Rapid response: Adapting events in a global pandemic

The Great British Bake Off returns to our screens this month - and it is timely inspiration for all our Swansway brilliant bakers, who are preparing for the Macmillan Cancer Support Coffee morning, this Friday 25 September.

And, like so many others, we will be undertaking the coffee morning in a socially distanced way, with a whole new raft of measures to keep ourselves and our customers safe, in the worrying days of Covid19. As a customer-facing retail business, from now on, all our staff in our dealerships will be wearing face masks at all times, which will make it so much harder to communicate our pleasure at seeing all our lovely customers. But we will not be letting these challenging times get in the way of us enjoying a tasty treat - or in the way of us doing our best to raise funds for this special cause. Here are the measures we are adopting to make sure this event can still happen:

We will comply with social distancing guidelines – that means one person at a time at the table where all the baked goods are displayed. A 2 metre distance will be kept at all times and face masks will be worn by staff and customers when they are on site. We will use the largest room available to host our events. This may well be the dealership showroom and if it is, we will ensure the event is not causing an obstruction to any one-way system that may be in place If the event is to be held in a smaller, closed room, we will identify how many people can safely be in the room at any one time, whilst still maintaining the 2 metres distance. We will be displaying a sign letting people know how many people can be in the room at any one time Hand sanitiser will be available next to the table and anyone approaching the table must sanitise their hands first. Individual baked items are preferred over whole items to be cut into slices. One person will be responsible for using any utensils that may be out on the table so that contact is reduced. We aim to use paper plates, so that they can be easily and safely disposed of in the waste bins. We are encouraging everyone to go cash-free for this event and Macmillan have helped to make this possible by providing a QR code in all their event kits. This means we will be able to scan the QR code using a smartphone and donate online securely and safely. Should the use of the QR code not be suitable, cash is accepted but preferably the correct amount so that no change is needed and if it is, hands must be sanitised between each exchange of cash.

This may sound like a lot of adjustment. But we already know it is going to be worth it - both for us at Swansway Group and for Macmillan Cancer Support. To prove our point take a look at what was on offer in previous years for the world's biggest coffee morning! And we'd be really interested to know how you are adapting your business practices to hold events in these challenging times.