WE WILL
5
Editor’s Letter
MEET
AGAIN
get nervous writing these leaders these days. There is
about a week between signing off this magazine and it
landing on your desk and, during Covid, that means
things can be wildly out of date very quickly.
So, for context: today is 21 August and I have the radio on
in the background. I’m hearing Birmingham might be going
into some manner of lockdown “imminently” as
Covid-cases begin to flare up. Oldham, too, is under close
watch. Is this the dawn of the dreaded Second Wave, or
just another simple flare up? Some experts seem to think
the Second Wave is inevitable, others are confident that
we have a handle on it; I am unwilling to speculate as I
have as much information as you do.
The mixed messages are now really starting to impact
the events industry. Despite the conditional restart date
for events of 1 October, corporate and consumer
confidence is flaring up and subsiding in waves akin to the
virus itself. The resultant uncertainty means that we are
now seeing some serious businesses go to the wall,
notably GES’s Blitz. The Meetings Industry Association
estimates that 126,000 event jobs are already gone, and
also reports that on average (of those which responded to
its survey), venues have lost £2.4m each.
Yet, against this backdrop of despair, the first steps of
recovery are underway.
Our Big Interview sees us talk to ExCeL London’s James
Rees, p30, who notes there are indeed smaller events
slated for September and larger ones confirmed for
October. Indeed, our cover story explains how Hire Space
ran a test event at RSA House in accordance with their
Safer Events protocol (p16).
While not covered in Conference News this time, you will
find my report on the London Concours event in our sister
title Exhibition News. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed
visiting an actual live event in August (albeit one outdoors).
Certainly, the few thousand guests with me seemed to
enjoy it too. While this doesn’t disguise the devastation,
confidence has to start somewhere. To be among a crowd
of people enjoying an event gives me hope that we will all
meet again soon.
Martin Fullard
Editor
Conference News
www.conference-news.co.uk