SPIRO ANEMOGIANNIS , MANAGING DIRECTOR INFORMA AUSTRALIA , SHARES HIS OBSERVATIONS ON MARKET PROSPECTS

rom March 2020 until the end of last year not many business events were held in Australia other than in a digital environment . The main culprit was not so much Covid itself but the internal closure of state borders , which at times compromised the ability to run national events . Informa in Australia was fortunate to deliver our only international event in 2020 digitally in October but all our other events were rescheduled and delivered virtually , and this included several trade exhibitions , 60 events in total .

The venues have been understanding as space was cancelled with organisers either rescheduling or pivoting to virtual . I am unsure if they will do so in the future .

The national government ’ s AUD $ 50m Business Events Grants Scheme has allowed organisers to apply for rebates of up to 50 % of their expenditure / investment . My understanding is that there have been approximately 900 applications with 300-odd already approved .

Below : Australian Parliament House at Enlighten

We are gradually restarting and recently held one event in Canberra and another in Sydney at the International Convention Centre , both with over 300 attendees . There is definitely pent up demand .

Our events are conducted under a number of Covid-safe policies such as Informa ’ s All Secure Policy , and , given Australia ’ s more or less zero infection rates , our events do not require practices such as temperature checks , masks and rapid testing , likely to form a basis for most of the Norther Hemisphere plans for events .

ORGANISER OF AUSTRALIA ’ S MEETINGS INDUSTRY FLAGSHIP SHOW , AIME , TALK2 MEDIA & EVENTS ’

CEO MATT PEARCE ANSWERS A FEW QUESTIONS :

ow have Australia ’ s events sector stakeholders worked together to draft new health and safety measures ? The sector worked well to draft and commit to new Covid-19 health and safety measures . The national associations worked together and with their international counterparts to ensure the best thinking nationally and internationally . Unfortunately , while we are all able to work together , the relevant states within Australia are not seemingly able to work together and so there are different rules by each different state government . This meant state borders closing for inconsistent reasons .

How has the burden of the pandemic been shared ? The major venues quickly realised that a compassionate approach to early

cancellations and postponements was needed . Some hotels were slower to reach this conclusion . Overall , everyone has taken a hit . Some government initiatives such as JobKeeper have been well received .

Insurance was by and large no help , with the largest insurer of events precluding airborne disease from cover post SARS earlier in 2000 ’ s .

How do you see the prospects for a return to business ? The opportunity to kickstart the business events sector will be driven through national activity before we can expect to see any international business . International will be difficult until borders open up without quarantine restrictions and flights are more plentiful and flexible .

The pandemic has been a real opportunity to do things differently . We are all being challenged by new operating procedures , with some suppliers no longer in business . As the old saying goes – never waste a crisis : Try something new , break out of the shackles of previous events and be brave .

What of your own show , AIME ? It was very disappointing that AIME couldn ’ t go-ahead for 2021 . However , we are fully focused on making 2022 a success . There is a lot of discussion about how events will never be the same again while some talk about going back to normal . The sweet spot is what we are looking for . The normality we strive for is the human interaction and the serendipity that comes from open discussion with industry colleagues , face to face at an event such as AIME . What is being challenged is how the event is constructed – do we need education days , networking functions and so forth ?

We are talking with stakeholders to ensure what we have at AIME in 2022 is relevant and fresh . These are great conversations and challenge us all to look at what the ‘ special sauce ’ of an event is and putting a post-pandemic twist to it .