HEFB-20 Coalition Launching Virtual Event Hackathon
HEFB-20 Coalition Launching a Virtual Hackathon to Continue its Industry-United Effort to Face COVID-19 Challanges
San Diego, CA (April 22, 2020) The Hospitality + Events Fight Back coalition (HEFB-20) today announces their latest initiative, a Virtual Hackathon bringing together thought leaders from various industries impacted by the COVID-19 global health crisis including the Hospitality, Business Events, Healthcare, Healthcare Design, Medical Facility, Insurance, and Technology industries.
On April 8th, Syzygy Cities and Soundings Connect launched the HEFB-20 initiative made possible by a grant from an anonymous donor. Supporting partners have joined the coalition including Cvent, Access Destination Services, Hello! Destination Management, Bishop-McCann and The Center for Health Design.
Since early April, HEFB-20 has been operating a centralized call center and online resource site to aid hospitals, healthcare organizations, and communities in need of immediate assistance for crisis management. Another sector of the events industry, the live events community, launched a similar coalition, Live for Life, to offer aid in building temporary healthcare structures.
“We are at war against a virus. In times of war, industries come together to transition into a need-based economy. Together, we have the opportunity to redirect affected industries toward a critical mission to solve immediate problems for communities, industries and economies. Our partnership with The Center for Health Design to promote the MakingRoom initiative was the first step toward creating cross industry unity with the healthcare industry,” said Rachel Vass, CEO & Founder of Syzygy Cities.
First and foremost, the main goal of the HEFB-20 initiative is to save lives. In recent weeks, reports show that social-distancing efforts to “flatten the curve” are working in many locations. However, as we continue our collective efforts to “flatten the curve” unprecedented challenges will continue to emerge across industries.
A HEFB-20 advisor, Andrew Ibrahim MD, MSc, Chief Medical Officer of HOK’s Healthcare group and a resident surgeon at the University of Michigan, addresses some of these challenges in this Fast Company article.
The HEFB-20 Virtual Hackathon is the next step toward solving community problems, creating unity across industries and encouraging innovative thinking during this period when creative solutions are crucial.
Members of the coalition are eager to launch the HEFB-20 Hackathon to remove barriers and develop inclusive solutions to current and future challenges like:
Hospitals in economic distress
Hotels at low occupancy or closed, potentially not reopening
COVID-19 patients not seeking treatment because of fear of hospitals or field hospitals
Pathways to alleviate unemployment for hospitality, event and medical professionals
Safely emerging back into regular life including proper sanitation procedures for hotels, airlines, rental cars, and other travel related challenges
“Now that we have flattened the curve and continue to stabilize the medical crisis, we have the opportunity to take a more proactive approach to solving subsequent challenges caused by the COVID-19 health crisis. By uniting industries, community and government, we have the opportunity to create holistic solutions for global health and economies,” said Tracy Judge, Founder & Chief Connector of Soundings Connect.
Led by the Hospitality and Business Events industry, this initiative is powered by diversity of thought and is designed to solve community problems, create unity between industries, encourage innovative thinking, create jobs, stimulate the economy, and give hope to members of impacted industries.
To learn more about the HEFB-20 Hackathon and to join our interest list, click here.
For more information about the Hospitality + Events Fight Back coalition click here.
Media Inquires:
Tracy Judge
tracy@soundingsconnect.com
(610) 331-0183
###
Hospitality + Events Fight Back Coalition
Co-lead by Syzygy Cities and Soundings Connect, the Hospitality + Events Fight Back (HEFB-20) coalition is focused on creating and executing multi-faceted plans to aid potential victims of COVID-19, stimulate the economy and unite industries through the cultivation of Public-Private Partnerships and brand diplomacy. The work of the HEFB-20 coalition has been made possible through an anonymous grant and includes the following initiatives: Hotel to alternate care facility conversions; COVID-19 response hotline to connect hospitals, medical facilities and communities with hospitality and event companies that can offer support; HEFB-20 Virtual Hackathon to bring together thought leaders from various industries. www.hefb.org
Syzygy Cities
SYZYGY Cities specializes in aligning and developing multiple growth projects and stakeholders in a target community to design and thread mutually beneficial partnerships between public and private sectors. Syzygy Cities’ unique methodology, process, and platform helps consolidate government initiatives, business objectives, and local needs into an integrated initiative, matching the right resources with the most impactful efforts to create cost and operational efficiencies that maximize synergistic outcomes. www.syzygycities.com
Soundings Connect
Soundings Connect is changing the way strategy meets implementation in the meetings and events business through an innovative network o f more than 350 freelance professionals. As a tech-enabled organization, Soundings Connect creates powerful connections based on a people-first ethos that leads to synergistic work partnerships. The Soundings Connect infrastructure enables adaptability and innovation in the meetings and events industry. www.soundingsconnect.com
The Center for Health Design
The Center for Health Design is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization whose mission is to transform healthcare environments for a healthier, safer world through design research, education and advocacy. www.healthdesign.org/
Cvent
Cvent is a leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider with more than 4,000 employees, 30,000 customers, and 300,000 users worldwide. The comprehensive Cvent event marketing and management platform offers software solutions to event organizers and marketers for online event registration, venue selection, event marketing and management, onsite solutions, and attendee engagement. Cvent’s suite of products automate and simplify the entire event management process and maximize the impact of events. Hotels and venues use Cvent’s supplier and venue solutions to win more group and corporate travel business through Cvent’s sourcing platforms and to service their customers directly, efficiently and profitably – helping them grow and own their business. Cvent solutions optimize the entire event management value chain and have enabled clients around the world to manage millions of meetings and events. For more information, please visit Cvent.com, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.