Tensions are running high as coronavirus continues to spread, and news outlets seem to be adding to those fears with wall-to-wall coverage.
As a result, the City of Austin has canceled this year’s South By Southwest, the massive annual tech, music and movie conference that was scheduled to begin March 13th. In its 34th year, SXSW drew hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city and annually pumped over a half billion dollars into Austin’s economy each year. Just days ago, Google, Facebook, TikTok and other SXSW sponsors began advising their employees not to attend and participate in this year’s conference, which certainly steered the decision to cancel SXSW for the first time in the event’s long history.
Austin based communications expert Richard Battle, author of Conquering Life’s Challenges-Common Sense In Chaotic Times says that all this worry won’t resolve the coronavirus issue.
“Remember the AIDS/HIV scare? The dot com bust in, the market crash of 2008, SARS, MERS? How about September 11th, 2001? Were they bad? Sure, very much so. But the bottom line is that as bad as they were, the world continued to turn, most of us made it through and things are never quite as bad as they seem. I have an old family friend who used to say that ‘worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due’. It’s easy to say don’t worry, but it can be harder to do”, says Battle.
Battle notes that many large companies are instructing their employees to work from home, and others are struggling to be productive while protecting their employees. Some public events like concerts, sporting events, movies and plays are beginning to see drops in attendance, and the travel industry (hotels, airlines, conventions, etc.) are being forced to make adjustments to compensate for the rapid decline in demand. “It’s like watching a slow-moving hurricane off-shore with a very uncertain track; they usually veer off course or greatly diminish before landfall, but by then, the self-inflicted damage caused by the stress and anxiety of what might happen is incalculable.“
Ask Richard Battle:
-His top 3 strategies to keep you and those you love from stressing too much about coronavirus
-How to talk to your kids about coronavirus, and why you have that conversation should right away
-What is his “three year” test?
-Why often it is the very young, and the very old that tend to worry the most…and how to help them with their worries
-What realistic actions you can and should do, to keep the stress down, and also to protect your physical and mental well being
-His response to his city of Austin’s decision to cancel South By Southwest
About Richard Battle
Richard V. Battle is a communications expert, business consultant, speaker and the author of six books including his latest Conquering Life’s Course. Visit him online at www.richardbattle.com.
To request an interview with Richard Battle, contact Allen Media Strategies Shaili Priya and 703-589-8960 or email shaili@allenmediastrategies.com.