quarantine and I realized that silver lining was rusted the fuck out from go because all I have is time in which I cannot focus on, well, anything. Even including the things I want to do, the books I want to read. I miss devouring books. A lot. And I'm pissed that the thing that keeps me from doing that is my own brain.

I am so used to being productive every day and reading two to three books a week that I feel like I'm living in a foreign body. At home, MFD and I have switched roles. He's prodding ME to do things. What planet is this? I am typically the driver of projects and the household motivator for a lot of things. He is probably doing the same amount that he always does but it feels like so much more because I have to force myself to do the smallest shit unless it’s lie on the couch eating candy from the candy cabinet I now have to replace cooking and nutrition. 

Over five weeks later I still battle many days to get through the day with some sense of something done. Most weekdays it's all I can do to work, then I'm exhausted and can do nothing at night. I seem to be in a three good days two off days cycle (that's the hell zone cycle I referenced here) unless the weather is gray or rainy for a sustainable period. The good days are good, and there's usually good even on the bad days but in non Corona Land I operate on a balanced, even keel and this shit has my boat overturned and I'm swimming for shore and getting whacked in the head with the oar every third day.

What is wrong with me? I have it relatively good, so much to be grateful for...so frustrated with myself. Well, it turns out stress and the looping fight or flight reaction sequence from this entire situation is what is wrong with me, the same thing that's wrong with you if you have identified with any part of this post so far.

If you have, you might like this explanation from Alexis Rockley. You might also like her talking about this in more detail in this IG live video. It's 14 minutes, I listened to it while working, and it made me feel better about my inconsistency because it is what is helping me get through this even if it makes me feel very not myself.

She also shares temporary suggestions for getting through this (really, I recommend watching the 14 minute long video) which are 1) extend our timelines (leave room, let things happen more slowly) and expect you are going to be inexplicably tired - your brain is working hard to safeguard you in these unprecedented times (can we never hear that phrase again, thank you) and you need more rest and sleep simply to achieve baseline functionality 2) lower your expectations and celebrate when you meet the minimum, and 3) practice emotional first-aid. 

This was an a-ha for me. Valuing accomplishment and productivity in a space where accomplishment and productivity are hard to reach is a conundrum. My brain not clicking into the lower expectation gear is making every day harder on myself. 

All of the above are temporary suggestions just to get you through if you are feeling some kind of way that is not yourself and can be lifted or altered at any time as circumstances change. 

Because they will change. It might feel like it's been forever and maybe it feels like it will be forever more, but ready or not, we're going to open up again. Sooner than many think we should. Not soon enough for many.

And then?

I am worried about the impact this will have on us. Will my brain come back online to operate like it used to or will things from this time linger? Will I be able to get shit done again? Will MFD be able to grieve his mom by hugging people he needs to hug and be hugged by?

I'm even more worried for the people who already live like this all the time. People who have much less in this world than I do and who regularly worry about having access to things depending on money or location or opportunity or race or all of those things. Many of us have gotten a taste of what it's like to be facing a very different economic present than we typically face, whether it's because we're down an income, or suddenly without healthcare that was tied to a job, or because we're shopping in stores with bare shelves and feel cut off from what we have gotten so used to having access to that we have confused a lot of wants with needs, or because we've been told we can't access programs and places that we think should be available to us. That has worn us to the bone, quite quickly. Imagine living like that day in and day out, not being able to get what you need because you have no money or opportunity to make money, because you live in a neighborhood no one found worthy to invest in and it's become a food desert or you need a service that isn't accessible to you. Or imagine being out working as an essential person right now, day in and day out, having that mindfuck on top of the general quarantine mindfuck, and getting no hazard pay. Especially our essential healthcare workers. What are we doing? Imagine these things with the backdrop of corporations paying $0 in taxes, government posturing instead of working and all of their salaries added up from top to bottom, billionaires not paying their share, etc etc. It's too much. We can do better. We have to do better. I want to return to a new normal. Not the old one. The old normal was only working for some people.

We have to do better for ourselves and our neighbors. Right now we don't live in a world where everyone knows they're going to be okay no matter what happens because our communities and our government have safety nets for us as citizens and treat us better than they treat corporations. But we could live in that world. What is truly fair and equitable? Truly? Put yourselves in the shoes of other people and think about that question. How can we get to a place that is fair and equitable? How hard are we willing to work individually to get there?

Never too early to think about. Doing...those of us who find ourselves without the productivity we are used to can do more when we can feel productive again, of course.

For today? Right now? Just be human. Be kind to yourself.

Thursday Thoughts - And hard times come, and hard times go

1. Amid it all, life goes on, a new season starts. Happy spring.

2. As Gwen stated on the 'gram earlier this week. when the going gets tough, the tough do their nails. One of my favorites: Zoya Rikki.

3. Trying to get my mind around the scale and impact of the unprecedented Covid-19 global pandemic is difficult. It's hard to come to terms with being unable to know or control anything. Might we lose everything? Yes. Might we not? Also yes. Is it going to be hard either way? 100% yes. I was watching a friend's video on Instagram yesterday and she was like just chill, because you can't control any of it. I'm trying to access that part of me. When the world is hugely uncertain, I try to control what I can which is hard when you're stuck in the house with people who don't enjoy that. 

4. I think the word of the week is unprecedented. Do you agree?

5. How about those pets though, huh? They are enjoying an UNPRECEDENTED amount of time with their humans. And in this house, getting on the table like jackholes. Also don't fret, more art is going on that back wall. The second piece has arrived but the third is still in transit. I know It looks like one pea in a pot of soup right now. 

6. In these UNPRECEDENTED times I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible across platforms. I will of course write about things related to this because this is what we're living with right now and I write about life. I'm on Instagram stories checking in via video at some point daily (trying for lunchtime) and checking in with a book or reading related post between 5-6 every day just to do some normal book chatting using the hashtag #quaranreading if you'd like to do the same (at whatever time/day you post about books or reading, not daily if that's not your jam). I put up a new reading highlight too and will put old content in there when I get a chance. I never offer to one off recommend books but that stance has been relaxed in times of Covid so hit me up if you need a book to lose yourself in. Of course I've also got your dog content and your mug content which are v. important.

7. I stripped our bed to the bones yesterday. Other beds will get the same treatment as I multitask throughout the workday. Our dining room chairs will get finished at some point this weekend, we did the first seat last night and I’m happy with the fabric. MFD is going to deal with his dressing room amid working - houses are still buying and selling, so if you need a realtor hit him up. At the shore we're holding up work our plumbers have scheduled on the bathroom and they called about that on Wednesday so we have to get that opened up and get the stuff down there for it or we're going to get bumped. A sectional is supposed to arrive Monday too. We'll see if that happens. If it does, we have to move furniture for that. If you are a person who has a second home somewhere, I hope that if you go there during this to practice social distancing in that house instead, you do not use any of their stores or their gas or anything in public and bring every last supply from home. While you can be in any home social distancing, those more vacation areas are not equipped to handle an increase in population at this time.

8. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

9. Reminder:

10. Ecards: love in the time of corona - check out Lindsay's blog post from yesterday.

Breathe. 

What appears after the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts is a song lyric to whatever I'm listening to when I start to write the post. This week is Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen