Cartoon Forum 2020 Will Be Happening in “Real Life”
Skwigly
CARTOON have put out a statement of new rules for a safe Cartoon Forum during the Coronavirus epidemic:
Opening the online registrations (June 17th, 2020), we are very happy to be able to organize the Cartoon Forum “in real life”. Our decision follows the authorization of the French government to organize events with less than 5,000 participants and to open the borders within Europe.
However, we are still under the obligation to follow health safety rules imposed by both the French government and by WHO to avoid any spread of the virus and any rebound of the epidemic, namely:
- Keep social distance between each participant
- Wear a mask when in crowd
- Clean hands as often as necessary
We are aware that the sanitary measures become more flexible as the end of the lockdown planned by the European governments and by the French State progresses, but we do not know today what the situation will be at the time of Cartoon Forum mid-September 2020.
The rules imposed today may still be in place in September, or on the contrary, new announcements of medical treatment for September and a vaccine for October would allow a return to the “world as it was before”. Will the virus be completely gone? Will the treatment have been proven? And will a vaccine already be on the market?
No one knows for sure.
Then, regarding the sanitary measures for Cartoon Forum, we have no choice but to follow the health safety rules as known now.
Therefore, you’ll find here the decisions we have taken and the changes it requires.
1. Absolute priority
“Business First” will be our philosophy this year. The main objective will be to allow you to meet each other and do business again, after these long months with no face-to-face contacts.
The social activities and conviviality that have always made the DNA of the Cartoon Forum will therefore be put on hold, exceptionally this year, to prioritize presenting the projects and doing business.
2. Basic health measures
➤ Since you will have a lot of business discussions, wearing a mask will be mandatory inside the Congress Centre (you will need to plan 1 mask per half-day, or 2 masks per day).
➤ Idea: you could make custom masks with print of
- your face
- your company logo
- an illustration of your pitched project
➤ Hydro-alcoholic gels will be available. Do not hesitate to bring small individual bottles that you can keep in your pocket.
➤ To date, we are not asked to take the temperature of each participant at the entrance to the Congress Centre.
3. The Pitch Rooms and the number of participants
As we are asked to keep a distance of one meter between the participants in the pitch rooms, we are changing, exceptionally this year, some arrangements we were used to, as well as the organization of the rooms.
➤ Two queues will be created:
- The first queue, called the BUYERS’ LINE, will allow “buyers” to enter the room first, to make sure that producers pitching their project will have all investors interested in their project attending their pitch on time. This is, we think, the most important for producers.
- The second queue, called the PRODUCERS’ LINE, will allow all the other participants to attend the pitch until the room is full.
- To avoid refusing the entrance to professionals for some pitches, we are modifying the rooms, especially the PINK and the PURPLE. The objective here is to allow as many people as possible access to the different rooms, with the sole priority of promoting “business” between professionals.
- The lines will be lengthened to keep the social distance of one meter between each participant.
➤ Cancellation of the Coaching Program, exceptionally this year.
At this time, we do not know how many participants we will have in September. Anyway, we’ve asked the animation schools that participate each year in the Coaching Program during the Cartoon Forum not to attend this year for two reasons:
- Leave more space for professionals
- Prevent the rooms from being filled in by students
➤ The BLUE ROOM: it is the same as in previous years (at level +2). It will no longer be half-closed with sails. On the contrary, it will be entirely open, thus allowing the occupation of every other seat, staggered.
This room will, in this new disposition, accommodate 260 professionals to attend the different pitches.
This number is equal to the largest audience in previous years (without the student audience): this means that in theory no one should be refused at the entrance to the room.
➤ The PINK ROOM: it moves to level -1 (at the bottom of the old “restaurant” of the Cartoon Forum).
This room will allow access to 215 professionals. Here too, this number is equal to the largest audience in previous years (without the student audience): this means that in theory no one should be refused at the entrance to the room.
➤ The PURPLE ROOM: it stays on the same floor (level +1) but it moves on the other side of the old “pink room”.
This will accommodate 160 professionals. Here too, this number is equal to the largest audience in previous years (without the student audience): this means that in theory no one should be refused at the entrance to the room.
4. Lunches at the restaurant and dinners
➤ You will understand that, at this time (mid-June), we are not allowed to organize a meal for more than 800 people in the same room. We will therefore, this year exceptionally, cancel the lunches taken together in the restaurant of the Congress Centre.
➤ We will therefore ask all participants to have lunch outside the Congress Centre, at their own expense:
- either in a nearby restaurant or snack bar
- either by using the Food Trucks that we are negotiating with right now and that will be available in the immediate vicinity of the Congress Centre
- we remind you that a large park is waiting for you just outside the Congress Centre.
- we will extend the duration of lunch from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
➤ The usual meeting room will be divided in two, the background for the PINK ROOM as explained above, and the other two-thirds for the CROISSANT SHOWS and COFFEE SHOWS where the trailers of pitched projects will be screened, as every year.
These joint sessions will be limited to the most essential information and the participants will be standing for a much shorter duration.
➤ The Farewell Dinner (Thursday evening) is already definitely canceled, thereby closing Cartoon Forum on Thursday afternoon around 5.30 p.m.
➤ The Welcome Dinner (Monday evening), offered by the Mairie de Toulouse, and the Cocktail (Wednesday evening), offered by the Occitanie Region, are canceled.
➤ The cancellation of lunches, the Welcome Dinner and the “Regional” Cocktail is definitive today.
However, if the health situation should evolve in a positive manner by the time of the Cartoon Forum, we might consider reviewing these decisions.
5. Other practical arrangements
➤ No bus shuttle will be organized.
➤ Cartoon Tributes will not be awarded this year.
➤ There will be no countries featured in the Spotlight. We have postponed it to next year.
6. The price
As meals will not be included in our services, this year exceptionally, we are reducing the registration price to 850 euros (instead of 1,000 euros) available via our usual way of registration and invoicing.
If the evolution of the epidemic would happen to be so positive that we can organize all the shared meals (lunches and dinners), we would re-invoice the balance (150 euros) in a second step.