AAC – SASE Mini-Conference « Rethinking Organized Events in Pandemic Times » (submissions until February 10th)

2021 – SASE Conference – After Covid? Critical Conjunctures and Contingent Pathways of Contemporary Capitalism

2-5 July 2021 – Amsterdam (if circumstances allow, otherwise hybrid or fully virtual)

Submissions open until February 10th.

Organizers: Anne-Sophie Béliard (Pacte), Sidonie Naulin (Pacte), Victor Potier (Pacte)

The Covid-19 pandemic challenges both established and growing sectors of the economy. Its socio-economic impact varies from one industry to another and from country to country. However, one sector has been deeply disrupted all over the world: the event industry.

Until the Covid-19 pandemic, the event industry was experiencing unprecedented growth all over the world (UFI 2019, CICA 2019). This growth has been threatened by the pandemic and the worldwide adoption of sanitary measures. Events such as trade shows, congresses, festivals or sports competitions used to bring professionals together physically in a single location for a given period of time. The logic of social distancing and stay-at-home policies jeopardizes this industry. The Covid-19 pandemic weakens the economy of the event industry and impacts all the involved professionals from participants to organizers, and the various service providers associated with the events (local businesses, drivers, food catering professionals, etc.).

This Mini-Conference aims at scrutinizing the socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the event industry. To what extent does the Covid-19 pandemic transform the practices and the organization of events? With which effects? In such a critical situation, can new technologies, such as videoconferencing, replace physical meetings?

We particularly welcome contributions that explore the following issues:

1. Rethinking the role of events for participants: from physical to digital trade shows

Trade shows usually provide structuring for economic fields (Aspers, Darr 2010) and can be seen as places dedicated to network building and market exchanges. What happens to those functions when the opportunities to meet decrease and when the formats of meetings change? Are events still attractive for professionals? How do digital meetings affect informal exchanges, conviviality, socialization and networking? The Mini-conference welcomes contributions analyzing, through the case of events, how the Covid-19 pandemic has modified intergroup relations within professional worlds.

2. Events’ organizers faced to economic and material challenges

While the health crisis reduces or even forbids physical meetings, events’ organizers need to transform deep-seated practices in their worlds. What are the costs and opportunities of the Covid-19 pandemic for organizers? How do they manage to maintain events and to protect their economic equilibrium? The Mini-conference welcomes proposals on new forms of events that are constrained by sanitary restrictions. How does digitization transform the business model of the event industry?

3. Local and geopolitical issues in a sanitary crisis

Countries, regions and cities increasingly compete in order to welcome business events on their territory. They expect both economic and symbolic benefits. The covid-19 crisis has a direct impact on the promotion of local businesses and territorial marketing linked to events. The Mini-Conference welcomes contributions dealing with the transformation of politics of events. How does the cancellation of events affect regional economies and policies?

The Mini-Conference welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions as well as diverse methodological approaches. The mini-conference strongly encourages diversity in the geographical eras studied (Europe, Latin America, Asia, the US, etc.)

• Submissions open until February 10th
• Submission Guidelines: https://sase.org/events/conference-submission-and-award-guidelines/
• Mini-Conference webpages: https://sase.org/event/2021-sase-conference/#mini
• General Presentation of the conference: https://sase.org/event/2021-sase-conference/

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