Business View Magazine | June 2020

25 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JUNE 2020 we became concerned about Covid-19 and its impact on the world and the events industry. We made it through SARS, Swine flu, and the Avian flu with minimal effect. Initially, we thought this would be similar. Then the cancellations began to pour in. We consulted our clients on the appropriate response for their specific events. On a case by case basis, we advised that some cancel, others postpone, and others transition to virtual. Internally, we were terrified at what this would mean. “Not knowing what this meant for us, we went into survival mode. Would there be any revenue for the rest of the year? What about next year? What we had spent so long building, what was on the verge of achieving all our goals, was at risk. Our team quickly pulled together and we could not be prouder of our company’s selfless, dedicated professionals. We are a family and families pull together. Fortunately, we entered the crisis with a strong balance sheet and supportive partners who believed in us. “Every day, we work with our clients to understand their goals and develop strategies to meet those goals. In the near term, a live event is not one of the solutions we propose. Instead, we have the ability to pivot and produce a variety of virtual events to solve many of our clients’ problems. One service we are very excited about is engaging guests at home, both virtually and physically, by sending them gift boxes to personalize the experience. Our energy has been refocused on assisting our clients with virtual events, planning live events for 2021, and helping our pharmaceutical clients with their patient services, both virtually and in person.” Company Culture BVM: How have you maintained your employees, vendors, and clients to ensure you are doing everything you can for your ‘community’? MGME: “As we mentioned earlier, our team is our family. Our priority was to help our employees remain safe and secure. We were open with our team about the challenges ahead, and they rose to the challenge. Similar conversations were held with our clients. The message was consistent: we are hurt but we will survive. We will come into the post-Covid stage stronger than we entered it. Constant communication is crucial to holding a team together. At MGME, we look out for each other, support each other and care about how each person is doing. This experience brought us closer together. Our people are our heart and soul. There has never been Jeff Guberman, CEO