The new year had got off to a good start for Mr Dylan Sharma. His wife was expecting their first child and his event management company was set to repeat its strong showing of 2019. Then things took an unexpected turn in late January. Each day brought more bad news of a mysterious viral plague, sending jitters around the globe that trickled down to Tricom Events, which he had set up in 2006 with a business partner, Ms Janice Swee. Singaporeans vs The Pandemic | In Unchartered Waters: The MICE Innovators They had been colleagues at another event company when Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) hit in 2003. “We were mindful that it could be a replay,” said Mr Sharma, 43. Since then, the seasoned event planners have weathered other shocks and jolts — the 2008 global financial crisis, the H1N1 pandemic in 2009, and the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak, for instance. But nothing could have prepared them for the scale of devastation that the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought. The day after Singapore raised its disease outbreak response alert to orange on Feb 7, worried clients called to cancel or postpone events lined up for February and March. The two battle-tested directors were concerned, b...