COVID-19 Event Cancellation Guidelines
Updated: March 13, 2020
Western University announced yesterday that all discretionary events on campus with more than 50 people currently scheduled until April 30, 2020 must be cancelled, postponed or offered virtually.
Our hospital partners in the city have released similar policies. London Health Sciences Centre advised on March 11 that large groups hosted in the hospitals taking place in March, April and May 2020 will need to be postponed. And St. Joseph’s Health Care London advised on March 11 that hospital-led events at St. Joseph’s or in the community which are scheduled in March, April and May should be reviewed for risk and may need to be rescheduled when it is safe to do so.
We advise that you postpone or cancel your upcoming event immediately. Key messages, as well as a cancellation check list, have been created to assist you and are listed below. Please use the messages provided, as they have been created for consistency.
A number of events across the School have been cancelled or are in the process of being cancelled. Please check the calendar if you are wondering about an event. All cancelled events on the School calendar have been indicated as such. A full list will be shared in the coming days.
If you have any questions or require any support in cancelling your events, please know that the Communications and Marketing team are here to help. We can be reached at comms@schulich.uwo.ca.
If your event is taking place off-campus and not in a hospital setting and you’re wondering if it should continue or not, this tool provided by the Canadian government will be of assistance in determining if you should move forward.
Key Messages
IF YOUR EVENT IS BEING POSTPONED:
Western University, in consultation with the local Middlesex-London Health Unit, has announced that all discretionary events on campus and in the community with more than 50 people currently scheduled until April 30, 2020 must be cancelled, postponed or offered virtually. This is due to the changing nature and spread of COVID-19, and in an effort to minimize the potential risk to our faculty, staff and learners as well as community members.
This means that EVENT NAME on EVENT DATE at EVENT LOCATION has been postponed.
We will identify a new date for the event and communicate it out to everyone once operations return to normal.
This is one of many events in the coming weeks that the School now has to postpone or cancel. While it is disappointing to make this change, it is important that we minimize the risk for our people and the greater community.
IF YOUR EVENT IS BEING CANCELLED:
Western University, in consultation with the local Middlesex-London Health Unit, has announced that all discretionary events on campus and in the community with more than 50 people currently scheduled until April 30, 2020 must be cancelled, postponed or offered virtually. This is due to the changing nature and spread of COVID-19, and in an effort to minimize the potential risk to our faculty, staff and learners as well as community members.
This means that EVENT NAME on EVENT DATE at EVENT LOCATION has been cancelled.
This is one of many events in the coming weeks that the School now has to postpone or cancel. While it is disappointing to make this change, it is important that we minimize the risk for our people and the greater community.
Cancellation Checklist
- Identify the stakeholders who need to be notified (ex. speakers, sponsors, vendors, attendees, School/hospital leadership)
- Cancel travel/accommodations for speakers where necessary
- Postpone or cancel vendors where necessary
- Compose a message (or multiple messages) using the key messages provided and send as soon as possible to all relevant stakeholders
- If this is a ticketed event, stop selling tickets immediately, turn off any ticket options on the event registration website and refund tickets where possible
- Advise comms@schulich.uwo.ca and have the word CANCELLED or POSTPONED added to your event on the Schulich Events Calendar
- Remove all marketing materials for the event (ex. visix slides, posters, etc.)
- If you have an existing departmental/program social media account, please share the news via social media and the School account will support
