Cover Feature
We ’ re in the wrong government department . The reply to the EIA ’ s open letter to Boris and Rishi came from the Undersecretary of State for Sport , Tourism and Heritage and encouraged the EIA to keep sharing information with the DCMS Tourism team . This neatly sums up the problem - the trade exhibition sector belongs in BEIS not DCMS . For 30 years , Phil Soar , Chairman of CloserStill Media has had many roles in the exhibitions sector and says that we have never been understood .
“ We don ’ t have a government that is in anyway tuned to the trade show industry and it ’ s very difficult to get them to see things in terms other than “ events = Glastonbury ”. The DCMS is so traumatised over the Cheltenham festival that the idea of opening up any event at all is impossible .”
Soar also points to inconsistency of treatment within the DCMS . He says : “ The Royal Albert Hall is running 18 events between now and Christmas with 2,500 people at each event . That ’ s 50 % capacity . It ’ s very cramped , and access is very tight . Why is this allowed but not 2,500 at the NEC ? It ’ s a good example of how nonsensical things are .”
# WHAT ’ S NEXT ?
It ’ s clear that the UK exhibition and events industry has never been understood or appreciated by government but as a phenomenally successful industry , it hasn ’ t mattered to any of our stakeholders until now .
Distilling the many hours of conversations I have had with a whole cross section of people there are several things that can be done in the short-term .
Advocacy . It ’ s not enough for us to explain to the government what we do . We need exhibitors to explain why exhibitions are vital as a sales lead and order generation tool . This is what underpins the message that exhibitions are the kickstart to all sectors of the economy . Organisers are in regular contact with all their exhibitors , so this is achievable . As iNHouse Communications ’ Jo Tanner puts it : “ It ’ s not enough to look at what the event achieved for the people involved in putting it on , you need to be able to demonstrate / quantify what happened as a result of the exhibitors being there . The order being placed that enables the factory to be expanded , which means that more jobs will be created which means a town will be transformed and small suppliers will spring up . Job creation and wealth creation isn ’ t being quantified .”
Sharpen the message . Although we are several months behind the hospitality lobby curve , we to push the economic benefits of business exhibitions and it shouldn ’ t be a case of one size fits all across the spectrum of events .
Lock on to the technology . Singapore is piloting pre-event testing from mid-October to December to identify a model that can be widely implemented so that more large-scale events can safely resume . Heathrow is starting to implement rapid testing too .
Longer-term , the consensus is that our job should be to lobby to move our business events home from the DCMS to BEIS . Phil Soar thinks that it ’ s definitely worth a go .
“ The likelihood of us achieving anything is small but it ’ s not impossible . I don ’ t think you can do it unless you are perceived to have some serious clout . We have a couple of large quoted companies in Informa and Reed and you can add in the NEC , Olympia and ExCeL as a starting point . You ’ ve got to have this level of credibility before
“ THE DCMS IS SO TRAUMATISED OVER THE CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL THAT THE IDEA OF OPENING UP ANY EVENT AT ALL IS IMPOSSIBLE .”
can learn by what hospitality did and sharpen our message of “ asks ”. Many people answered our call to provide the key things we should be asking government .
• A government underwritten Covid insurance scheme
• A clear opening plan we can work to
• Differential between business and general events to take into account COVID secure standards
• Subsidies for organisers to use for hosted buyers and exhibitor grants
• Sector specific furloughing until events can return There was also a strong view that there needs to be a differentiation in messaging if we are anyone will pay any attention to you .”
I asked Soar if this meant more direct involvement . “ Yes – people with political power will get a hearing . We claim to be a large important industry and the obvious way we can prove that is with a direct body that represents serious players which speaks for itself rather than through a series of associations and alliances . The major players have got to be a fundamental part of it – they are the ones who will make government , civil servants and press take notice .”
If we get this right , the hashtags of the future could be rewritten - # eventsmeanbusiness # openforbusiness # weareunderstood
24 — December