Interview |
||||||
|
Image : Fort Lauderdale
International Boat Show
“ As much as we want recovery to be rapid and complete , experience shows that it does take time to get back to prior levels and scales of activity .”
|
“ We have quite a robust digital media activity in the United States , with a substantial number of people who , for the last decade , have come to work to do digital things . So , we have a robust and active business that is doing extremely well through the course of this live event shutdown . “ The more points of contact we have with the buy side and the supply side , the deeper insights we can develop , through data analytics , to help qualify leads in a way that is a lot more effective than putting a business card in a fishbowl . So , it is very much a part of our strategy . “ The unique value of |
face-to-face interaction with customers and prospective customers is something that digital can help prepare for , can help enhance and can filter down some conversations but it can ’ t replace the physical experience .”
Early headlines talked about the UK economy ‘ bouncing back ’ but the exhibition industry has increasingly taken a more pragmatic view to recovery . McCurdy feels that while this is difficult to predict as there are several key variables at play , he is also confident of the UK ’ s ability to thrive .
“ I think we have two
|
variables at play . One is the impact of travel and one is the impact of marketing budgets and tradeshow budgets for both exhibitors and attendee buyers . The UK may get to herd immunity and people may be happy to go to the sports stadium , or the pub , or a trade show . But the wild card is whether the UK will be happy to welcome people from countries that aren ’ t so well contained , as well as whether UK residents will be welcomed to shows outside of the UK . “ History shows that the last big recession we went through in 2008 and 2009 was not a comfortable one for the exhibition industry and the recovery was not a leap back by any means . I think it took three or four years to get back to 2007 levels of activity . “ So , as much as we want recovery to be rapid and complete , experience shows that it does take time to get back to prior levels and scales of activity . “ All that being said , our resiliency is really measured through the resilience of our customers . And time and time again , we see that a large majority of the core part of our business is ready to come back , is ready to re-engage and ready to benefit from live events in a way that is unique to that channel . And I expect that to happen once again here through 2021 , 2022 and then into 2023 . |
|||
March — 31 |