# FRIGAIR2018
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
Photos by IMD
Continued from page 1
# myFRIGAIR – an( in) complete account
When I drove off at 19:02 on the Friday night after FRIGAIR, part of me almost felt like crying. Not because of how exhausted I was. No— because I was so overwhelmed by the sheer epicness of the event my industry had just pulled off. This is what it feels like to be part of something great. And I was“ proud”— a word I used so many times over the five days I spent at the Gallagher venue in Midrand.
But # myFRIGAIR started long before those five days of“ show time” …
I tend to exaggerate( apparently), but this time I can say for a fact that I have never worked this hard. # FRIGAIR2018 took over my life, but it was amazing. I saw so many things, spoke to so many people, experienced so many moments. I just wish that I had more time to talk to everyone I encountered.
But even if it was a fleeting handshake while I was mid-interview( thanks, mister Spoormaker) or whether we sat on that black couch at the Evapco stand while they broke down and packed up the show around us, discussing the future of refrigerants in South Africa( to be continued, mister Amschwand), every person I interacted with, made my experience of the show what it was.
So much energy, so much excitement. It kept me going through the exhaustion, the long days, the taxing schedule that I myself had colour-coded on Excel one morning, thinking it would make life easier.
Catching up with Margaret Molefe of DEA at our stand.
Visitors streaming in from all over to attend FRIGAIR 2018.
As I sit down to finally try and piece together this show, I fear that I won’ t be able to remember all of it. The one thing I’ ll never forget though, is the last thing I said to my operations director as he left on the Friday night:“ It was all worth it.” It really was.
BUILD-UP TO BUILD UP
I don’ t know how many hours our sales rep, Paul Engelbrecht, and I spent in the car on the way to some meeting or event, talking about FRIGAIR. Our build-up started so long before they started offloading the trucks. It was more than just selling the floor space. We had articles running from a year before, every month. We spoke to anyone and everyone about the show. Our social media accounts were a non-stop flow of invitations to the amazing show we were putting together.
And as we got closer to the date, the more things got added to the bill as the show just kept growing. The ASHRAE speakers, the ATMOsphere networking event, the South African Institute of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning( SAIRAC) free-to-attend seminars— we were gathering something for everyone. After all, our number one mandate has always been the dissemination of knowledge and uplifting the industry. Build it and they will come. Well, and then send them lots of emails and SMSs and make a radio advert that will get stuck in your head seemingly forever.(“ It’ s hot. It’ s cool. It’ s FRIGAIR 2018!”)
The content dream team, from left: Ntsako Khosa, Ilana Koegelenberg, and Candace Sofianos King. Still fresh and ready for day one.
ACTUAL BUILD-UP
On the Saturday before( 2 June), some exhibitors already started moving in their equipment. I only made my way to Gallagher for the first time on the Monday. By now, some team members had already spent their entire weekend making sure build-up was going as smoothly as possible. Please note“ as possible”— because there will always be operational issues.
Yoh, I’ m not going to lie … it was a mess when I got there. You could hardly navigate any of the aisles without fear of being impaled by some pole or being run over by a forklift. Things were all over the place, pieces of a massive puzzle, scattered over the still bare floor in a seemingly chaotic manner. I had no idea how this was going to come together eventually in the“ world-class exhibition” we promised industry.
Equipment trickled in piece by piece as hundreds of stand-builders hammered away at the various stands. The hall smelled faintly of paint. I never quite appreciated just how much work goes into putting a show of this nature together. I always saw the finished product and sort of assumed it just‘ happened’.
For a week, all life outside FRIGAIR stopped for me. I didn’ t even have milk in my fridge. But it was magical!
T MINUS ONE DAY
Tuesday( 5 June) was the last time I would stop by the office before officially relocating to Midrand for the week. With enough business cards and notebooks to see me through the week, I headed off to the Midrand Conference Centre for the SAIRAC national committee meeting. Hall 5 was still a mess of pieces-in-progress and I was starting to really doubt that this was going to be finished in time. On this day, it wasn’ t just the stand builders on site but most of the clients as well. It was great to catch up with familiar faces and old acquaintances. But tensions were still high.
I finally met the three ASHRAE speakers who we’ ve been organising to present the short courses. Faces I had seen so many times in pictures. They had come to check out the venue and familiarise themselves with the set-up. It was an honour to meet such distinguished experts.
That evening I headed to the TCL launch event while Ntsako Khosa covered Gree. Events season was officially open!
Tomorrow it’ s time, I thought as I fell asleep that night— something that was very difficult to do with all the excitement.
SHOW TIME!
As I walked in the doors on the Wednesday morning, still a few hours before opening, I was so proud, overwhelmingly so. The hall looked almost unrecognisable— the stands were finally fully assembled. It looked worldclass indeed. As someone who has been to a couple of these international shows, I can honestly say, we had nothing to stand back for. The hall looked like a mini Chillventa or small-scale MCE. The grandeur, the creativity of the stands— I can’ t believe it was finally ready!
Apparently, some stand builders worked throughout the night, until 06:15, to finish. But they finished and that is the important part. Commitment.
As I walked around the still relatively quiet( but ready) hall, I was so happy. It was finally real. Everything we had all worked for, it was almost time to show it off to the industry( and the world).
Some stands I couldn’ t even recognise from the mishmash of pieces I had seen the day before. The carpets were in, the paint was dry; it was show day!
I quickly helped set up our own stands. Not exactly my forte but it was all-hands-ondeck for FRIGAIR and whatever needed to be done, you did your part. We all had the same goal: to make it the best show ever!
From this moment on, time flew. It was as if someone had set the world to fastforward and it didn’ t stop until Friday night. Things just happened. So many familiar faces, so many quick conversations, so many photos, so many steps clocked on those Fitbit thingies.
This day was busy— an understatement of note. With two ASHRAE short courses scheduled for day one and people still trying to book last minute,
6 www. coldlinkafrica. co. za COLD LINK AFRICA • September 2018