Q: Should attendees be required to wear masks and proof of vaccination for events?

It certainly is your prerogative to require masks and proof of vaccination. Since not all of the population is vaccinated yet, you will get a natural drop off with those who were planning to attend but not with this requirement. We have found if we want all the attendees to arrive who were planning to, we have to also provide free vaccinations on site. Of course, those newly vaccinated are treated as unvaccinated as the benefit of the vaccine has not gone into effect yet, so it really is just a way to drive attendance and put others attending at ease that vaccinations are not just required but also provided. As with any member base or sampling of the population, there are those that will not or cannot get vaccinated, so you do risk alienated them with a mandatory vaccination rule.

Rather than require vaccinations (which is a policing nightmare), my suggestion is for all staff, vendors, venue staff (registration, AV, decorator, F&B staff, etc.) to be masked at all times they are servicing your attendees, and you communicate to registrants well before they arrive that if they are vaccinated to still use their mask out of respect for others, and if they have not been vaccinated to please get tested prior to arriving and only attend if they do not have a positive test result. This is just my opinion without knowing more about your group. Let us know how it goes!

- Phelps Hope, CMP, Senior Vice President, Kellen