Onsite Health & Safety Standards

Ascential Secure

Ascential Secure is the health and safety standard for our live events, including Cannes Lions Festival, it has been developed to address the risk posed by COVID-19. Our standard mirrors those developed by industry association partners including UFI, AEO and SISO, peers including Informa, Reed Exhibitions and Clarion, venues, suppliers, contractors and health, government and local authorities. We have adopted these industry-wide standards to help deliver safe, hygienic, productive and high-quality live events.

Ascential Secure explains how this industry best practice is being delivered at our live events. This means that people coming to our events can have every confidence that we are taking all reasonable precautions to keep them safe, and that they can get on with the most important things for them and their business: gaining the information, insights, connections, data and digital tools that they need. Our live events will be run according to official government and local authority guidance in the first instance, as well as any venue or location-specific regulations. In addition, all Ascential events, regardless of format or location, will follow ten top measures outlined below. Where appropriate, our live events will also follow the full range of industry standards and guidelines, as published by SISO: SISO All Secure Standard. Read the full Ascential Secure standards here.

Onsite Measures


1. Enhanced cleaning

All Ascential events will undertake enhanced, deep cleaning before, during and after our events, working with venue partners to ensure the highest standards of hygiene and cleanliness. This includes continuous sanitisation throughout the course of an event, with a focus on high-touch areas such as door handles, restrooms and food and beverage areas.

2. Personal hygiene

All Ascential events will provide additional hand washing facilities and hand sanitising stations throughout the event space, encouraging all participants to regularly wash and disinfect their hands.

3. Registration process

All Ascential events will make best use of technology to minimise queuing and contact during the registration process.


4. Physical contact

All Ascential events will request that participants avoid physical contact, such as handshakes and embraces, promoting alternative ways to greet business partners. The exchange of printed materials, such as business cards and sales brochures, will also be discouraged, with digital alternatives recommended.

5. Physical distancing

All Ascential events will maintain a density of participants in line with local authority regulations and venue or other relevant guidance. This will be managed through one or more control measures, such as pre-show communications to participants, a one-way traffic system around exhibition floors, staggered entry times, on-site signage and floor markings and on-site social distance ambassadors.

6. Food and beverage stations

All Ascential event teams will work closely with venue partners to employ the highest standard of food safety, minimising self-service buffets in favour of pre-packaged food options. If any queuing is anticipated, social distancing will be maintained through the use of floor markings and relevant signage.

7. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Items of PPE, such as face masks, gloves and eye screens, will be used by participants and staff if appropriate, in line with local government and health authority advice.


8. First aid

All Ascential events will have access to a qualified first aider and a separate quarantine area, if possible. Participants will be asked not to attend if they are feeling unwell, and teams will follow local health authority guidance on detecting and managing anyone who shows symptoms of COVID-19.

9. Health screening

All Ascential events will follow relevant health authority guidance on screening participants. This may include checking the temperature of everyone on entry, through thermal scanning or other screening processes.

10. Trace and contact

Should it be necessary, all Ascential events will work with local authorities and venues to trace and contact participants at our events, subject to local privacy regulations.