Oktoberfest time — actually the best season in Munich

As is well known, September in Munich is all about Oktoberfest. But unfortunately everything is a bit different this year. Instead of Oktoberfest fun, social distancing and contact tracing are still on the agenda. Like so many, the corona crisis is hitting Oktoberfest and everyone involved particularly hard. Even though the cancellation in 2020 was a necessary and responsible step, it is particularly painful in these weeks. No measure, no roasted almonds, no devil's wheel and no conviviality. Unfortunately. We can take some comfort with Koa Wiesn pitchers and T-shirts (all proceeds are donated to a good cause), a controversial series (Oktoberfest 1900) and of course with the Wirtshaus-Wiesn on a small scale and in compliance with current legal hygiene regulations, including contact tracing of all visitors.

As a Munich-based company, we are of course particularly connected to Oktoberfest, in particular because we have been developing and operating a reservation system for the party tents at Oktoberfest since 2016. We digitally map the entire processes of a reservation office: from Table availability via online reservations and Sending invoices up to Food voucher management and the Admission management on site. We too regret that Oktoberfest cannot take place as planned — but we still have to look ahead, especially now.

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Reliable contact tracing for corona compliant event planning

Because we are looking positively to the future, we are already preparing for Oktoberfest 2021 and adapting our software to current requirements. Because not only Oktoberfest, but also other event formats, will probably be subject to specific hygiene conditions for quite a while and pose particular challenges for organizers. That is why we integrate a seamless Contact tracing all reservations — even down to the individual — into the existing system.

Digital participant management makes contact tracing easier. The guest list records all participants of the event and, thanks to the digital check-in, can contactless and GDPR-compliant It will be understood that the guests have arrived. For larger events, separate Check-ins for sub-areas of the event so that, in the event of an infection, it is understandable which guests could have come into contact with each other.

If you check in via a QR code scan, no pen or paper is required — clearly the more hygienic solution And definitely more discreet as open lists in which guests can register themselves among themselves.

It is not only during the admission process that the digital contact tracing, should it actually be necessary to identify who sat in a room or at a table with whom and could have become the contact person of a potential Covid-19 carrier, there is no need to sort and review a jumble of paper notes or lists. In the digital guest list, rooms, people and check-in times can be filtered depending on the system and requirements. So are important and time-critical information available within a few minutes.

With AirLST, we offer a reliable and innovative system for participant management and reservations that can also respond flexibly to short-term challenges — such as new safety concepts and hygiene measures. Since it is currently not foreseeable how the virus and the corresponding countermeasures will develop, dynamically adaptable concepts, systems and tools are essential. This gives organizers planning security and expands their scope of action.

We are happy when it finally says “O'zapft is” again in September 2021 and we can get started again when it comes to Oktoberfest. Until then, we will gain some more experience with hygiene-compliant events and rely on close and dynamic cooperation with event professionals from all industries.