Ukraine avoid any damage by voltage hikes . Finally , another unforeseen ‘ surprise ’ was the freight gates of the pavilion that would not operate without electric power – yet the generator had already been returned to the owners at the end of the day . Luckily , one small gate could be operated manually , and the remaining trucks exited there .
Sales and post-sales activities Naturally , the sales process had its own specifics :
• We predicted considerably lower than usual number of visitors and decided to reduce the number of exhibition days to two from the usual three .
• We had to reflect the current state of economy and levels of income in the price .
• We refused any custom build stands to ensure our exhibitors kept their costs down . All stands were Octanorm to a height of 2.5m . Image and flag-waving exercises were not considered appropriate .
• The sales and show preparation period got reduced to three months .
• Decisions about participation were made quickly . It was either a firm yes or firm no , unlike the usual lengthy consultation processes .
• Communication with participating companies was intense and there were numerous questions and plenty of anxiety , all caused by war .
There were 108 exhibitors in total and 4,394 visitors , of which 27 % came to the show for the first time .
Visitors Visitors were much more proactive than the exhibitors . Normally it is the other way round .
Onsite visitor polls showed that there was a 180-degree shift in the dominant relationship between the Seller and the Buyer . Previously the distributers and manufacturers had to make serious marketing efforts to become a supplier for beauty salons and now the salons are keenly searching for a reliable supplier and sometimes for any supplier that is still in the market . Demand is now much higher than supply . Beauty salons still operating have reduced competition , but some sellers didn ’ t catch this trend and were still offering discounts and incentives .
The decision to visit was generally being taken within a week of the show . Online registrations compared to previous shows were a cause for concern .
Our thinking was as follows : Standard visitor numbers for our three-day Pro Beauty Show were 21- 25K trade professionals . Taking the lower bracket of 21K we estimated 2 / 3 for a two-day show being 14K . Taking into account that the size of this year ’ s show is about 20 % of a normal one , we estimated that we had to bring at least 2,800 unique trade visitors over two days .
Imagine how we felt 10 days before opening with just over 1,500
registrations . Moreover , constant power cuts took offline our webbased registration system . However , just two days before the show and on site we saw a phenomenal result which was 1.5 times better than our estimations .
The team And last , but by far not the least , was the team behind the project – a bunch of fantastic individuals for whom work on the project was like a psychological lifebuoy , taking our minds off the hardships of life during the war . We were working as a compact and driven team ready to extend a helping hand . One for all and all for one was our motto . We received only positive feedback .
We believe in our victory and we thank every citizen of the world for their support of Ukraine and your faith in us !
Our next project is dedicated to rebuilding our economy and is called ReBuild Ukraine which will take place in Warsaw , 15-16 February 2023 . Another unusual event which we hope to talk about another time .
www . exhibitionworld . co . uk Issue 1 2023 27