Since 2020, hygiene awareness has increased across the public sector. Nevada, Las Vegas and other internationally important fair cities have established their own regulations. What about hygiene at the exhibition stand? What do you need to observe?
Visitors are asked to keep their distance, wear masks, wash their hands frequently and disinfect them regularly. Exhibitors must comply with comprehensive hygiene measures. You can lay the foundations for a safe and clean trade fair appearance from the moment you set up your stand. We explain what you can do.
This article may be of interest to you. 7 tips to attract attention with a small booth
Which requirements apply where and how do you implement them?
Currently, in August 2022, depending on the federal state, most or even all of the Corona protection measures on the event site have been lifted. Access restrictions, capacity restrictions, distance and hygiene regulations as well as requirements for stand construction and seating arrangements no longer have to be observed in most places. Individual hygiene concepts often no longer need to be prepared. However, this does not mean that things cannot change again very quickly. Get information from the organiser before registering for a trade fair. Trade fair organisers are familiar with the regulations that currently apply and will pass this information on to you.
We recommend that you design your stand according to a few simple considerations to always offer your employees and visitors to your stand the best possible hygiene:
Plan your stand so that visitors can enjoy your exhibition from a distance. There is no longer a distance requirement, but most people still feel uncomfortable in close quarters with others.
When setting up, make sure that all surfaces are easy to clean and disinfect. Most fairs offer a daily cleaning service. However, it doesn’t hurt to wipe or disinfect every now and then during the fair.
Pay attention to visitor guidance: clear routes in and out of the exhibition to avoid crowds.
If you expect a lot of visitors, install an air purifier.
Plan contactless. The information does not have to be in the form of brochures or flyers but can be accessed via QR code.
Have disinfectants, masks and waste bins at the booth, at least in the entrance and exit areas. Masks and small disinfectant dispensers can also be used as giveaways and advertising tools.
How can you protect your employees?
In addition to a well-thought-out stand design with intelligent visitor guidance, there are other ways to protect your employees and trade fair visitors.
Have medical masks ready for your employees to wear at the booth when needed (in crowded situations that may arise despite all good planning). This not only makes sense in terms of a possible Corona infection but also shows a sense of responsibility regarding the common cold and other droplet infections.
Regular self-tests as a precaution before and during the fair also minimize the risk of infection. This also applies to the corona vaccination, which is of course not mandatory.
Important: There is currently no official obligation to wear a mask. However, the organizers of the fair can impose one on the fairgrounds due to residency rights. Apart from that, it is still advisable to wear a medical mouthpiece in closed rooms where a large number of people congregate. This is the case in an exhibition hall.
Other hygiene measures should be taken according to previous regulations. Regular hand washing is a must and sneezing etiquette is probably widely known after two years of the pandemic. If this is not the case, we would like to point this out again: Please always cough and sneeze into your sleeve and ideally with your head turned away!
Should air purifiers be installed in the booth?
There are now numerous models of air purifiers that are supposed to filter even viruses from the room air. Stiftung Warentest has examined the devices and found that good performance can be expected from all devices, at least in domestic areas and with fresh filters. The situation is different in very large rooms: To really reliably filter and clean the air in a large room, the purifier must be able to handle a corresponding air volume. Your exhibition stand is located in a large exhibition hall. The small devices you install on your stand cannot keep the entire hall virus-free or even low virus.
However, an air purifier in the booth may make sense. This is because viruses depend on aerosols and spread through the air as aerosols spread. Your stand is sheltered from the outside and not open on all sides. An air purifier whose cleaning capacity is designed for the size of your exhibition stand or (ideally) larger rooms can reduce the virus load on your stand, at least locally, during times of heavy footfall. This is because the devices suck in air, pass it through various filters and blow it back out again. So there is indeed an effect in the immediate vicinity of the air purifier. But probably the much more important message is this
