Industry View
Just how
resilient
are we?
Paul Woodward, a former
MD of UFI and advisor to
organisers and venues
around the world, assesses
the industry's staying power
M
“Given the
pictures on our
TVs and news of
disruption at the
airport, visitor
numbers are
unsurprisingly
down.”
54 — October
any years and several career transitions
ago, I stood in New York in front of the
intimidating board of directors of a very well
known publisher. Magazines at that time were
still great and profitable gushers of cash. My job;
to persuade the men (and they were indeed all
men) in grey suits that exhibitions was a business
they should be considering. Our exhibitions to
be precise.
They didn’t buy it and, who knows exactly where
cause and effect lie, but that company no longer
exists. What sticks in my mind though, is that
one of our key arguments about the benefits of
exhibitions was their resilience.
This presentation took place about a year after
the “Black Monday” market crash of 1987 when
the Dow had fallen a record 22.6% in one day. That
had, inevitably, rattled the business advertising
markets and times were a little tough.
Exhibitions, we said, were not immune from
economic gyrations but they responded much
more smoothly to the ups and downs than most
other ‘media’. For most exhibiting companies,
they represented a hugely important element
of the annual marketing cycle. Businesses only
pulled out of strong exhibitions at their peril.
Over the years, this has proven one of the more
solid pieces of advice that I’ve offered. And, it’s
pretty relevant and vital right now.
There is a good deal of anxiety about and lots
of pressures on the world’s exhibitions markets.
To take a few: Germany, the driver of Europe’s
economy, is in or on the cusp of recession; the
US and China remain at each other’s throats on
trade, driving down prosperity in both countries
and many other places; Hong Kong, long one of
Asia’s safest and most settled business centres,
is suffering massive political instability; the
economy in Dubai, the safe haven home of the
Middle East’s important trade fairs, looks weak.
What are the implications of all this for
exhibitions? If you genuinely are one of the top
fairs in your category, you’ll probably be fine.
People will still want to come and do their once-a-
year promotion, checking quietly around to see if
all their competitors are still in business.
It’s probably not such a great time to be
launching new fairs and, if your show is already a
struggle, it will probably suffer.
As one CEO, managing a very large portfolio of
fairs told me: “We all know which of our fairs is
going to get hit when times get hard”.
The autumn trade fair season has got underway
in Hong Kong. Given the pictures on our TVs
and news of disruption at the airport, visitor
numbers are unsurprisingly down anywhere from
five to 20 per cent. But, by and large, exhibitors
are sticking to their plans and organisers have,
relievedly reported that the mood in the fairs is
pretty good. There is, of course, an implicit “under
the circumstances” in those statements. But the
shows have and will go on.
Some events will use tougher times as an excuse
to cancel but, by and large, these are going to be
the ones that were already troubled. For those that
have been in good health, the key thing is make
sure they take place.
Most participants will discover that there are
still business opportunities and that exhibitions
remain the best place to uncover them.