How we are dealing with COVID-19

Keeping in touch with partners during COVID-19

28/04/2020

40 years ago the late John Lennon wrote a song with the following lyrics: "Nobody told me there'd be days like these. Strange days, indeed."

These words sum up better than most what we’re living through with the Covid-19 lockdown. Quiet shuttered streets. WFH. Empty spaces. Screen-time.

We know “this too shall pass” and soon we’ll meet again, face to face with all the nuanced, subtle colour of real people in real places in real time. In the meantime, sating our need for connection, we’ve been checking in with our partners to hear how they are faring through the crisis.

These external colleagues form part of our team on every event we host at Croke Park. We bring great venue spaces and our partners provide creative catering, light, sound, visuals and luxury accommodation. Aramark, AVCOM and the Croke Park Hotel are all part of the event experience and integral to what we do.

The Croke Park

Located directly across from the Hogan entrance, The Croke Park is our stylish 4 star hotel partner that works with us on sales calls, hosting event organisers and full residential multiday meetings and events. Part of the Doyle Collection – an Irish owned boutique collection of 4 and 5 star hotels in Ireland, Great Britain and the United States – The Croke Park offers a unique “slice of the city” to guests.

All is quiet along their corridors for now, but behind the scenes the hotel team is busy planning for when they will welcome back GAA fans and meeting & events delegates to Dublin 3. While unable to host guests, the hotel team is hosting somecalm moments with a new #WellnessWednesdays mini-series in partnership with Project Revive and Seedlip. Hayley from Project Revive joins guests online to bring them through some simple yoga sequences to help improve overall wellness - join them on Instagram and Facebook.

AVCOM

AVCOM, the Technical Event Specialists, are our AV and Production partners and together we’ve created some truly outstanding events including the award winning Event of the Future – voted best conference at the Event Industry Awards in 2018.

Since the outbreak of the virus and the subsequent lockdown, AVCOM has had over €1.5m worth of events either cancelled or postponed. As a business, they’re not planning for any major resumption of meetings and events until September at best – anything before that will be a bonus.

That said, they are still open for business and continue to help clients deliver their message, digitally and in person. They are providing their technical expertise to the HSE and the Department of Health to deliver COVID-19 press updates which are broadcast to the nation on a daily basis.

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A post shared by AVCOM (@avcom_dublin) on Apr 20, 2020 at 11:28am PDT

AVCOM are taking this time to digitally connect with clients, discuss their needs, align service offerings to their requirements and inform them of opportunities they may never have considered before. For AVCOM, the focus has shifted to AVCOM 3.0 – how to prepare the business for the recovery that will come and be ready for the new normal – including virtual events from Croke Park… more to follow!

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A post shared by AVCOM (@avcom_dublin) on Apr 21, 2020 at 10:39am PDT

Aramark

For almost seven years, Aramark has provided catering for events from 80,000 at Croke Park matches and concerts to bespoke, individually crafted meetings, conferences and gala events. We have worked together to be both innovative and disruptive in our food and beverage presentations, reflecting the rapid evolution of personal taste and choice in event and hospitality offerings.

The team has recently been catering for frontline workers at the Croke Park drive-thru test centre to provide some cooking comfort to their efforts.

Ruairí and the team are also keeping us supplied with easy and nutritious #StayHome recipes like this one for their Oat & Banana Cookies.

They are looking forward to a time when we will gather for event briefings and client menu tastings; when we will respond in real time to service time changes and special dietary requests; when we will feel beat from a day on our feet and a job well done!