Keeping you safe on the day
Contents
Intro
Social Distance Bands
Temperature Checks
Covid Tests
Covid Vaccinations
Photo Consent
Intro
Having spoken to several of our ticket holders we have found that we have several delegates with underlying health issues - including one of our organising team - and a lot of nervous attendees.
DDD East Midlands Conference is an inclusive event to celebrate and explore the great technical talent across the region, so we don’t want you spending the day anxious about Covid, we want you to be having fun!
To ensure the event is as safe as possible for all in attendance we are taking the following precautions and ask that you help us by cooperating with them. We understand that it will be impossible to keep everyone happy in this scenario so please have some sympathy for us. Trying to run a free and inclusive event during a pandemic voluntarily is hard!
Social Distance Bands
On entry our volunteers, all fully masked and equipped with hand sanitizer, will ask for the evidence of your vaccination and negative Covid test. They will then offer you a paper wrist band.
- Red band: Please keep your distance.
- Green band: I’m not socially distancing.
Please respect people’s choices about their social distancing needs.
Temperature Checks
We will use a “thermometer gun,” a device that is equipped with an infrared sensor that can quickly measure surface temperature without making any contact with a person’s skin, to check if you have a temperature that indicates a fever.
Covid Tests
The reason for the tests is to reduce the chances of transmission at the event.
Our volunteers will ask you for evidence of a negative flo-test within the last 48 hours. We would like you to do this by entering your negative result at https://test-for-coronavirus.service.gov.uk/report-result/login-choice .From this you will receive an email or text message to confirm your negative result, which we would like you to show us upon arrival.
If you cannot prove a negative lateral flow result we will have a testing area at the venue where you will be asked to do one in real time before joining the conference. Please bear in mind this will take 30 mins as a minimum so arrive early!
Covid Vaccinations
The reason for this is to reduce the likely hood of hospitalisation for if someone does get Covid. Partly because we want you all to avoid the negative impacts, and partly to keep our insurance people happy.
We know this is the most controversial of our precautions.
We will ask you to provide proof of at least one Covid vaccination. You can do this via the paper card you carry in your wallet or by showing us your digital “NHS Covid Pass”.
To get the NHS Covid Pass you’ll need to register on the NHS App and download it to your phone ahead of time. To register, the process takes around 5-10 mins but it can take up to 24 hours for the NHS to process so please do this ahead of time. You can then save the pass into your digital wallet for easy access
If you have medical reasons why you have not been vaccinated please let the volunteers know. We understand there will need to be exemptions for some cases.
Photo Consent
Same as 2019, you will also be asked if you are happy to appear in photos.
- Red lanyard: Please keep me out of photos/remove any photos I appear in
- Green lanyard: I’m happy to be in photos
These photos will be used for future marketing and branding for our event.
As mentioned, we know not everyone will be happy about these precautions for a number of reasons. We are running an event under very difficult circumstances, and have had to make some difficult decisions on what we will do.
If I’m honest, as someone who is clinically vulnerable, I will be quite anxious on the day. I will have a red wrist band and be wearing a mask throughout the whole event. It’s the first time I will have been around people in about 2 years as I’ve been very careful about shielding.
Nonetheless, I am looking forward to this event and know we have a fantastic, supportive and respectful community. I’m hoping we can give you the best experience possible and a dose of normality after a difficult long stint.
