Keeping an event industry business going isn ’ t getting any easier , is it ? You only have to take a quick glance at LinkedIn to read the sad litany of closures and redundancies , each one marking a traumatic life moment for a person we know , and see the estimated £ 300 billion in lost orders and business across the industry to date . Now the national management of the pandemic is becoming a political inflection point and , listening to the news , what consensus there was in parliament seems to be crumbling . The country is growing divided when unity and cooperation are the only routes back into the light . This does not bode well for the future of the event industry , or indeed the country , and I fear the consequences . We ’ re all having to work a lot harder to find glimmers of optimism , but for all of the destruction , there is hope - if we can prevent the tribalism that has infected the body politic from dividing our industry . Governments come and go and we weather the changes as best we can , but this pandemic is forcing changes on the industry that no government could wreak . And whilst COVID has tested the limits of how much we can help our members , and how they can help each
Vanishing Horizons
Max Bull , executive director of venue sales , BDC ; AEV board member
other , it has shown us just what can be achieved together when the chips are down - like the audacious pilot events . After the success of the pilot events , the production of the All Secure Standard , the campaigns , the demonstration , the go date , and the countless letters , emails and pleas aimed at the Government , it feels like we are chasing an ever vanishing horizon . Change is inevitable - sometimes it ’ s by choice but more often than not , it is forced upon us by circumstances . I ’ m immensely proud of how the industry as a whole has faced this challenge to its entire existence and gutted at the thought of how many have already lost a job they love . We remain united , determined and prepared to take every measure available to us to work within the changing restrictions . Through the associations , our suppliers , venues and organisers are working closely together to solve these new challenges - innovating their way through the crisis , devising hybrid exhibitions , drive-in gigs and virtual conferences , building physical and social distancing into events by default , and creating whole new bio-security product lines for not just the event industry , but hospitality and tourism too . In this column , the directors and chairs of the AEO , AEV and ESSA have extolled the value and importance of unity , cooperation and collaboration over many years . I think every word they wrote on the subject was correct , now more than ever . The associations have , over the last decade , brought event professionals together , exploiting their combined experience and knowledge to push the industry forward and it ’ s worth considering where we would be as an industry now if that had not been the case . We are doing it , we are enduring , and this is now a long game . But we need to bring everyone with us , try to stem the exodus of skills , and stay united . The cooperation between AEO , AEV and ESSA members , boards and secretariats is our strongest armour and our greatest asset . And we are going to need it in the months ahead as Brexit dawns and the virus rumbles on .
“ We remain united , determined and prepared to take every measure available to us to work within the changing restrictions .”
32 — December