Exhibition World Issue 4 — 2020 | Page 16

Big Interview Time to reiterate value of events EW meets Damion Angus, group managing director at Montgomery Group. Part of the interview is published courtesy of the SISO and mdg Turning Point series, with additional reporting from Paul Colston re there any learnings from past challenges that you think translate to the current situation? The most recent and most closely comparable challenge we have faced would probably be the emergence of Ebola in West Africa in 2014. This affected a number of our shows in Nigeria and our African business. My biggest takeaway was that you cannot overdo communication with your communities. Keeping exhibitors and visitors updated on what your plans are and really understanding their concerns made all the difference then, and I believe that holds true now. How has Montgomery Group been approaching scenario planning during the pandemic? We’ve set up a Business Continuity Team, consisting of the divisional heads across the world, and we “meet” every Monday. There’s also an optional drop-in session on Thursdays, where this group can share ideas. Also, we set up a wider set of working groups involving the next level of leadership in the business. These groups are currently looking at the future of our industry, how Covid-19 will affect our communities and what the longerterm view of a return to the office might look like. Are there any organisational changes that you’ll keep? This pandemic has forced us to embrace technology to better communicate and streamline our remote working capabilities. This will undoubtedly change how our office is structured, how certain meetings take place and how flexible we become in working from home. I can’t tell you how much I miss the physical meetings round a table and how much can be achieved by sitting together, but I also feel closer to our international teams than ever before. As a leader, what do you see as your biggest challenge now? The unknown nature of what we’re dealing with. Most issues that affect the business allow you to make informed decisions based on facts. This gives you the opportunity to put a specific strategy together Above: Damion Angus, group managing director at Montgomery Group and give your teams clarity. With Covid-19, there are so many potential outcomes and the timelines are unknown. It forces a very fluid style of leadership. Which initiative from the last few months have you been especially proud of. We implemented the Montgomery Group webinar series to service our communities and to help them navigate the issues that they’re facing. I would never have believed that we would have received such an amazing take up and I feel very proud of the teams. How are you keeping yourself positive and motivated? I am predominantly surrounded by positive people who relish a challenge, and as a business, we’re focusing on what we can do coming out of this to make us stronger. I tend to look at the world day by day, and the fact that it’s summer here in the UK and the mornings are light gives me all the motivation I need. Montgomery has survived 125 years with no shortage of hurdles and that provides a certain level of comfort, while also inspiring me to continue building a great business. How many shows have you had to cancel and postpone and how have you tried to keep the communities together? We ran our last physical event in the first week of March and we were due to run another 11 shows over the following 10 weeks. These covered eight different sectors and a diverse range of territories across Asia, Africa, and Europe. It really was a case of firefighting whilst trying to get all our 16 Issue 4 2020 www.exhibitionworld.co.uk