Interview
We are already seeing a pullback from the obsession with digital .
( Lord ) Stephen Carter was quoted as saying to Morgan Stanley on 1 February 2021 : “ Virtual exhibitions remain much less effective than physical events , being mainly venues where exhibitors meet existing customers and are relatively ineffective for new product launches , new customer development and new distribution . In Informa ’ s view , physical exhibitions have substantially more impact in breakthrough and reach with higher quality leads , lead qualification and richness . Informa will host more virtual events and services in 2021 but expects that much of the incremental revenue in this area would fall away on the return of physical events .”
I am not privy to Informa ’ s strategic thinking , but it seems that the digital obsession may already have reached its high-water mark .
What major trends will we see in the industry ?
Consolidation : the shock to smaller organisations , particularly suppliers , has been terrible . The cash flow has just disappeared . When we emerge , some of our brethren will
no longer be there . Those that are can only be in a weakened financial state , particularly if the industry , not individual events , takes a couple of years to recover revenue .
There will thus be fear and the need for security . Expect major consolidation with stand builders , registration and AV companies , security and personnel suppliers and , indeed , smaller organisers being combined into fewer entities . I think the landscape will look very different by 2023 .
What about employment within the industry ?
This really worries me . Some may still be thinking that they are ‘ lucky to still have jobs ’. I don ’ t think this is the issue . Exhibitions and events are an attractive industry , but not a particularly well paid one . For a bright 28-year-old in marketing , ops or even sales , we look far less attractive than we did a year ago .
We have been at the very sharp end of a major economic disruption . As activity returns , particularly as we are very London based , opportunities with organisations like Google , Amazon , E-commerce etc or even the public sector will look increasingly attractive . Rather than being grateful they have kept their jobs , my concern is that our best people will look to move on to organisations perceived as far more secure .
On top of that , we have seen our major organisations make up to 30 % of staff redundant and put another 40 % on furlough . This may have been necessary , but it does not engender love and affection .
And at the senior level there is much food for thought . Major organisers have almost all disposed of many senior as well as junior staff .
If there is no visible effect , then one may ask how our companies were being managed in the past . But we may find that businesses rattle as they try to deal with these losses , with unpredictable consequences . Whether we see a spate of new businesses being formed by these executives is impossible to predict , but it has happened in the past and the sudden arrival of major competitive launches cannot be discounted .
Will life ever be the same again ?
I am usually sceptical about pronouncements of this nature . Things do regress to the mean and Chaucer thought the world would never be the same again after the Black Death . Against that , 2020 has probably been the worst year in living memory excluding only 1939 and 1929 .
But , yes , things will be pretty much the same again . Hopefully in 2022 .
In the end our objectives should remain simple : to create companies which run events , which visitors and exhibitors are eager to attend . To do that we must ensure that our employees are well rewarded , believe in their tasks and enjoy their work . The rest , including the aftermath of Covid , will then look after itself .
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