Smart Maritime Network Athens Conference

Now that we are all slowly emerging from the restrictions necessitated by the recent COVID-19 crisis, SMN is very pleased to be returning to hosting our series of conferences to facilitate safe and conscientious in-person meetings with our partners and industry peers. To safeguard the wellbeing of all of our attendees, we will be strictly following the guidelines of the local health authorities in our host countries, as well as adopting best practices recommended by major business conference and event organiser associations, such as PCMA, UFI and AEO.*

We are also working very closely with our venue, Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso, and suppliers to ensure the measures in place during SMN Athens will provide a safe, pleasant and productive experience for all our guests. You can review their own procedures in their guidelines here.

These include:

On-site & Social Distancing:

• We are using a large space for the conference itself. Conference seating will be at round tables, with seats spaced out at measured intervals to adhere to distancing requirements.
• We will have designated washrooms, catering areas and any other facilities – to ensure these are limited to our guests and event staff only.
• All food and beverages will be served by the hotel’s own staff only, with guests prohibited from touching serving implements. Attendees’ chosen food will be served to them in line with strict distancing requirements in the catering area, and must be taken elsewhere within the designated event space for consumption. There will be plexiglass installed to separate stations and servers in the buffet area for additional safety.
• Before and throughout the conference the venue will follow strict sanitisation and cleaning protocols – this includes sanitising all microphones between each use and providing sanitising gel for speakers to use prior to taking the stage.
• We will strictly follow additional on-site audience hygiene guidelines, such as the provision of hand sanitisation stations throughout the venue for your convenience.
• Each seat will be numbered, including for the Roundtable sessions, and all guests will be advised to use the same seat throughout the conference, to limit sharing of chairs or table space.
• Notepads and pens will be made available, but these will be from a collection point rather than on table to prevent handling by more than one attendee.
• We will be implementing contact-less business contact exchange via QR codes on our webapp, to remove the need for physical business cards to be exchanged. Attendees are also encouraged to avail of contactless smartphone sharing technologies like Bluetooth to exchange information.
• We will be asking our Sponsors and Partners to limit the amount of physical materials they distribute on-site and instead provide informational resources via a designated downloads section on our website. Sponsors may also send materials to those who request them post-event.

Pre-Event and Arrival:

• There will be a “print at home” or contactless printing badge system. Attendees are strongly encouraged to print their own badge prior to arrival to reduce the need for queuing at the event.
• We will be encouraging and reminding all delegates of the importance of adhering to recommended personal hygiene etiquette, such as washing and disinfecting hands regularly, and wearing facemasks where appropriate.
• Participants will be asked to wear a face mask on entry, if appropriate, in line with local government and health authority advice.
• We will be asking any delegates with any symptoms of illness to refrain from attending the conference.

Trace & Contact:

• It is our policy to ensure that we have full contact details of all guests who attend the event, enabling us to work with local authorities on trace & contact follow-up should that be necessary.

If you would like to discuss any of these measures, or have any questions, please contact:

Cathy Hodge, COO, Smart Maritime Network
E: cathy.hodge@smartmaritimenetwork.com

*For more information on these guidelines please visit

https://www.pcma.org/coronavirus-business-events-professionals-need-to-know-faq/
https://www.aeo.org.uk/covid-19
https://www.ufi.org/industry-resources/coronavirus/