Business event and conference insurance essentials

Event insurance is often seen as an unaffordable and unnecessary expense. However, as an event organiser it is important to plan for the risk that things outside your control may happen.

There are many complexities when it comes to event insurance for conferences, exhibitions and business meetings that organisers must consider. Stu Hartley, from leading New Zealand event insurance provider EventCover, shares his advice.

Understanding event insurance essentials

Despite often being seen as just another line on the budget, a bespoke insurance product indemnifies your organisation against financial loss should an event be cancelled or abandoned. Below, Stu shares the essential elements to include in your insurance agreement.

Public liability cover

Public liability cover protects you against third party damage, as a direct result of your negligence as an event organiser.

The Health & Safety at Work Act also carries new responsibilities for event professionals to ensure risks at events are actively identified and managed.  Event professionals must now take all reasonable steps to identify the potential harm. Therefore, Statutory Liability insurance can also be an invaluable investment to defend you in the face of a WorkSafe investigation.

Event cancellation policy

While most events go without a hitch, event cancellation insurance should be on your mind when planning your next event as there are many examples of cancellation or disruption.

An event cancellation insurance policy indemnifies you against financial loss should an event be cancelled, abandoned, postponed, interrupted, curtailed or relocated. It can also cover additional costs to mitigate a loss by way of postponement or rescheduling.

Almost all event cancellation insurance policies currently exclude communicable disease outbreak and/or COVID-19 pandemic as standard.  This has been the industry norm since March 2020 when the outbreak was classified as a “known” event.