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With the return of our in-person conference and other large conference and expos, we understand that there may be concerns of safety amid rising COVID number, including the Delta variant. A research project conducted by Freeman, a global events company and one of our conference partners, and Epistemix, a computational modeling software company, large in-person business events are safe and do not increase local COVID-19 case rates. Below are some of their findings.

• Risks of COVID-19 infection at events were as much as eight times less than the metro area where they were being held. For recent August events, the infection rates were as much as 95 percent lower than the U.S. at large.
• In-person business event participants are more likely to be vaccinated, reflecting a vaccination rate above 80 percent and creating vaccination coverage that drastically cuts transmission of COVID-19 at those events, regardless of the gathering size.
• Despite some concerns over the Delta variant, the majority of attendees and exhibitors want to return to in-person events, and more than 90 percent are not opposed to additional health and safety protocols to enable them to gather safely. Further, those who do not support additional protocols say they instead choose to stay home, mitigating any added risks of potential infections.

SFMA staff and our conference partners will follow the local guidelines and encourage social distancing, mask-wearing, and vaccination among attendees. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us at stmainfo@stma.org.

Tenny, Lori. “AMID DELTA VARIANT UNCERTAINTY, NEW RESEARCH REVEALS THE SAFETY OF IN-PERSON BUSINESS EVENTS August 27, 2021.” Trade Show News Network, 27 Aug. 2021, www.tsnn.com/news/amid-delta-variant-uncertainty-new-research-reveals-safety-inperson-business-events.