Last Word
Shaun Hinds
Manchester Central chief executive explains that
now it is time for the exhibition industry to take the
lead on how we will return post-Covid-19
I
t goes without saying
that there isn’t a business
or industry unaffected
by coronavirus and the
unimaginable changes we’re
experiencing to everyday life.
In recent weeks, we’ve
seen certain sectors singled
out - from the obvious ones
such as bars and restaurants
through to the businesses
behind some of our adored
football clubs – with, quite
rightly, concerns around how
they can and will get back to
some kind of normality.
Yet in all the reports,
press conferences, on-site
correspondence and opinion
pieces, one industry has
been strangely absent from
the official definitions being
offered by the Minister of
the day. Even in the more
detailed government website
updates - pages we’ve all
58 — May
flocked to like apprehensive
dental patients browsing
the collection of last year’s
Hello magazines – still no
mention. Unfortunately, that
missing industry is one that
can rightly claim to be the
most greatly impacted by
this relentless enemy; I am
of course talking about our
industry, the events industry
- in all its guises.
It’s remarkable to
think how we should be
missing from the lists and
announcements.In that
context, it’s even more
astonishing how our industry
has ended up playing such
a critical role in the fight
against this virus. From
PR obscurity to frontline
response in the space of just
a few weeks.
Around the UK, and
globally, venues and stadia
have been re-purposed into
temporary field hospitals.
Our suppliers, drawing on
their unrivalled experience
of building to impossible
deadlines, stepped in and
in many cases, built the
facilities required. Also, I
have no doubt that it’s our
hospitality teams, floor
crews, cleaners, chefs,
kitchen porters, stewards
and freelance support staff
bolstering volunteer and
temporary worker numbers
who the Nightingale
Hospitals require in order for
the clinical professionals to
do their jobs.
Now in week five of
lockdown the conversation,
punctuated by the daily
‘Live from Number 10’
update, is turning towards
exit strategy. The headline
writers are seemingly
hellbent on ‘out-outraging’
us as a nation with
suggestions such as “pubs
closed ‘til Christmas.”
Whilst the events industry
may have been absent from
the news when this began,
we need to take steps to
ensure we emerge from
this crisis with confidence,
pride and with the clear
message that events are both
desirable and safe. Events are
fundamental to our societal
and economic recovery and
we simply cannot afford
to be an afterthought or
addendum to another piece
of published guidance.
In this publication, Rachel
from the AEV eloquently
describes some of the
activities underway across
the EIA industry body. My
call is for us to develop this
collaboration into a louder
voice, to be the architects of
our own recovery. Together,
as organisers, venues and
partners, we must devise
the new framework for
event operations. We must
define the protocols to
be implemented across
all aspects of the event
experience. That means
how we build events, how
we create space to allow
social distancing, review our
capacities, change queuing
disciplines, revise our
cleaning regimes and rethink
how we deliver hospitality, to
list just a few aspects.
There must be clear
guidelines for our employees
on the role they play, as
well as what delegates
and visitors should expect
from the event and what’s
expected of them in return.
Whilst these changes
may be interpreted as
restrictions, we need to use
our creativity to realise the
positive opportunities. As we
transition out of lockdown
into ‘PC’, post-Covid-19, the
key to filling our space will
be allowing our visitors to
maintain theirs.
There must be clear guidelines for
our employees on the role they play,
as well as what delegates and visitors
should expect from the event and what’s
expected of them in return.