As we plan our 2021 conference, we are faced with the same dilemma as last year; the only difference is we are now more informed and prepared. While we may end up with a completely virtual conference this year, it is still my greatest hope that we are able to find a balance between meeting in person and watching online.
I have reached out to our contact at Hilton Embassy Suites and was provided with their safety action plan:
Hilton came out with several standards last year regarding COVID to show their commitment to guests in helping them feel safe during these trying times.
All of the staff wear masks and in food/beverage areas, they also wear gloves. The hotel has sanitation stations set up in all public areas (including meeting rooms). There is signage in all areas alerting guests to wear masks. If guests don’t have a mask, they can get a complimentary one from the front desk.
HILTON CLEANSTAY
Hilton joined up with Lysol to set a new standard of hotel cleanliness and disinfection. This includes wiping down remote controls and putting them in protective sleeves and putting a Hilton CleanStay sticker on the outside of the suite door showing no one has entered the suite since it got cleaned/disinfected.
COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST
The hotel still offers their complimentary breakfast buffet/made to order omelets. The difference is they now serve it to guests (versus guests helping themselves) and the seating capacity in the restaurant is at 50%.
COMPLIMENTARY EVENING RECEPTION
The hotel still offers their complimentary evening reception, but seating is at 50% and instead of trays/bowls of snacks, they are offering individually packaged bags of chips, popcorn, etc.
HILTON EVENTREADY
Hilton’s EventReady is designed to create event experiences that are clean, flexible, safe and socially responsible. Sanitizing stations are in meeting room entryways as well as key high traffic areas including both inside/outside meeting space, meal and beverage service areas, public restrooms and any other congregating areas. For social distancing, they are only allowing up to 50% capacity of what they normally would. So for a banquet that could normally accommodate 300, the hotel is now allowing no more than 150. Instead of seating 10 people per round, they are only allowing 6 people per round.
While this does create some limitations, I believe a hybrid experience of both in person and virtual attendance is possible.
We are currently conducting a poll to get an idea of what our members would prefer this year, in-person, virtual, or hybrid. Conference registration will be provided once we have more of the details ironed out. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at president@owfi.org.
Despite all of these challenges, together we can bridge the epic gap and share our love of writing with the world around us.
